Women's Football Thread 2024/2025

[Lee the Blue]

Another waste of a season that. Injuries played a part but getting 1 point from 2 games vs a bang average Everton side, and chucking away a 2 goal lead at Old Trafford is where the CL place was ultimately lost.

The whole structure of our Women's Team needs a long look at itself. Are we serious about being successful or just paying lip service & fielding a team? 3 years of absolutely nothing with our resources is frankly an embarrassment.

 

[better dead than red]

Another waste of a season that. Injuries played a part but getting 1 point from 2 games vs a bang average Everton side, and chucking away a 2 goal lead at Old Trafford is where the CL place was ultimately lost.

The whole structure of our Women's Team needs a long look at itself. Are we serious about being successful or just paying lip service & fielding a team? 3 years of absolutely nothing with our resources is frankly an embarrassment.

I've received some stick for this, but imho it's lip service. Yes, MCWFC has a nice facility. Yes. We have brought in a few good players, some very good but some not as good. This "lost season" wasn't just down to injuries in my opinion.

We have a short bench. If a starter is out, we don't have much in the way of replacements. As an example, if Alessia Russo is out Arsenal Women have Stenia Blackstenius to fill in for her. Blackstenius has almost 120 caps for a VERY good Swedish national team. Blackstenius is a fantastic finisher. What did we have behind Bunny? Nobody as good as that?

I feel like Oubabi might struggle to get consistent minute on some of the better Women's Championship teams. I have high hopes for Lily Murphy but she isnt ready yet and while did her best can't be counted on to deliver constantly.

I have nothing personal against Kheating but, if fit, Yamashita should have been starting ahead of her.

I also believe there is no reason MCWFC should play the same type of football as the men's team. It makes zero sense. None of these women are hoping to transition to the Men’s first team like our academy kids hope to eventually do. I don't need to see 30 backward and sideways passes to know this is MCWFC. Their sky blue tops will tell me.

I commend the club for giving these women good training facilities and letting them use a nice ground for matches. Allowing them to not wear white shorts for "feminine" reasons was also a good decision. However, i really don't think the club is too concerned. I'm not the only one. Ellen White, has questions about the club's commitment to this team and it's future and she knows a thing, or two, about women's football and MCWFC.

And, oh yeah, Gareth Taylor for far too long.

Thank you for attending my Ted Talk.

 

[born2bblu]

I've received some stick for this, but imho it's lip service. Yes, MCWFC has a nice facility. Yes. We have brought in a few good players, some very good but some not as good. This "lost season" wasn't just down to injuries in my opinion.

We have a short bench. If a starter is out, we don't have much in the way of replacements. As an example, if Alessia Russo is out Arsenal Women have Stenia Blackstenius to fill in for her. Blackstenius has almost 120 caps for a VERY good Swedish national team. Blackstenius is a fantastic finisher. What did we have behind Bunny? Nobody ad good as that?

I feel like Oubabi might struggle to get consistent minute on some of the better Women's Championship teams. I have high hopes for Lily Murphy but she isnt ready yet and while did her best can't be counted on to deliver constantly.

I have nothing personal against Kheating but, if fit, Yamashita should have been starting ahead of her.

I also believe there is no reason MCWFC should play the same type of football as the men's team. It makes zero sense. None of these women are hoping to transition to the Men’s first team like our academy kids hope to eventually do. I don't need to see 30 backward and sideways passes to know this is MCWFC. Their sky blue tops will tell me.

I commend the club for giving these women good training facilities and letting them use a nice ground for matches. Allowing them to not wear white shorts for "feminine" reasons was also a good decision. However, i really don't think the club is too concerned. I'm not the only one. Ellen White, has questions about the club's commitment to this team and it's future and she knows a thing, or two, about women's football and MCWFC.

And, oh yeah, Gareth Taylor for far too long.

Thank you for attending my Ted Talk.

Great post. All what you said matter, but I highlighted what is in my opinion the key points to the women team’s plight for the past few years. The women’s team should have never been asked to play a style similar to the men’s team. And it was utterly stupid to hire Gareth Taylor with his known history with one of the boys teams. Add to that, it was criminal to renew his contract before the end of last season, the season we missed on becoming the champions because of his “not so hard to miss” incompetency. These two factors hurt the women team badly, and led to most of the other factors. The Club should hire an expert coach who knows his/her business, and that will be a real challenge considering lack of Champions League football. The Club also must quit telling the women’s team how to play. Things will gradually improve after that.

 

[Dave Ewing's Back 'eader]

Hi I've lurked for a while here, but I've finally got around to registering...

It is true that points dropped to Everton + West Ham were annoying, but only Chelsea dropped fewer points to "the bottom 8". It was 2 points from 18 against the top 3 and conceding 2 goals + in all 6 of those matches that ultimately cost us.

Had we hung on to the two goal lead at The Swamp we would have qualified for CL - aaah, The Curse of the Two Goal Lead.

 

[Mr HJ]

I've received some stick for this, but imho it's lip service. Yes, MCWFC has a nice facility. Yes. We have brought in a few good players, some very good but some not as good. This "lost season" wasn't just down to injuries in my opinion.

We have a short bench. If a starter is out, we don't have much in the way of replacements. As an example, if Alessia Russo is out Arsenal Women have Stenia Blackstenius to fill in for her. Blackstenius has almost 120 caps for a VERY good Swedish national team. Blackstenius is a fantastic finisher. What did we have behind Bunny? Nobody ad good as that?

I feel like Oubabi might struggle to get consistent minute on some of the better Women's Championship teams. I have high hopes for Lily Murphy but she isnt ready yet and while did her best can't be counted on to deliver constantly.

I have nothing personal against Kheating but, if fit, Yamashita should have been starting ahead of her.

I also believe there is no reason MCWFC should play the same type of football as the men's team. It makes zero sense. None of these women are hoping to transition to the Men’s first team like our academy kids hope to eventually do. I don't need to see 30 backward and sideways passes to know this is MCWFC. Their sky blue tops will tell me.

I commend the club for giving these women good training facilities and letting them use a nice ground for matches. Allowing them to not wear white shorts for "feminine" reasons was also a good decision. However, i really don't think the club is too concerned. I'm not the only one. Ellen White, has questions about the club's commitment to this team and it's future and she knows a thing, or two, about women's football and MCWFC.

And, oh yeah, Gareth Taylor for far too long.

Thank you for attending my Ted Talk.

Good post - I do think the injuries to Viv and Aoba were more crucial as they happened at a time when we really needed someone to step up. Last year we threw the title away because when Bunny was injured Kelly and others lost form and hence our ability to score. I agree 100% that Yama should have been our number 1 no question.

I do however think that Theresa is a very good appointment and I believe we will know exactly how serious the club take women's football by the quality of her first major test - ie finding a new coach. If we go down the same route as picking someone like Cushing, who had very similar philosophies as the clueless Taylor I will think they are just going through the motions. If on the other hand we go for a new progressive voice I for one will feel better.

Either way it feels like the last 2 years have been a wasted opportunity. Time will tell if they get the next phase right because other clubs have really moved on and there is no doubt that the WSL will be even stronger next year.

 

[IrishBloodEnglishHeart]

Need a proper manager that commands respect if we're serious. Not sure who is around, but sometimes it looks like a school yard laugh for them. That's fine, if the players and club aren't interested in taking it super serious. But if they want to go to the next level they need a proper manager

 

[SpeaksForItself]

Had we hung on to the two goal lead at The Swamp we would have qualified for CL - aaah, The Curse of the Two Goal Lead.

Agree... but conceding 8 goals in the back-to-back games against the ragettes & the arsettes especially as 5 of them were gifts is what really annoyed me.

Others may have been more optimistic than I was at the start of the season, but having no adequate cover for Yui and Alana Kennedy as the only senior* back-up defender was really begging for trouble.

The squad is/was imbalanced. At the start of the season we had more goalkeepers than midfielders and more forwards than defenders. But I think a more crucial imbalance is youth vs experience. We've signed too many players for "the future" and not enough for the "here and now".

(*We knew that Shimizu was unlikely to feature well before the transfer window closed)

 

[better dead than red]

Need a proper manager that commands respect if we're serious. Not sure who is around, but sometimes it looks like a school yard laugh for them. That's fine, if the players and club aren't interested in taking it super serious. But if they want to go to the next level they need a proper manager

We do need a proper manager. That said, I don't think we need one who "commands respect." By many accounts, Gareth Taylor tried the command respect route with his "tight ship," he was so proud of.

We need a manager whom the players want to respect. If you have to tell someone to respect you because of your position, you're doing it wrong, in my opinion.

 

[IrishBloodEnglishHeart]

We do need a proper manager. That said, I don't think we need one who "commands respect." By many accounts, Gareth Taylor tried the command respect route with his "tight ship," he was so proud of.

We need a manager whom the players want to respect. If you have to tell someone to respect you because of your position, you're doing it wrong, in my opinion.

Sorry, you misunderstood.

We need a manager that commands respect naturally because of their experience. Trying these former players or random coaches as managers to see if they might be good is pointless. We might get lucky, but we ideally need someone that's been there and done it

 

[better dead than red]

Sorry, you misunderstood.

We need a manager that commands respect naturally because of their experience. Trying these former players or random coaches as managers to see if they might be good is pointless. We might get lucky, but we ideally need someone that's been there and done it

I did misunderstand. Thank you for clarifying for me.

 

[IrishBloodEnglishHeart]

I did misunderstand. Thank you for clarifying for me.

Probably the way I worded it without much explanation to be fair haha.

Definitely don't need someone that's going to come in and try what Taylor did

 

[magman]

You can't lose half your starters---top-quality players all--and expect to be the same team. City were a shadow of themselves without Viv, Shaw, Kemp, Greenwood plus others....Prior and Murphy were not ready for prime time. This team needs a bulldog midfielder, IMO, and someone who can challenge Ouahabi for that spot as I'm not sold on her. Yamashita is a better keeper than Kheating--who simply makes too many bad decisions about when to come out of the net.

 

[IrishBloodEnglishHeart]

You can't lose half your starters---top-quality players all--and expect to be the same team. City were a shadow of themselves without Viv, Shaw, Kemp, Greenwood plus others....Prior and Murphy were not ready for prime time. This team needs a bulldog midfielder, IMO, and someone who can challenge Ouahabi for that spot as I'm not sold on her. Yamashita is a better keeper than Kheating--who simply makes too many bad decisions about when to come out of the net.

RE: Keating, she's got the bones of a top keeper but needs some coaching on decision making desperately. Who is our keeper coach? If she can get her decision making sorted she'll be a top keeper.

That mistake against Everton, running out to get the ball when she was never making it cost 3 points and it was a basic thing.

 

[TinFoilHat]

RE: Keating, she's got the bones of a top keeper but needs some coaching on decision making desperately. Who is our keeper coach? If she can get her decision making sorted she'll be a top keeper.

That mistake against Everton, running out to get the ball when she was never making it cost 3 points and it was a basic thing.

Send Scotty over there to help.

 

[better dead than red]

Send Scotty over there to help.

 

[IrishBloodEnglishHeart]

Send Scotty over there to help.

Funnily enough, Weaves has been working with us doing the match days. He finished up as Sheff Wednesday's goalkeeper coach last season. We could do worse.

 

[BlueInsomniac]

 

[cleavers]

She's been poor for most of this season for me, especially since January, so meh, you might not get better, or play much for a better team.

 

[JRockBlues]

She's been poor for most of this season for me, especially since January, so meh, you might not get better, or play much for a better team.

May not have been officially announced as yet but it's pretty common knowledge she's off back to Barcelona.

 

[Solatron]

She's been poor for most of this season for me, especially since January, so meh, you might not get better, or play much for a better team.

Sorry don't agree. Look what she has to deal with, 3/4 different central defenders to partner a nervously poor keeper positionally all over the place behind her gifting goals, weak midfield and most of all a team decimated with injuries. Nobody had a good season and I include fans favourites Hasegawa and Park. This girl is genuine world class and at 25 a nailed on starter for Spain and will prosper with great players at Barcelona. She never let us down and gave 100%, seemed genuinely in touch with the fans and very popular with the players. Thanks Laia and best of luck in the future!