WSL 20/21 | United v City | 12:30 - Sat 14 Nov

I'm a real plastic Man Utd women supporter, but I've enjoyed the comeback :lol:
 
Very nice hit, great movement on the ball. One of the best strikes I have seen this season from a Man Utd team, including the men’s.
 
YES. It's great to get the equalizer but we can for sure win this with the momentum we have. :drool:
 
Maybe Stoney can chat to our men’s team. Her motivation skills must be immense
 
I'm enjoying this
 
Isn’t Lucy Bronze one of the best in the world? I’ve only watched the second half but she’s looked poor and was clearly at fault for United’s first
 
Oh feck thought that was going in!

Good save from City keeper
 
Our comeback Queens:drool:

Great 2nd half
 
2-2 at FT. Great fight back. In the end I was disappointed not to get the win. Good result really, even if I was greedy for more
 
Well, can't really complain about the draw. A tale of two halves.

Fantastic comeback. What a shame we couldn't go on to seal the comeback win.
 
Shame we couldn't get the winner but have to take that after the shocking first half.
 
These girls have heart and will fight until the end. Shame they didn't get the win, but after the first half a great comeback.
 
Damien said:
Solid result, though if we do want to become title challengers this season it is the kind of game we need to win. Great comeback.
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I agree, but we were resolute in that second half, Heath looks some player. :drool: I reckon champions League this year, another higher performance season with our youth growing more and next year we will challenge.
 
A bit of fight in this team! That first half should be enough to break the spirit of any team but they fought back and were closer to the winner in the end. Unlucky for Staniforth to not get the winner there, thought she was very good the time she played.
 
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After that fantastic 2nd half, we remain unbeaten :drool:
 
More than happy with the result. We played poor in the first half, but really City were just too good. Fantastic fight back in the second half, and that's the second time we've come from behind to get a result against a top side after the opening weekend draw against Chelsea. It shows we've got a great mentality in the squad, which Casey deserves credit for. What a banger from Heath! That's now 5 points against the top 3, after getting zero last season. We've really made some big strides forward this season, and we look to be right in the mix rather than chasing the leading pack.
 
I think someone mentioned it in this thread earlier or in the Arsenal thread - City, Arsenal and Chelsea have games against each other coming up next whilst United have an easier run of a couple of games, so we're in a good position to gain some ground over one or two of our rivals over the next 2 to 3 games.
 
Earps - awful distribution. Not helped by having to deal with some poor backpasses but their first goal came after her poor pass getting intercepted led to the corner.

Batlle - looked out of her depth in the first half up against Stanway. Better 2nd half, one decent cross that got cut out but fortunate that Stanway narrowly missed a big chance from Kelly's cross.

Galton - terrible attempted clearance led to Chloe Kelly scoring, otherwise generally decent performance. Some good corners in the 2nd half.

Amy Turner - her negativity in possession got us in trouble, starting the sequence of mistakes that led to their first goal. Distribution poor but her defending seemed ok.

Millie Turner - defended well and had a shot blocked from a corner in the 2nd half

Ladd - got stuck in as expected but unable to stop the one way traffic in the first half. Had a couple of shots from long distance that didn't trouble their keeper

Groenen - poor performance. Dominated by City's midfield.

Toone - not much quality on display today. One shot that might have been on target, deflected wide for a corner. Dragged a left foot shot wide and a rubbish left footed cross out of play.

Sigsworth - looked off the pace.

Heath - spectacular goal. Not involved as much as I hoped. Early poor cross out of play. Her corners were easily cut out at the near post.

Press - one good moment, stealing possession ahead of Steph Houghton then sending in a dangerous cross. Rarely found by her team-mates.

Hanson - scored the equalizer and performed pretty well, one cross that City just about cleared for a corner without it almost being an own goal, also a shot from distance that was saved comfortably.

James - had a couple of attempts, one off-target after a run, the other an easy save after some good skill.

Staniforth - header cleared off the line by Demi Stokes, from Galton's corner late on, one good long ball to Hanson and a disappointing corner out of play

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First half terrible, so many careless errors. Second half decent performance. Overall a bit lucky to get the draw but impressive come-back given City's near total domination in the first half.
 
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Slightly off topic and I mean she is dead to me now but is there a better set piece taker than Greenwood in all of football? We saw it when she was here and today every ball she put in looked like it was going to hurt.
 
That was an unbelievably bad first half , it's genuinely hard to understand what happened & annoying that there was no one there to get a hold of the team and get their heads back in place while the half was on. Great great comeback to get something from the game but we could easily have been 5 down at HT
 
Ayush_reddevil said:
That was an unbelievably bad first half , it's genuinely hard to understand what happened & annoying that there was no one there to get a hold of the team and get their heads back in place while the half was on. Great great comeback to get something from the game but we could easily have been 5 down at HT
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Stoney has accepted blame for the first half display, felt the strong press was too much, they played it well and broke through the press with ease, saying that though, our first goal came from a sustained press, so it can work.
If we'd had our A game today I think we would have won. City did look a little nervous second half when we started to get a foothold in the game, which is surprising as they have such an experienced team.
Stoney also said that last year we would have lost, so there is certainly some improvement in the team and squad, and I don't think United are playing anywhere near their full potential yet.
The close control and ball skills that Lauren James has is phenomenal, just needs to put herself about a touch more.
 
red woppit said:
Stoney has accepted blame for the first half display, felt the strong press was too much, they played it well and broke through the press with ease, saying that though, our first goal came from a sustained press, so it can work.
If we'd had our A game today I think we would have won. City did look a little nervous second half when we started to get a foothold in the game, which is surprising as they have such an experienced team.
Stoney also said that last year we would have lost, so there is certainly some improvement in the team and squad, and I don't think United are playing anywhere near their full potential yet.
The close control and ball skills that Lauren James has is phenomenal, just needs to put herself about a touch more.
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I actually thought they didn't press as much as they should in the first half.
They pressed with more intent in the second half and gained rewards from it.
Certainly something was wrong on the first half, allowed City far to much space to run into down the wings.
Changed it slightly in the second, the press was higher and more collective, and what you say about James is 100% correct.
Reminds me a lot of Berbatov, she has the skill, intelligence, touch, poise, vision and ability, just needs to speed things up a tad at times.
 
Champ said:
I actually thought they didn't press as much as they should in the first half.
They pressed with more intent in the second half and gained rewards from it.
Certainly something was wrong on the first half, allowed City far to much space to run into down the wings.
Changed it slightly in the second, the press was higher and more collective, and what you say about James is 100% correct.
Reminds me a lot of Berbatov, she has the skill, intelligence, touch, poise, vision and ability, just needs to speed things up a tad at times.
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Could be that press was just coming from the front three, the midfield did look a little hesitant, not sure whether to press or stay back, ended up doing neither. Thought our right side looked poor in the first half, not surprised that Sigsworth was subbed off at half time. Galton looked good at full back, apart from the poor clearance for their first goal, saying that though, it was a catalogue of errors. Midfield much better second half, but this team/squad is very much a work in progress, so once they get a bit more experience, experience I see success. I think we have one of the better/ brighter managers in the WSL. Look forward to seeing more of this team.
 
red woppit said:
Could be that press was just coming from the front three, the midfield did look a little hesitant, not sure whether to press or stay back, ended up doing neither. Thought our right side looked poor in the first half, not surprised that Sigsworth was subbed off at half time. Galton looked good at full back, apart from the poor clearance for their first goal, saying that though, it was a catalogue of errors. Midfield much better second half, but this team/squad is very much a work in progress, so once they get a bit more experience, experience I see success. I think we have one of the better/ brighter managers in the WSL. Look forward to seeing more of this team.
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Casey pretty much admitted that in the post match interview. Took full responsibility and turned it around. Brilliant coaching
 
red woppit said:
Stoney has accepted blame for the first half display, felt the strong press was too much, they played it well and broke through the press with ease, saying that though, our first goal came from a sustained press, so it can work.
If we'd had our A game today I think we would have won. City did look a little nervous second half when we started to get a foothold in the game, which is surprising as they have such an experienced team.
Stoney also said that last year we would have lost, so there is certainly some improvement in the team and squad, and I don't think United are playing anywhere near their full potential yet.
The close control and ball skills that Lauren James has is phenomenal, just needs to put herself about a touch more.
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Yeah I saw her interview but still think that players should have been able to do more by themselves, it was all just really really bad.
 
red woppit said:
Could be that press was just coming from the front three, the midfield did look a little hesitant, not sure whether to press or stay back, ended up doing neither. Thought our right side looked poor in the first half, not surprised that Sigsworth was subbed off at half time. Galton looked good at full back, apart from the poor clearance for their first goal, saying that though, it was a catalogue of errors. Midfield much better second half, but this team/squad is very much a work in progress, so once they get a bit more experience, experience I see success. I think we have one of the better/ brighter managers in the WSL. Look forward to seeing more of this team.
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The press wasn't the main issue at all. I've just rewatched most of the first half. To the extent that there was an issue with the press, it was due to one of the central defenders not being willing to follow Coombs when she dropped a little deeper to receive the ball. This meant that Coombs could feed Chloe Kelly on the right, Sam Mewis now a threat as Hayley Ladd was miles out of position, as she had been pressing high and couldn't keep pace with Mewis over such a long distance.

The main problems were:

- Amy Turner needlessly passing the ball back to Mary Earps. In the first instance they exchanged passes, then Earps took too long to clear, giving Ellen White time to get a touch on the clearance so it fell to a City player who intercepted it, leading to the corner, which resulted in Chloe Kelly's goal. Another needless backpass from Amy Turner, this time a terrible one, that Earps fell over when trying to clear, resulting in another corner. Add to that a poor pass from Amy got intercepted leading to a City counter.

- Ona Batlle being unable to deal with Georgia Stanway, regardless of which one of them had the ball initially. As the half developed, Batlle seemed unable to think clearly, one time making a bizarre late attempt to press Demi Stokes, leaving Stanway free on the left.

- Jess Sigsworth carelessly offside twice in about 10 mins, also asleep when Demi Stokes ran off the ball in our defensive third. One time she chose to press centrally, leaving Stokes free to surge up the pitch.

- Hayley Ladd twice unable to make simple 5 yard passes during a spell of 15 seconds. On 2nd viewing, neither Ladd nor Groenen seemed to recognise the extent to which Mewis was a threat.

- a small number of over-hit long passes. I think two came from Leah Galton, another from Millie Turner.

- City's 2nd goal. Chloe Kelly is offside from the free-kick. Groenen pauses for a moment rather than tracking Mewis. United's defence is very deep when the shot comes in that Amy Turner blocks, then Millie Turner is blocking Mary Earps' view, although the shot from Coombs might have been too good regardless.
 
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