exceptionally poor second half imo. Dont think we strung more than 2 consecutive passes together, no one driving the team forward and happy to sit very deep.
standard is going to have to drastically improve if they are to get to (and stay) in the WSL1!
I hate this sort of 343. I always dislike 343 because it doesn't give you control of the middle but it's particularly bad with the level of midfielders we have. I get why we play with attacking wingbacks given that Newsham and Hutton are our only very good players ahead of the centre backs but a more traditional 352 would allow us an extra player in midfield to take control, would give the central strikers someone to play off and would remove this mess of sort of wingers we have in front of the wingbacks who don't offer anything. Ipswich are a team we should be putting away comfortably but I think we're a lot weaker than last season without Brazil, Roe and even Barton. Still, if we can grind our way to enough results we might still get somewhere
Rubbish game, rubbish performance, and no positives apart from not losing.
The best chance came after about 3 minutes, when a header on found Amalie Thestrup free inside the box, only for her to volley it wide. Emma Bissell hit a first-time shot straight at the keeper after good work by Charlotte Newsham on the right and Elisha N'Dow side-footed a presentable chance over the bar from the edge of the box, but that was pretty much it in terms of opportunities – and they were all before half-time.
A midfield of Mia Ross and Keira Flannery (who had her worst game for us) doesn't really work as neither of them pose much attacking threat, but then Katie Bradley didn't offer much either after she came on at the break. The fact that their keeper didn't have a save to make in the second half is partly down to a well-organised Ipswich defence, but mainly because we had next to no creativity and never looked like breaking them down. We were so ponderous on the ball, particularly in defence where having a right-footed player at left-back in Gracie Pearse didn't help, and whenever we did get into a promising position we made the wrong decision or overhit the pass or cross. Other teams watching this will take heart from how easy it was for Ipswich to stifle us.
The funny thing is, our League Cup game against West Ham on Wednesday looks winnable given their awful start to the WSL season. But not if we play like that.
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Dont think we strung more than 2 consecutive passes together, no one driving the team forward and happy to sit very deep.
standard is going to have to drastically improve if they are to get to (and stay) in the WSL1!
Men's, 9 goals total in games involving them, joint lowest in the league with Portsmouth.
The best chance came after about 3 minutes, when a header on found Amalie Thestrup free inside the box, only for her to volley it wide. Emma Bissell hit a first-time shot straight at the keeper after good work by Charlotte Newsham on the right and Elisha N'Dow side-footed a presentable chance over the bar from the edge of the box, but that was pretty much it in terms of opportunities – and they were all before half-time.
A midfield of Mia Ross and Keira Flannery (who had her worst game for us) doesn't really work as neither of them pose much attacking threat, but then Katie Bradley didn't offer much either after she came on at the break. The fact that their keeper didn't have a save to make in the second half is partly down to a well-organised Ipswich defence, but mainly because we had next to no creativity and never looked like breaking them down. We were so ponderous on the ball, particularly in defence where having a right-footed player at left-back in Gracie Pearse didn't help, and whenever we did get into a promising position we made the wrong decision or overhit the pass or cross. Other teams watching this will take heart from how easy it was for Ipswich to stifle us.
The funny thing is, our League Cup game against West Ham on Wednesday looks winnable given their awful start to the WSL season. But not if we play like that.