FA CUP MATCH: COVENTRY UNITED VS TOTTENHAM HOTSPURS (17/02/2020)
This evening I went to see the FA Cup tie between Coventry United and Tottenham, it was set to be an interesting match since Spurs are a newly promoted team to the WSL and Cov are new to the Championship so this was the first time they were playing each other.
The game started off pretty balanced, with Cov actually pressing more and dominating in Spurs’ half. However Spurs were just biding their time really and soon started pushing upwards after which the match took on its standard form of 9/10 of Cov’s outfield players in the final quarter of the pitch. It got quite frustrating as there was no opportunity for any counterattacks as there weren’t enough players up front so the ball was either taken off them quite easily or shots just went wide.
The notable events of the match will probably be topped by Reanna Dean’s hat trick. Honestly she didn’t even have that great of a match, which is shown by the fact that two out of her three goals were from the penalty spot. Granted they were pretty good penalties, especially the second one, but I’m still unsure about whether the first one should have even been awarded. Basically it was pretty poor defending which caused most of the goals, and although the two in the second half were pretty impressive they wouldn’t have ended in the back of the net if better marking of players had occurred. The 0-5 score was not really representative of the performance the teams gave, more like its representative of Spurs’ clinical professionalism against Coventry’s occasionally slapdash part-time club dynamic.
Players of note would be Sue Woods (the gk) for Coventry who made some pretty damn impressive saves. For Spurs the wings gave great performances, with Lucia León scoring from a great cross and creating a lot of other opportunities, as well as the fullbacks Emma Mitchell (it was so weird seeing her in blue damn) and Ashleigh Neville. I don’t think Mitch had a single player get through her, and although she didn’t have to do a load in this match all her passes and tackles are just so well thought out that she does so much by doing so little. Neville had an even more amazing game, playing almost as a wingback during some parts of the match and being key both up and down the pitch.
Last thing I’ll say was that Jo Potter was there too, waving her crutch about and shouting out instructions. There was a point where one of the Cov players was getting medical attention on the pitch and Gemma Davidson came over and started having a conversation with her clearly about her injury and all in all it was very wholesome but then game faces returned and it was back to having no mercy. It was actually the first match she’d ever been able to attend since they’d got to the Championship as she’s always with Reading so that much have been a cool albeit very frustrating experience for her.
WSL: BIRMINGHAM CITY VS MANCHESTER CITY (19/01/2020)
It was the second Blues match that I’ve gone to see and from the perspective of a Blues fan it was a more pleasant, if not still slightly painful, match to watch.
Kerys Harrop said in the the match day programme that its the first half of the match that has really been letting the side down lately which means they “need to make sure we perform straight from the get-go.” This clearly did not work out when ex-Blues Ellen White scored in the first thirty seconds after a completely break down from the defense and the wing who didn’t seem like they’d realised the game had started yet. Props to Birmingham though they soon got a lot more into the game and kept it pretty equal until half time. I’d say in the second half the quality of football started deteriorating with Keira pretty much sentencing the match with a great goal in the 65th minute.
Both sides put on a pretty good display of football, with the midfield in particular shinning for each side. With Birmingham Chloe Arthur was really putting on a show with her ball management and Lucy Staniforth like always was brilliant moving the ball forward as well as being crucial in defense. Her long range shot was also probably the best chance Blues got to almost score and Ellie did well to save it. Man City’s midfield was even more impressive, obviously with Keira getting the goal in but also her extremely clever passes, Jill Scott was playing a lot better than I’ve seen her play for England lately and Caroline Weir was just on a level of her own. I’d never realised just how imposing her play is, like both in terms of her physique and also her skilfulness when on the ball really stood out for me today. Phil should definitely be putting her on the shortlist for team GB if he has any sense left in him.
Blues’ goalkeeper Hannah Hampton also made a couple of great saves ensuring the scoreboard didn’t increase by another few goals. Especially during the many corners that Man City had it was quite commendable that they didn’t score from any of them. What really gave city the edge was the fact that they were able to link up the midfield with the defense and attackers, the left side was not used as much but seemed to be particularly effective thanks to Stanway and obviously Ellen who runs around the pitch in such a pleasing way to watch. I agreed with subbing Lauren Hemp off as she wasn’t at her finest today but still managed to play considerably well. Same goes with the Blues wings, Abbie Grant is usually really key and today she had a bit of a dip but I still think subbing her off all the time isn’t the best move when she’s usually one of the most consistent players. Caroline Walker was having a great run especially in the first half so again I don’t think I would have subbed her off over Rachel Williams, for example, who in my opinion just wasn’t giving them the attacking edge today.
All in all it was a pretty decent match and I’m glad the Blues managed to not let the early goal get into their heads too much. City just clearly had the superior play, willing to patiently wait it out so that even if they didn’t have more possession they had a lot more chances on goal and were able to capitalise on them. I spoke to Rebecca Holloway after the match for a while as she seemed to be very willing to have a little chat and basically said that compared to the last times that they'd played against city they've improved, and agreed with me that it was definitely a step up from the Reading match last weekend. She then just said that hopefully with games coming up against teams closer in points to us in the table then hopefully some points will be in store if the level of play is maintained.
Another thing I’ll mention is that there was clearly some grumbling going on at the end about Marta Tejedor’s tactical decisions, I didn’t quite get who it was but someone was having a conversation with their grandparents (?) about the way that Marta has been playing her and her preferences over others. She barely said a word throughout the whole match and Lucy got quite blatantly frustrated at the coaching staff at one point in the game, understandable tbh.
Apart from Becks I also got to speak to Hannah who was being super sweet to all of the lil kids who really recognised her in her goalkeeper kit, and managed to congratulate her on the few great saves she did. I managed to say hi to Lucy almost at the end just to quickly say that she skilfully kept up that midfield like always. Claudia and Adrienne I also met briefley and were just super cool and chill. And also Ellen White was the only city player that stayed to sign for the City fans also, but I had to run to catch my bus so I got little more than a signature and a thanks from her- more than enough to keep me happy though! The last one I really wanted to congratulate was Chloe Arthur for her amazing match because she really did show off her skill today, and also because I really like her in general but she clearly didn't want to stay out too long (it was absolutely freezing) so I wasn't able to in the end
Anyways, I enjoyed the trip and I’m glad I went, you know its been good when my biggest complaint is the cold!
PRIMERA IBERDROLA: RAYO VALLECANO VS CD TACÓN (15/12/2019)
So I rock up to the match and go to pay my ticket. First difference that I see between wsl and primera matches: the prices to watch. Each ticket was 10 euros, there were no discounts for children like the wsl has, they don’t even play in a proper stadium (literally my ex-team were playing at the same time on the pitch next to them like wtf) nor on real grass, there were no iberdrola signs up announcing it as anything other than just a regular match, there were people watching from outside in protest for not wanting to pay that much. Like all this pre-stuff was slightly insane, it’s the first division of women’s football in spain for goodness sake and this is all they get? I know there’s a lot of internal problems with Rayo and their presidency so that will have a lot to do with it but come on, they deserve so much better.
Now to the actual game though, as exemplified by the lack of goals, the first half was quite equal although I’d say el rayo managed to dominate slightly causing the most issues. However both Babett and especially Samara were doing a great job as fullbacks making sure el rayo wasn’t able to capitalise on all of the attacks they were having. Rayo Vallecano were playing with five at the back from what it seemed so tacón had a minimal amount of opportunities to create problems for them and rayo’s defense was great at quickly closing down any gaps that jakobsson or asllani could capitalise on. Basically, Tacón in this half was playing very skillfully individually but when it came to passing and creating play between them they either kept the ball for themselves until it was taken off them or the passes went wrong. Babett (it must be the ex-wolfsburg effect lol) even made a couple of good crosses into the box but, like what happens with cgh, no one was there to recieve them.
in the second half it kind of turned tables for a bit with tacón pressing more and having a few more shots on goal. Samara came off which was a shame but Esther came on and Babett changed sides (they clearly rely on her to be versatile enough to do whatever job needs to be done) and the defense continued to work pretty well. However, Rayo was not giving up and Guerrero started playing as fullback I believe so their line up changed to only 4 in the back which meant that they kept pressing whilst Tacón’s anxiousness and desperation started to get the best of them. The penalty (not sure what happened there it was on the other end of the pitch that i was at) was given away and Oriana clinically scored. Chi started walking everywhere, as in if I’d barely seen her enter into play before for the last 15 minutes she was nowhere to be found, Jakobsson kept really trying but Rayo made sure there was always someone on her, and Asllani had clearly zoned out. There were a few relatively good connections between between the swedes, mostly jakobsson crosses, but Asllani didn’t quite get the them. There was one where she practically had a free goal in front of her and instead headed it just over. Jakobsson literally was on two knees for a good few moments metaphorically pulling her hairs out but Asllani by this point had very much given up. Jakobsson was frustrated but at least she was showing emotion when passes weren’t going well. Eva Masdeu came on for Rayo and was a great added help in both the midfield and defense but Rayo was clearly becoming tired. Which meant that finally finally Malena found herself with a lot of space to drive the ball forward and take a stunner of a shot from outside of the box to equalise the match. And that was basically the end of that, whilst all the bench went wild and Malena and the other ogs all went over to celebrate Asllani, Jakobsson, Chi and I think one other just ran back with the ball and didn’t even go over to join in the group hug that was going on. If that doesn’t tell you enough about the group dynamic then I don’t know what does. The whistle went soon after ending a match that was okay but not satisfactory enough for either team
What’s also interesting is that after the match people that were watching just walked onto the pitch. Some were asking for selfies or signatures, others just went over to have a chat with players they obviously knew and other just started having a kick around. Like as soon as the match was over the pitch was just invaded with about 20 or so people and it was totally chill. That does not match with the picture in my head of a. the professionalism they deserve and b. the fact that a lot of players from both teams are internationally recognised players, how can this be their day to day?? ahh it messes with me slightly. In other news though, I was able to witness Ella Masar coming onto the pitch and going over to congratulate Babett which was extremely sweet and then just had her walk past me all casually. That tit-bit is your reward for anyone who’s managed to read this far :))
WSL: BIRMINGHAM CITY VS CHELSEA (24/11/2019)
The score was not what I wanted to see and it was clearly not a very equal performance, but it was still amazing to see them all play. Captain Magda shouting in English and being super supportive and encouraging was great to witness, there’s a reason why she was made captain and she’s more than pulling it off. Tbh she wasn’t given much of an opportunity to shine as Birmingham didn’t cause many scares, Bright on the other hand.... my word what a goal. She zoomed up that pitch and made such a clinical finish that one would think it was a weekly event, my mouth was literally hanging open for a good minute afterwards. Bachmann played well on the wings but always seemed to mess up her final touch/pass, she was clearly going for goal as she got put up as striker near the end but yesterday just wasn’t her day. Maren Mjelde was absolutely fantastic, particularly merciless as right back but really opening up the game all round. Beth England was just being her usual self sentencing every pass and shot she took, and Ji really got the team going with that initial free kick.
As for Birmingham, they were lucky Lucy Staniforth was back but not even she could stop the on-going attacks. I thought Abbi Grant had a great match considering she was on Maren’s wing, she was constantly on the move really pressing high and getting some good balls in. Side note: she had to go round the pitch when she was subbed off and it was really sweet to see all the kids run up to talk to her and ask for autographs/photos. Chloe Arthur also stood out for me in the midfield, opening up the game as much as possible and stopping Chelsea from really wrecking havoc on the pitch.
Overall though I’m really glad I went, the atmosphere wasn’t bad (although it was practically only the Chelsea fans who could be heard all match long) and the match was fast paced and entertaining- even though I suffered with every goal that hit the back of the net I had to appreciate the quality of it all. Also, the black Chelsea kits were a complete plus!
PRIMERA IBERDROLA: RAYO VALLECANO VS FC BARCELONA (15/09/2019)
Mess. That’s the word that best describes this match, from the lack of livestream and small attendance to the refereeing and no goals being scored in open play, the match was overall messy and disappointing. The first half was just 45 minutes of Barça having almost total possession of the ball but seeming to not know how to shoot. CGH was doing as much as she could, dribbling between players and sending the ball into the area every chance she had- but no one seemed to be able to connect with that ball and send it into the goal. It wasn’t even that they were shooting and the ball wasn’t going in, it was that very few shots were even taken. Credit needs to be given though to Rayo Vallecano who, with 5 women in defense, were a pretty impenetrable wall which kept Barça out very effectively. Their goalkeeper also pulled off a pretty impressive performance, making a few key saves. Barça had moments in the first half when they let their guard down but mostly they were very much in control of the game which makes there be very few excuses for why they weren’t a good 3 goals up at half time.
The second half started pretty similarly to how the first half had ended. Barça was still in control but el Rayo were gaining confidence- not surprisingly as Barça were clearly not getting anywhere. In one of the few counterattacks the penalty was awarded to Rayo Vallecano and was executed very well, well out of Paños’ the reach. After the goal, Barça continued to have possession and Rayo tightened their defense even more, the visiting team was clearly getting desperate. The penalty for Barça was awarded and scored (i let out a sigh of relief there), and after that everything descended into even more chaos. Mapi was given a yellow card for an offence pretty similar to the one she received a red for in the champions league match, the only thing that saved her was that it was much further away from the goal. This obviously didn’t go down well with the Rayo players (nor the fans who actually started whistling at Mapi) and the game got a bit dirtier. One of the Rayo players got a yellow card which soon turned into a red for clapping at the ref and Rayo’s trainer also got sent off for complaining/arguing about it. There continued to be more corners and set-ups that Barça could and should have taken advantage of but even the controversial 8 minutes of extra time added weren’t enough for them to turn these opportunities into a goal.
Overall, CGH was the one that stood out the most for me, she managed the ball skilfully and most of the opportunities were created by her. Asisat had a good match as well but was only subbed in for the second half, and subbing Falcón in for Leila wasn’t the best move either as Rayo were mostly playing down that side. The work of both Rayo’s goalkeeper and defense should not be overlooked, but with the quality players that Barça have in attack it’s pretty disastrous that they weren’t able to score a goal in open play against the team set out to be one of the weakest in the league. The league isn’t over yet, but it’s because of losing points against teams like Rayo Vallecano that we haven’t won it in previous years.
INTERNATIONAL WARM UP FRIENDLY: SPAN WNT VS CD TACÓN (29/08/2019)
It was clear that the Spanish national team and Tacón were in the game for very different reasons right from the start. Tacón, despite the lack of internationals, was (understandably) taking it very seriously and using changes etc most as if it were an official match, whilst Spain were just using it as almost an enhanced training session in preparation for facing France on the 31st.
In the first half most of those usually used as subs were on the pitch, which meant that they weren’t too uneven and whilst they had most of the possession Tacón’s defense was able to keep up with them at the beginning. Vicky had a clear attempt at goal from a free-kick and Sampedro almost scored before Eva Navarro was the first to hit the ball into the back of the net during the 15th minute. The second goal arrived in the 37th minute from a great header by Aitana Bonmatí.
In the second half Vilda opted for a complete change in team with a new set of players coming onto the field- those who will probably start in the match against France. Once again, Tacón held up relatively well in the first minutes with Paredes and León actually being able to show off their pace and skillset to ward off Tacón’s attackers. Unlike Spain’s usual tiki taka which ensures them the possession but not goals, they were passing up front very rapidly and it was only because the goalie was quick off the mark to get to the ball first that Spain weren’t at least 5-0 up in the first 15 minutes of the second half. The third goal came after a pass from Celia Jiménez connected well with Nahikari’s head and the ball went past the goalkeeper in the 73rd minute. After that Tacón were clearly struggling with stamina and morale problems and hence three more goals were scored in relatively quick succession: Nahikari scored another goal 3 minutes later from a corner, then Lucía García scored in the 84th minute and Nahikari finished off the night and got herself a hat-trick 2 minutes from the end.
Overall Spain played consistently and had no problems keeping possession and ensuring the difference shots on goal between the two teams was as wide as possible. For it being a Tacón without internationals and players who were as young as 15 more could have been expected of them, but taking into consideration that it was little more than a last minute training match their performance can not be faulted too much, if at all