HelloCity
Well-Known Member
Steph Houghton has been a great defender for City and England. She’s 32 now so not quite at the level she once was. I think the women start to feel the age difference a couple of years earlier than in the men’s game.
Steph Houghton has been a great defender for City and England. She’s 32 now so not quite at the level she once was. I think the women start to feel the age difference a couple of years earlier than in the men’s game.
I sympathise with Steph she has a lot going on in her private life, that can not help.Our biggest weakness now seems to be in central defence (where've I heard that before). Not convinced that Houghton and Bonner are really good enough. Steph seems to have some real lapses of judgement with passing out from the back and Gemma has never really been great in that department imho.
Not a rumourFrom Sunderland and rumoured to be in a relationship with Keira Walsh
Her personal life won't be helping either, as you would imagine, an awful illness to deal with.
Steph Houghton has been a great defender for City and England. She’s 32 now so not quite at the level she once was. I think the women start to feel the age difference a couple of years earlier than in the men’s game.
A good number of women on the US women's team would maybe disagree with you.
Pretty much. Taylor seems to be more determined to play out the back and compared to everyone else now that we've signed Bronze the CBs are a step down in that regard. And given they're naturally going to have a lot of the ball it means they either recycle it uselessly or give it away a lot unnecessarily. They're both good defenders imo but Houghton is increasingly error prone. The other issue is that Taylor seems to not be playing White up top, which I understand but Stanway isn't the alternative to fill that spot.
Otherwise it's looking good, certainly once they get up to speed with the tactics.
I've thought why not play Steph as a sweeper behind Bonner and Megan Campbell. Think both Bonner and Campbell are good central defender with Steph as extra cover . Also allow Bronze and Demi Stokes (or possibly Alex Greenwood ?) to bomb forward too ?Our biggest weakness now seems to be in central defence (where've I heard that before). Not convinced that Houghton and Bonner are really good enough. Steph seems to have some real lapses of judgement with passing out from the back and Gemma has never really been great in that department imho.
I've thought why not play Steph as a sweeper behind Bonner and Megan Campbell. Think both Bonner and Campbell are good central defender with Steph as extra cover . Also allow Bronze and Demi Stokes (or possibly Alex Greenwood ?) to bomb forward too ?
Maybe but I was thinking of Steph playing behind the two central defenders , don't think Walsh could play there , but you are right about Keira's passing , just wish she would take more control of games at times , because she is that good .if we are going to experiment with a sweeper - Walsh is probably the best candidate - much better range of passing.
I was very impressed with Sam Mewis on Saturday, and I’d imagine that Rose Lavelle is of a similar standard. Once these two are firing on all cylinders, I think our performances will go up several levels.The team will need a bit of time to gel with several new players and a new coach. We don’t know the fitness / conditioning of the players and they might be a factor in Ellen White starting on the subs bench. Georgia Stanway is a very talented player so I can understand why she started against Villa.
I agree with the poster who said our attacking midfielders aren’t very easy to find for Steph or Kiera.Thst might change as the Americans find their feet.Taylor might choose not to play a holding midfielder in some games where we expect to dominate possession and he could go with Weir and Mewis as more orthodox central midfielders (possibly with Lavelle in front of them) with creative passing ability.
Steph has lost some power in recent times (maybe age is a factor) but she has been a brilliant servant for City and England:
Congrats Lauren Hemp!
2x winner of WYPoY award!
I think I’m in love
Another superb signing!