FA WSL Conti Cup matchday 2 results

Group 1

London Bees 1 Arsenal 3

Millwall 1 Reading 3

Watford Chelsea p-p

 

1. Arsenal 6 pts +5

2. Reading 3 pts +1

3.Chelsea* 3 pts +1

4. Millwall 3 pts 0

5. Watford* 0 pt -3

6. London Bees 0 pt -4

*teams with a game in hand

 

Group 2

Man City 5 Durham 0

Sunderland 5 Everton 2

Doncaster 0 Liverpool 3

 

1. Man City 6 pts +8

2. Liverpool 6 pts +5

3. Sunderland 6 pts +4

4. Everton 0 pt -5

5. Durham 0 pt -6

6. Doncaster 0 pt -6

 

Group 3

Aston Villa 1 Birmingham City 7

Yeovil Town v Bristol

Oxford v Notts County p-p

 

1. Bristol 6 pts +7

2. Birmingham 3 pts +5

3. Notts County* 3 pts +1

4. Yeovil 3 pts -1

5. Oxford* 0 pt -1

6. Aston Villa 0 pt -10

 

*teams with a game in hand

 

Best 3rd place table

1. Sunderland 6 pts +4

2. Chelsea* 3 pts +1

3. Notts County* 3 pts +1

 

WSL 1 v WSL 2  results for the 2015 competition :

WSL 1 wins : 12 wins 100%

Draw :  0   0%

WSL 2 wins : 0   0%

 

So far no upset with WSL 2 unable to get a single point of WSL 1 teams. The consequences are all the FA WSL 1 side are looking good to qualify for the competition’s quarter-finals.

Should Beth Mead get an England call up ?

Following her fantastic hat-trick against Chelsea and her current form that yielded 10 goals in 9 League games in the FA WSL 1 this season, there have been claims that Beth Mead deserves an England Senior call-up.

 

Her club manager was the first online of many who said that she deserved a call-up.

In the past, she has been called up for the all the younger England groups from the u15s to u23 level. She has been a consistent goalscorer for club and country, scoring at every level, as well as being top scorer in the Women’s Premier League on regular basis despite being 17 and 18 at the time.

With England starting their Euro 2017 qualifying campaign away to Estonia, it does make sense to bring her into the squad and ease her in against lower ranked opponents so that she can learn to live and work alongside the senior players.

However, there are question marks about Mead being successful at in international level. She was part of the England u20 World Cup where she scored a wonder goal against Mexico in their 1-1- draw. But she also failed to score the winning goal against the Korea Republic in a one v one situation. In addition, she was also guilty of missing a crucial penalty that would have sent England to the knock-out stage, with Nigeria winning the game 2-1 and going through.

That lack of composure at top level is certainly a big argument against her as we know international football is a step higher that the FA WSL, but she certainly is worth being given a chance in the near future if she can can keep her consistent scoring record.

Should she also scoree in the Champions League with Sunderland or another side, it would be another indication that she is ready to compete with the forwards that did so well for England at the recent FIFA 2015 Women World Cup in Canada.

FA WSL Conti Cup matchday 1 results

Group 1

Reading Women 2 Chelsea Ladies 3

Millwall Lionesses 5 London Bees 3

Arsenal Ladies 3 Watford Ladies 0

 

1. Arsenal Ladies 3 pts +3

2. Millwall Lionesses  3 pts  +2

3. Chelsea Ladies  3 pts +1

4. Reading Women  0 pt -1

5.London Bees 0 pt -2

6. Watford Ladies 0 -3

 

Group 2

Durham Women 1 Sunderland Ladies 2

Everton  Ladies 0 Liverpool Ladies 2

Doncaster Rover 0 Man City Women 3

 

1. Manchester City Women 3 pts +3

2. Liverpool Ladies 3 pts +2

3. Sunderland 3 pts +1

4. Durham 0 pt -1

5.  Everton ladies 0 pt -2

6. Doncaster Rover 0 pt -3

 

Group 3

Aston Villa 0 Bristol Academy 4

Notts County 2 Birmingham City 1

Oxford United 0 Yeovil Women 1

 

Bristol 3 pts +4

Notts County 3 pts +1

Birmingham 0 pt -1

Aston Villa 0 pt -4

 

Best 3rd place table

1. Chelsea Ladies 3 pts GD +1 3-2

2. Sunderland Women 3 pts GD +1 2-1

3. Yeovil Town 3 ptd GD +1  1-0

 

WSL 1 v WSL 2  results for the 2015 competition :

WSL 1 wins 6  100%

Draw 0

WSL 2 win 0

So far no upset with WSL 2 unable to get a single point of WSL 1 teams.

 

FA WSL players back from the world cup Matchday 8

New Zeland eliminated 15 Jun – 37 days rest

R White Liverpool starting 11 1 goal

Nigeria eliminated 16 Jun – 36 days rest

A Oshoala Liverpool starting 11 injured during the game

Spain eliminated 17 Jun  – 35 days rest

M Corredera Arsenal starting 11

N Pablos Sanchon starting 11

V Losada Arsenal starting 11

Sweden eliminated 20 Jun – 32 days rest

H Lindhal Chelsea starting 11

Korea Republic eliminated 21 Jun – 31 days rest

J So Yun Chelsea starting 11

Netherlands eliminated 23 Jun 29 days rest

D Janssen Arsenal starting 11

S Van Veenedaal Arsenal unused sub ( back up goalie)

Canada eliminated 27 Jun 25 days rest

Desiree Scott coming on as sub

England play off 3rd place 04 Jul – 8 days rest

K Bardsley Man City starting 11

A Scott Arsenal starting 11 injured during game

C Rafferty Chelsea starting 11

F Williams Liverpool starting 11 injured during the game

S Houghton Man City starting 11

L Bassett Notts County starting 11

J Nobbs Arsenal injury

J Scott Man City starting 11

E Aluko Chelsea starting 11

K Carney Birmingham starting 11

J Moore Birmingham starting 11

L Bronze Man City starting 11

S Chamberlain Notts County starting 11

A Greenwood Notts County starting 11

C Stoney Arsenal starting 11

K Chapman Chelsea starting 11

J Potter Birmingham starting 11

T Duggan Man City starting 11

C Telford Notts County injury

F Kirby Chelsea unused sub probable injury

E White Notts County starting 11

 

Starting 11

26 injured 2 unused sub 2 coming on as sub 1

The battle for the Champions League places after Matchday 7

The battle for the Champions League is tight with nearly all of the FA WSL  sides still in it except Birmingham and Bristol who will fight to avoid relegation.

We are halfway through the season and Chelsea Ladies are in pole position to qualify for the Champions League 2016/07 season.  They are five points ahead of Arsenal and Sunderland, six points ahead of Notts County. They are also eight and nine points ahead of Liverpool and Manchester City, but those two teams have a game in hand and the winner of that game will be back in the mix for the runner-up place.

The table looks like this :

1. Chelsea 17 pts + 10
2. Arsenal 12 pts + 4
3. Sunderland 12 pts 0
4. Notts County 11 pts + 4
5. Liverpool 9 pts +1
6. Man City 8 pts 0

Goal difference might be crucial as it was last year, with Liverpool and Chelsea finishing level on points and Liverpool winning the title with a better goal difference. All the teams ranked second to sixth cannot afford to drop any point, if they want to compete in the top European club competition next season.

The FA WSL Continental Cup 2015

The FA WSL Continental Cup is back with Manchester City the holders looking to win another trophy to validate their business & football model.

Some of format problems from last season have been changed while other remains and controversy will still strike as usual. Note the final will be played late in the season on Sunday the 1st of November.

Here are the main points from the FA WSL Cup rules :

“The League Cup will be competed for by all Clubs competing in the FA WSL. Any Club withdrawing from the Competition shall be fined a sum not exceeding £500. Only players registered for a Club shall be eligible to play for that Club in any one Season. A player shall not play for more than one Club in the League Cup Competition during any one Season. A Club playing an ineligible player shall be removed from the Competition, and be subject to a fine as decided by the Management Committee.

The first round of the Competition may be played in a group format. Subsequent rounds will be played on a ‘knock-out’ basis. If a Group Stage takes place it should consist of three groups of six teams selected on a regional basis to play each other once. The teams finishing winners and runners-up of the Group Stage plus two best placed runner-up (based on and in the order of, the highest number of points, superior goal difference, highest number of goals scored, the results between the two Clubs concerned, drawing of lots) will progress to the Quarter Finals. note the typo here from the FA, best third place teams go through. A draw will take place to determine the compilation of the Quarter Final and Semi Final ties. Semi Final ties may take place on a neutral venue.” Hopefully no ineligible player will take part in the competition unlike last year.

The biggest change is there is now an extra round of games with the quarter-final stage rather than going straight to the semi-final stage like last year. If you remember last season was one group with only FA WSL 1 side compared to the other two groups with three FA WSL 1 side. And funily enough the best runner-up came from that group qualifying alongside the other three group winners.

This also means there will be less dead rubbers towards the end of the competition and maybe less heavy scoreline although the gap between WSL 1 and WSL 2 sides seem to grow overall. Obviously Sunderland this season is showing that the gap between the top of WSL 2 and WSL 1 is non existent, but the medium range and bottom half of WSL 2 teams are nowhere near the WSL 1 level as expected really. The groups are the same as last year. Group 1 with 2 WSL 1 and 4 WSL 2 sides, Group 2 with 3 WSL 1  and 3 WSL 2 sides and Groop C with 3 WSL 1 and 3 WSL 2 sides.

Upsets might happen though, we saw two wins for WSL 2 teams against WSL 1 teams in the Conti Cup last season and two as well in the FA Cup this season. And the first controversy comes from Everton Ladies schedule as they applied to postpone all their games in July. The FA decided that their League games would be postponed but not the Continental Cup games !!!! So their weakened squad is deemed  good enough to compete again WSL 1 side Liverpool and Sunderland by the FA but not against WSL 2 sides. It does not sound the most logical thing unless the FA do not really care about the competition.

Last point, I would expect the England World Cup players to be rested in the earlier round of the competition considering the games come thick and fast and those girls have had barely a week off and need to be fresh and sharp for the League games.

The FA WSL 1 relegation battle

With this week-end’s results Manchester City are now getting away from the relegation zone leaving Birmingham City Ladies and Bristol academy to fight for survival. Man City are five points ahead of Blues and six points ahead of the Vixens with a game in hand as well. They are now safe unless, they start losing the majority of their games.

The FA WSL 1 bottom 3 table looks like this :

6. Manchester City 8 pts +0 a game in hand

7. Birmingham City 3 pts -6

————————————–

8. Bristol Academy 2 pts -13

Birmingham remaining League games

Arsenal H 19.07

Liverpool H 26.07

Chelsea A 09.08

Sunderland H 23.08

Bristol A 05.09

Notts County A 27.09

Arsenal A 04.10

Bristol remaining League games

Man City H 18.07

Sunderland H 25.07

Notts County A 05.08

Liverpool A 22.08

Birmingham H 05.09

Man City A 27.09

Liverpool H 04.10

There is no doubt that the first team to win a game will get a huge psychological boost and that head to head game on the 5th of September might be decisive…. unless Bristol manage to beat Man City next Saturday and bring the Mancunians back in the mix.

FA WSL players back from the world cup : Matchday 7

I thought it would be interesting to monitor how much rest the World Cup players will get after the tournament and how many will turn up and pay barely a week after the third place play-off for the England girls.

New Zeland eliminated 15 Jun – 37 days rest

R White Liverpoolcame on as a sub

Nigeria eliminated 16 Jun – 36 days rest

A Oshoala Liverpool starting 11

Spain eliminated 17 Jun  – 35 days rest

M Corredera Arsenal starting 11

N Pablos Sanchon Arsenal came on as a sub

V Losada Arsenal starting 11

Sweden eliminated 20 Jun – 32 days rest

H Lindhal Chelsea starting 11

Korea Republic eliminated 21 Jun – 31 days rest

J So Yun Chelsea came on as a sub

Netherlands eliminated 23 Jun 29 days rest

D Janssen Arsenal starting 11

S Van Veenedaal Arsenal unused sub ( back up goalie)

England play off 3rd place 04 Jul – 8 days rest

K Bardsley Man City starting 11

A Scott Arsenal starting 11

C Rafferty Chelsea unused sub

F Williams Liverpool starting 11

S Houghton Man City starting 11

L Bassett Notts County starting 11

J Nobbs Arsenal injury

J Scott Man City starting 11

E Aluko Chelsea starting 11 sub due to injury ?

K Carney Birmingham came on as a sub

J Moore Birmingham starting 11

L Bronze Man City starting 11

S Chamberlain Notts County starting 11

A Greenwood Notts County starting 11

C Stoney Arsenal starting 11

K Chapman Chelsea came on as a sub

J Potter Birmingham came on as a sub

T Duggan Man City starting 11

C Telford Notts County injury

F Kirby Chelsea injury

E White Notts County starting 11

Canada eliminated

Desiree Scott  Notts County unavailable

Overall :

Injured players 3

Starting 11 : 19

Came on as a sub : 6

Unused sub : 2

Unavailable : 1

FA WSL 1 Matchday 7 preview

We enter the second half of the season after the World Cup break and it will be interesting to see how many players from the England team will effectively play this week-end. There is an obvious injury risk wtih physical and mental tiredness hitting the players after such a huge tournament.

Chelsea (1) v Bristol (8)

Top versus bottom, the home team will be favourite and it will be interesting to see how many of the seven recruits for Bristol Academy will be given a start. They are still looking for their first win in the competition and need to get some points to stay in touch with Birmingham and Manchester City. Chelsea need the thre points to consolidate their first place and take any advantage of a potential slip-up from Arsenal and Notts County.

Manchester City (6) v Birmingham (7) 

Bottom of the table battle with both side still under threat from Bristol should they loose the game.  Birmingham with no win so far this season and one goal scored will need Carney, Lawley and Linnett at their best to get something from this game. City will all their world cup stars have only a win this season and also need to get going, they might have found the missing piece from their puzzle in Daphne Corboz.

Sunderland (4) v Notts County (3)

Top of the table clash with Notts County welcoming their World Cup heroes. You would think Sunderland have an advantage here having trained with their full squad for a while. Notts County were in superb form prior to the mid-season break and will certainly look to get the three points on board and get close to the top 2 places.

Arsenal (2) v Liverpool (5)

A must not lose game for Liverpool Ladies currently sitting with a six and eighth points deficit over the top two sides. They still a game on hand against City so they could well close the gap soon. Liverpool had two players only at the World Cupa and one of them  came early. Same situation with Arsenal where five of the nine World Cup players came early enough with only four England players coming back late.

 

There is no doubt many players will be rusty after the long break as seen in yesterday’s FA WSL 2 games. Hopefully with bumper crowds coming we will see some entertaining football played.

FA WSL 2 2015 promotion places season history

2 teams will be promoted this season to the FA WSL 1 at the end of the 2015 season. Here is the full history for the season.

18/03 1.  Everton  Ladies 3 pts  2. London Bees 1pt & Millwall Lionnesses 1pt

19/03 1.  Doncaster Belles 3 pts +3 2. Reading Women 3 pts +2

28/03 1. Doncaster Belles 6 pts +4 2. Aston Villa 3 pts +2

29/03 1. Reading Women 6 pts +9  2. Doncaster Belles 6 pts +4

01/04 1. Reading Women 9 pts +12 2. Doncaster Belles 6 pts+4

05/04 1. Reading Women 9 pts +12 2. Doncaster Belles 9pts +9

12/04 1. Reading Women 9 pts +12 2. Doncaster Belles 9pts +9

18/04 1. Doncaster Belles 10 pts +9 2. Reading Women 9 pts +10

23/04 1.Reading Women 10 pts +10 2. Doncaster Belles 10 pts +9

25/04 1. Doncaster Belles 13 pts +10 2. Reading Women 10 pts +10

26/04 1. Doncaster Belles 13 pts +10 2. Reading 10 pts +10

09/05 1. Doncaster Belles 16 pts +14 2. Reading Women 13 pts +11

16/05 1. Reading Women 16 pts +14 2. Doncaster Belles 16 pts +11

17/05 1. Reading Women 16 pts +14 2. Doncaster Belles 16 pts +11

21/05 1.  Doncaster Belles 19 pts + 13 2. Reading 16 pts +14

22/05 1. Reading Women 19 pts +17       2. Doncaster Belles 19 pts +13

27/05 1. Reading Women 19 pts +17
2. Doncaster Belles 19 pts +13

31/05 1. Reading Women 22 pts +22
2. Doncaster Belles 22 pts +16

11/07 1. Reading Women 25 pts +25 2. Doncaster Belles 25 pts +21