MCFC women vs Hammarby

[Dave Ewing's Back 'eader]

I was surprised match officials were appointed from Denmark. Norway and Denmark share a common history and are culturally very sympathetic.

She will be airing sometime soon in the next Scandi-noir offering!

 

[Mon Autre]

Relatively comfortable, but quite unconvincing. One of the worst performances I've see from Hasegawa too.

He literally never, ever, gives her a rest. I find it quite maddening to be honest as you could make the argument that she's possibly our most irreplaceable player in the squad right now. There's not really much shuffling of the pack that can done if we lost her for a long period of time.

 

[cleavers]

He literally never, ever, gives her a rest. I find it quite maddening to be honest as you could make the argument that she's possibly our most irreplaceable player in the squad right now.

I don't think I'd rest her in the CL to be honest, but like Rodri, there doesn't seem a good alternative if we were to lose her, I thought she got a bit "bullied" which is rare for her, but they were quite adapt at leaving the foot in.

I thought he left his subs a bit too long yesterday, and I don't really see why he made 2 of them so late on either, I presume it was Prior's debut so can maybe understand that one.

I thought Chloe Kelly showed exactly why she's not playing in her time on the pitch, I guess she's frustrated, but she needs to show more when given a chance.

 

[mattcity5]

I was surprised match officials were appointed from Denmark. Norway and Denmark share a common history and are culturally very sympathetic.

It's pretty irrelevant, even if you said Sweden tbh.

Imagine if England were playing Spain and the ref was from Scotland. Yes, there's a common history, but does that mean our neighbour wants us to succeed?

 

[Hilarious User Name]

I thought Chloe Kelly showed exactly why she's not playing in her time on the pitch, I guess she's frustrated, but she needs to show more when given a chance.

I think a lot of the criticism of Chloe Kelly on this board is deeply unfair.

She is apparently "selfish" when she tries a shot at goal, but whenever anyone else does it (Roord, Park, Fujino, Ouhabi whoever) it is brilliant play: creating chances.

Re this match, quite how she was supposed to make an impact in her 8 or so minutes on the pitch, whilst the ball was mostly being passed around our back line I don't know.

She is not being given a chance to perform, and in my opinion is being treated with great disrespect and will rightly leave at the end of the year or indeed January. Who could possibly blame her?

Despite the criticism on here, she is still a greately skilled player, whose laser-accurate crosses are just the type we need to score the type of goals we favour as going direct is mostly forbidden. Hemp and Kelly on the wings feeding Bunny is what kept us brought us such success in the past.

Taylor's playing favourites is bad enough, but his insistence on starting Fujino over Kelly is the icing on the cake and has presumably evaporated any remaining goodwill for the club on Kelly's part.

Fujino frequently seems to be in the wrong place, gets turned over easily, wanders into and back out of the box with the ball, takes 90% of her corners short and wastes them, yet receives little to no criticism on here and is now an automatic starter.

It appears to me that you cross Taylor at your peril, as you will get the treatment. How many players have had to leave due to ending up in his inescapable B team?

Was Lavelle not good enough for us? Raso? Angeldahl? Beckie? Blakstad?

Whilst our main opponents at the top of the league have terrifying benches, and rotate players frequently, ours is consistently the smallest bench and he barely uses those available anyway. Always too little, too late with his subs if he does any at all. Houghton's tears after her last home match against Arsenal, when he threw the league away and she had to sit on the bench and watch Arsenal made their match changing subs and he did bugger all, will stick with me.

All of this will be obvious to anyone looking to sign with City, and the risk of being a full time bench warmer will likely put off the best players.

Seeing Chris Williams with the Tottenham team reminded me that something is possibly terribly wrong behind the scenes.

For Nielsen, Williams, Mahon, Goater to all "leave" at the same time is not a good sign at all. I think it extremely unlikely most/any of these departures were through choice.

Nielsen was talking to fans at the last match before his departure, about his exciting plans, and was cited by Hemp as being instrumental in securing her renewal. Next thing, out the door?!

Just can't make sense of it.

 

[cleavers]

I think a lot of the criticism of Chloe Kelly on this board is deeply unfair.

How is it "deeply unfair" ?

She is not being given a chance to perform, and in my opinion is being treated with great disrespect and will rightly leave at the end of the year or indeed January. Who could possibly blame her?

She fell out if favout last year when her form dipped, she's had chances since, and not done much. This happens to footballers, as for Fujino, she's not impressed me much either, it's a difficult decision. I think Mary Fowler is a better player than both, but it seems he wants to use her in other positions (perhaps trying to play a different shape than wingers either side).




We have a far superior squad now to what we had 18 months ago, so the changes made appear to be working, maybe those that have left were the issue (players and staff), maybe they just weren't ruthless enough. The team is top of the PL, and is 100% in the CL, having beaten the current holders comfortably.

My biggest worry about the team is that they don't take enough of the chances they create, I also worry when we start messing about at the back like last night, giving away daft free kicks and corners. Keating is good enough to do it, but I'm not sure Yamashita is, she took far too many risks last night.

 

[Hilarious User Name]

How is it "deeply unfair" ?

I highlighted some in my message, but here we go:

She gets criticized for being selfish when no-one else does.

She gets criticized for not "doing much" despite barely being on the pitch, and often during a phase in the match when we're in retreat as per last night.

She gets criticised for having a life outside football "her mind is elsewhere" etc, when she's perfectly within her rights to get married, have sponsorships, go to concerts etc. Plenty of other players do the same, but don't attract the same level of criticism.

Just my opinion, but she seems to be the only player who gets constantly criticised on here, and it seems to be on very spurious grounds.

I just think she needs to be treated by us (and Gareth) with more respect. She is a fan favourite, and has been a great servant to the club in her relatively short time here, playing the way club wants, ie all goals must come from a cross. She was our top scorer, whilst we were effectively missing a striker. She is tenacious, and gets stuck in to the opposition, something that many of our players seem to be scared of, instead waiting for loose passes.

I think Mary Fowler is a better player than both, but it seems he wants to use her in other positions (perhaps trying to play a different shape than wingers either side).

Let's not forget that Mary Fowler was a B team player as well, wasting her time on the bench, until the world cup increased the pressure on him to use her more.

But as you say, she doesn't seem to be in her favoured position. Remember the two games where Kelly was in the centre and Fowler on the wing? Any other manager would have realised it didn't work after the first game and had a rethink.

maybe those that have left were the issue (players and staff), maybe they just weren't ruthless enough.

Maybe? But that many people? Or a thin-skinned manager wanting to fill the place with yes-men and women? Who knows.

...was Roebuck not good enough?
...was Morgan not good enough?
...was Mace not good enough?

The team is top of the PL, and is 100% in the CL, having beaten the current holders comfortably.

My biggest worry about the team is that they don't take enough of the chances they create, I also worry when we start messing about at the back like last night, giving away daft free kicks and corners. Keating is good enough to do it, but I'm not sure Yamashita is, she took far too many risks last night.

100% agree here, they tend to retreat and lose composure in the final half hour, as you say Yamashita was put under a lot of pressure at the end of the last game, and it could have gone very wrong for us. Even the most lowly of teams seem to have no problem walking straight through our defense on the break, and we really need to sort that out. We've been very lucky a couple of offsides when this has happened.

No doubt Chelsea is our biggest test, and we could do with the team that played Barca showing up, and Gareth making some timely subs when they start to tire.

 

[cleavers]

...was Roebuck not good enough?
...was Morgan not good enough?
...was Mace not good enough?

Roebuck lost form, probably due to her illness, Keating stepped up, and was better and younger, sad for her (especially the illness), life moves on. Hasn't played since moving to barcelona.

Morgan, disappointing she left, but looks like she wanted to go abroad to what is considered a better league.

Mace, I'm not really sure she was good enough, they had high hopes for her when she signed, but she never established herself, and didn't look our level in the games I saw.

Change isn't always bad.

Fowler is a better standard for me, it took her a while to get established for sure, and I still think there's better to come, she was never "B team".