WFA Cup 25 QF | United v Sunderland - 5:15pm Sat 8 March

DomesticTadpole said:
Sunderland just seem happy to keep the ball up in the air.
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Hoof and hope is a reasonable strategy in this situation so I can't blame them.

For all our possession and chances their keeper hasn't had to do much work. They've worked hard in defence.
 
Finally, a third goal. All three were headers too. Makes sense considering we were struggling to break through their low block
 
FT
Turned into a tense few minutes after Sunderland scored but we got there.

Well played to Sunderland for being so frustrating. Solid win from us, even though the scoreline made it a bit nervous for a while.
 
When was the last time we saw Tooney score with a header? That's not usually her M.O. but she sure knows how to do it.
 
Well that was a lot more difficult than it needed to be. Credit to Sunderland though, they were solid defensively. But it felt like our passing was getting more and more sloppy with each passing minute in the second half.

Nevertheless a win is a win. And now we wait to find out who we’ll face in the semis between Villa, Palace and Liverpool.
 
Maestro14 said:
Well that was a lot more difficult than it needed to be. Credit to Sunderland though, they were solid defensively. But it felt like our passing was getting more and more sloppy with each passing minute in the second half.

Nevertheless a win is a win. And now we wait to find out who we’ll face in the semis between Villa, Palace and Liverpool.
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I like your thinking re semi-final oppo’s
 
The players wore black armbands yesterday and the crowd did a moments applause at 10 minutes into the match, in remembrance of 10 year old Poppy Atkinson.

Poppy died this week when a car crashed through fencing onto the playing field at her club in Kendal. She was there at football training with her U12 teammates. Her dream according to her parents was of one day playing for United women.



RIP, little one.
 
RIP Poppy. I found the tribute really touching, especially MLT rushing to the bench to get the shirt after Galton's goal and Tooney holding it up. Respect.

As for the game, we were completely dominant, as expected, but only managed four shots on target, which is a bit worrying. Fair play to Sunderland - they defended well.

Le Tissier, Bizet and George were my standout performers.
 
Scanny said:
I like your thinking re semi-final oppo’s
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Well I got 1/3 right! Liverpool have knocked out Arsenal with a 1-0 win. No surprises at City or Chelsea (although Chelsea only beating Palace 1-0 is a minor surprise in itself)
 
The draw won't be fixed obviously but we'll be away against Chelsea and City will be home against Liverpool. That way there's a chance of either a Manchester or North West derby final. Got to think of those TV monies!!
 
Draw done:
City v United
Chelsea v Liverpool

Surprise!
Not.

Both semi-finals will be played on the weekend of 12-13th April and broadcast live on BBC.
 
Beating City away? Been there, done that. Slim chance of Liverpool in the final? I'll take it!
 
Scanny said:
Maybe fixture congestion will cause Chelsea some fatigue.
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Hopefully. They don’t seem as strong as they did earlier in the season, but they just keep winning. Their saga of matches against City will be interesting to watch.
 
AmarilloMike said:
Beating City away? Been there, done that. Slim chance of Liverpool in the final? I'll take it!
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After watching Liverpool's win over Arsenal today I'm tempted to say "be careful what you wish for." I didn't think Arsenal played particularly, poorly; rather, Liverpool just flat-out beat them. They clearly don't have the overall level of quality that Arsenal has, but they played with a remarkable level of intensity and an extremely well-organized defense (er, sorry: "defence").

That said, though, I I have to admit that I'd rather face them than Chelsea -- just not by as large a margin as I might have thought yesterday. But let's not get ahead of ourselves. We've beaten City away, of course, but doing it a second time will be tough.
 
Lobster11 said:
After watching Liverpool's win over Arsenal today I'm tempted to say "be careful what you wish for." I didn't think Arsenal played particularly, poorly; rather, Liverpool just flat-out beat them. They clearly don't have the overall level of quality that Arsenal has, but they played with a remarkable level of intensity and an extremely well-organized defense (er, sorry: "defence").

That said, though, I I have to admit that I'd rather face them than Chelsea -- just not by as large a margin as I might have thought yesterday. But let's not get ahead of ourselves. We've beaten City away, of course, but doing it a second time will be tough.
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I don't mind the draw - we have enough quality and desire to beat City. I also think the Chelsea/Liverpool game could go either way.
 
Maestro14 said:
Hopefully. They don’t seem as strong as they did earlier in the season, but they just keep winning. Their saga of matches against City will be interesting to watch.
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With any luck that run of four games will wear both of them down mentally and physically. They've got those 4 matches + another WSL match (West Ham for Chelsea and Brighton for City) to play before the end of the month and then we're straight into international break followed by the semis.

That complication also applies to us. It's always anyone's guess how the players come back from an international break - it'll certainly give Liverpool hope though. None of the top four looked great after the last round of internationals.
 
Demon Barber said:
As for the game, we were completely dominant, as expected, but only managed four shots on target, which is a bit worrying. Fair play to Sunderland - they defended well.

Le Tissier, Bizet and George were my standout performers.
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I think the shots-on-target stat is misleading in this case: We created plenty of opportunities that missed by very small margins. I'm often tempted to trot out the old "lack of clinical finishing" critique, but I didn't feel that way in this game.

Also, I think Tooney should be included in the standout-performers list, but not because of her goal (as fun as that was!). Sunderland did well to smother her any time she got near the box, so she had few if any scoring opportunities, but for most of the game she was pulling the strings of the offense and she was involved in the buildup to almost all our best chances. I think she is playing as well as she ever has and this match was no exception.
 
Lobster11 said:
I think the shots-on-target stat is misleading in this case: We created plenty of opportunities that missed by very small margins. I'm often tempted to trot out the old "lack of clinical finishing" critique, but I didn't feel that way in this game.

Also, I think Tooney should be included in the standout-performers list, but not because of her goal (as fun as that was!). Sunderland did well to smother her any time she got near the box, so she had few if any scoring opportunities, but for most of the game she was pulling the strings of the offense and she was involved in the buildup to almost all our best chances. I think she is playing as well as she ever has and this match was no exception.
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I agree with you about Toone, but I try to limit my stand-out performers to 2 or 3. Sod it! Le Tissier, Bizet, George and Toone!
 
Demon Barber said:
I agree with you about Toone, but I try to limit my stand-out performers to 2 or 3. Sod it! Le Tissier, Bizet, George and Toone!
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Haha. I think the "problem" is that since her time off she's been a standout performer pretty much every week, so it's easy to take her for granted.
 
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