Is it time to change the FA WSL Continental Cup format ?

The 2015 tournament has clearly exposed the gap between the WSL 1 and WSL 2 sides. As of today, the WSL 2 sides have taken 0 point off the WSL 1 sides. The gap between the divisions has widened if you compare this season with the previous one. It might be time to change the format for the 2016 season.

First with the introduction of Sheffield in the WSL 2, there will be 19 teams involved in the Cup. An odd number means things will have to change. Here are the different formats that could be used :

a) Keep the same structure, add Sheffield to Group two for geographical reason. Keep the same qualifying format ie top two go through plus the two best third placed team. With the proviso that the third placed team in Group two does not take into account the result of their game against the bottom team of Group two when comparing with the third placed teams from Groups one and three.

b) Keep the group structure but with four groups instead of three. Three groups of five teams and one group of four teams with the top two teams qualifying for the quarter-finals.

c) Go to a knock-out stage straightaway. 13 teams through to the last 16 round with teams ranked 6th to 10th at the end of the FA WSL 2 season in the hat with Sheffield in a preliminary round. The three winners go in the hat for the Round of 16 draw. Seeding could be introduced as well, if the FA wants to protect the “big” teams 😉

As usual the biggest problem will be to integrate all the League and Cup game sinto the international calendar. The good news is there will be no players involved with the Olympics in Rio so the need for a mid season break is non existent.

FA WSL Conti Cup Matchday 4 preview part 2

Liverpool and Notts County are through to the quarter finals following their win last night. Two more sides could go through tonight.

Arsenal v Reading Group 1

Arsenal would go through with a win. It will be interesting to see if Pedro Losa carries on rotating his team and play a very young side like he did against Watford and the Bees. Many of the youngsters are not available due to an England U19 call up though.

Reading are in the mix to go through and might be the only team from WSL 2 to make it to the quarter finals, a point at Arsenal and three at Watford would likely be enough to qualify as one of the ebst third placed team.

Bristol v Oxford Group 3

Bristol need to get three points to stay in the race for the top two places and also the best third placed race. Oxford are already out of the competition.

Everton v Manchester City Group 2

City would go through with a win while Everton are already out of the competition

Doncaster v Durham Group 2

Doncaster have a small chance of qualifying but need to see the other teams results go their way while they win their remaining two games. They also need to  score a lot of goals as their goal difference is bad. Durham are already out of the competition.

Teams already eliminated : London Bees, Watford Ladies, Everton Ladies, Durham Women, Oxford United, Aston Villa

Teams that would qualify with a win : Arsenal, Manchester City

Teams through to the quarter finals : Liverpool, Notts County

Current third placed teams ranking ( top two teams qualify + two best third placed teams)

1. Bristol 6 pts  7-1
2. Reading 6 pts 8-4
3. Sunderland 6 pts 8-8

FA WSL Conti Cup Matchday 4 preview

The Continental Cup Matchday 4 will be played midweek and up to four teams can qualify while six teams are already eliminated from the competition.

Teams already eliminated : London Bees, Watford Ladies, Everton Ladies, Durham Women, Oxford United, Aston Villa

Teams that would qualify with a win : Arsenal, Manchester City, Liverpool, Notts County

 

Wed 26 August

Liverpool v Sunderland Group 2

Liverpool could be the first team through to the quarter finals with a win. A draw would see them in good position to go through as one of the top 2 best third placed teams.

Chelsea v Millwall Group 1

Both side have six points and Chelsea are likely to rotate their squad and give a chance to their youngsters. It should make the game competitive

London Bees v Watford Group 1 POSTPONED

Aston Villa v Notts County Group 3

Notts County could go through against a Villa side that is already out of the competition

Birmingham v Yeovil Group 3

Both side have six points and will hope to get a win to stay in the competition as the looser is likely to finish in fourth place or in third place with a chance to be the worse third placed team.

Current third placed teams ranking ( top two teams qualify + two best third placed teams)

1. Bristol 6 pts  7-1
2. Millwall 6 pts 10-8
3. Sunderland 6 pts 8-6

FA WSL Conti Cup matchday 3 + postponed games results

Group 1

Watford  2 Millwall 4

Reading 3 London Bees 0

Chelsea 0  Arsenal 2

Watford 0 Chelsea 3

 

1. Arsenal 9 pts +7

2. Reading 6 pts +4

———————

3. Millwall 6 pts +2

4. Chelsea 6 pts +2

5. London Bees 0 pt -7

6. Watford 0 pt -8

 

Group 2

Liverpool 1 Durham 0

Sunderland 1 Man City 3

Everton 2 Doncaster 3

 

1.Man City 9 pts+10

2. Liverpool 9 pts +6

———————–

3. Sunderland 6 pts +2

4. Doncaster 3 pts  -5

5. Everton 0 pt -6

6. Durham 0 pt -7

 

Group 3

Birmingham 3 v Oxford 0

Notts County 1 Bristol 0

Yeovil 3 Aston Villa 1

Oxford 1 Notts County 6

 

1.Notts County 9 pts + 7

2. Birmingham  6 pts +8

————————-

3. Bristol 6 pts +6

4. Yeovil Town 6 pts 0

5. Oxford United 0 pt -9

6. Aston Villa 0 pt -12

 

Best third placed team

1.Bristol  6 pts +6

2. Millwall 6 pts +2

3. Sunderland 3 pts +2

 

Eliminated teams : London Bees, Watford, Everton, Durham, Oxford, Aston Villa

 

FA WSL Conti Cup matchday 2 postponed games

There are two games to be played on Wednesday the 19th of August, Watford v Chelsea in Group 1 and Oxford v Notts County in group 3

Watford and Oxford need a win or at least a point to keep their challenge alive as a defeat would mean going out of the competition for them.

Considering the 100% record for WSL 1 side against WSL 2 sides in the Conti Cup, you would expect Notts County to win for sure as they do not seem to rotate their squad much. Emma Hayes has already said she would give her development squad players a game against Watford, so it might be an even game or a potential upset. Chelsea obviously have a decisive League game on Sunday and will rest their important players.

By wednesday evening, we will have a better idea on the teams still in the running to qualify for the quarter finals as at the moment, no teams are out.

The FA WSL 2015 competitions rules

I was looking on the internet for some regulations on the FA WSL Development League Cup 2015/16 as I have found  no information available at the moment. I actually found doing that search that the FA did not upload the FA WSL 2015 rules and regulations  at all, or it is well hidden somewhere of thefa.com or the fawsl.com website.

I have attached the file as some people might be interested in reading them even though the comeptition is nearly over. I got them early in the year as someone kindly emailed them to me. But it seems absurd to me that you have to rely on contacts in the game to get them. I mean if you look at uefa.com and fifa.com all the rules and regulations are available and easy to download.

The FA certainly improved the rules on certain points but still did not act on the problem like technical error by the referee as teams cannot appeal. We certainly saw that England certainly needed that rule in the U19 Euro that led to Leah Williamson retaking a penalty against Norway, so why not do the same in the FA WSL ? One of many mystery from the FA.

Anyway enjoy the read, the file is below :

FA WSL Competition Rules 2015

FA WSL Conti Cup matchday 3 fixtures

Note the two postponed games from Matchday 2 will be played before matchday 4

Group 1

Watford v Millwall 12/08
Both side can realistically aim at third place in the group. Watford need a win as a reward for their hard work with a changed squad. They are giving youth a chance which is one of the original aim from the FA WSL. Millwall’s form has been bizzare after an unbeaten start of the season.

Reading v London Bees 15/08

Chelsea v Arsenal 16/08

Watford v Chelsea 19/08

Big game at Staines Town on Sunday that might decide who will top the group.

Group 2

Liverpool v Durham 15/08

Sunderland v Man City 15/08

Everton v Doncaster 16/08

Liverpool will try to get ahead of the other two WSL 1 sides in the group as they play each other.

Group 3

Birmingham v Oxford 16/08

Notts County v Bristol 16/08

Yeovil v Aston Villa 16/08

Oxford v Notts County 19/08

The group is wide open with 4 teams competing for 2 places at the moment.  Any upset would make the group very interesting.

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.

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.

 

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.