Inevitable narrative. Miedema went close earlier from long distance. Now she has her goal against her former club (no celebration). She loses the ball twice on the way to seeing her deflected shot go in, incredible amount of good fortune really. 1-1 at halftime. I think Arsenal have just about edged it. City started the game well but Arsenal improved after taking the lead.
The way they've handled it is obviously extremely poor. There should be better communication with the women's team for sure and perhaps some honest conversations rather than shying away from it but it's not really a surprise. Even Championship clubs are pulling funding on women's football clubs. A club like Solihull Moors (less than 20 years old as a football club) probably can't sustain what is essentially a loss making club on the women's side. All of the WSL clubs are loss making so I don't think it's too surprising that Solihull Moors are reluctant to cover the women's costs at that level. Women's football is growing but clubs below the WSL are going to find it difficult until the wealth is shared a bit more. I don't think clubs like Solihull Moors however have that wealth to share, they're a small non league club. The women's team suggest they're tier 4 which is actually higher than the level the men's team play at.
good point away at Liverpool to start the season for us, thought we'd nicked it with a Ruby Mace header but it was offside, I forgot how terrible the refs are in the WSL, if they aren't full time yet they need to be
We played newly promoted Palace this afternoon, they battled well in the first half but new signing Raso put us 1-0 up. Second half was mostly one way traffic. Palace's keeper kept it relatively respectable at 4-0. We missed so many good chances in the end. We've signed two players from Real Madrid in the summer (Raso and Oroz). It's hard to judge against a newly promoted side but they've significantly raised the quality of our side. Quite excited to see what we can achieve this season, our bench was pretty strong today.
No major surprises in the first two weeks of the WSL. Chelsea and Manchester United have taken maximum points with Arsenal, Spurs and Manchester City completing an unbeaten top 5. Ironically the other "big 6" member (Liverpool) are also unbeaten albeit they've drawn their two opening games. All very predictable. Crystal Palace 0-7 Chelsea - first WSL game at Selhurst Park on Friday night. Sounds like it went much like Palace's first game v Spurs. Palace held their own a bit in the first half, again only 1-0 down at HT, before completely capitulating in the second half. Chelsea showed a bit of ruthlessness but it could be a long season for Palace if the last two weeks are anything to go by. Brighton 0-1 Manchester City - Brighton have added some decent signings to their squad (notably Kirby and Parris). I thought Brighton looked good defensively and made it difficult for City to break them down. Lauren Hemp cracked me up with one of the most pathetic offsides you'll ever see - such lazy positioning as replays showed her stood (for a good few seconds) one yard over the halfway line in acres of space. Not sure why it's so difficult to be stood on the right side of the halfway line Everton 0-1 United - Grace Clinton (on loan at Spurs last season) made it 2 in 2 for United as they continued their perfect start (six points, no goals conceded). Highlights were brief. Leicester 0-1 Arsenal - tired performance after midweek European football? I didn't see the game but with the top teams being so consistent it's usually a disappointing result when they don't rack up a few goals in the games they're expected to win. Already losing pace with Chelsea in terms of points and GD. West Ham 1-1 Liverpool - Liverpool are unbeaten but have thrown away a 1-0 lead in their two opening games. Their manager wasn't happy in the post-game interview. They'd probably expect more than two points from their opening two fixtures - much tougher tests to come so a disappointing start. Villa 2-2 Spurs - Villa the much better team, Spurs showed a bit of resilience to get a result. There weren't too many complaints but Spurs penalty looked a little soft (only saw one angle of it tbf), just a case of getting to the ball first and going down. Spurs led, Villa came back and looked to have pinched it late on through a long ball which Daly flicked on. However Spurs grabbed a very late equaliser to pick up a decent point away. Friend of mine who watches a lot more women's football seems to think Spurs will be competing with Villa for best-of-the-rest so a good away point at Villa. In more tinpot news - next week's game between Chelsea and Manchester United has been postponed due to a clash with Chelsea's first Champions League game. The WSL game was due to be Sunday with Chelsea playing in the Champions League on Tuesday. I said with the Bunny Shaw visa issue that it's something that just wouldn't happen in the men's game and likewise here. UEFA could have scheduled Chelsea's game for Wednesday but it feels a bit of an oversight that something like this happens so early in the season and causes a postponement when people have forked out on travel and accommodation well in advance. Laughable really. On the plus side, it means the top 2 now don't play next weekend so an opportunity for the chasing clubs to take advantage.
we played really well against Arsenal and the goal came from a defensive mess up, Rantala cracked the bar too with a long range screamer. Oh and WSL cut the YouTube feed before the match finished
It's nice that all of the games are available to watch but that's ridiculous I didn't have any issues with it last week but Spurs men and women both clashed yesterday so didn't see our game this weekend. Aside from newly promoted Palace, it feels like the chasing pack are a bit stronger this year. Most of the games have been closely contested in the first two weekends.
