Bristol City Women - WSL

[Lanterne Rouge]

Just now, Eco said:

Not yet!

yeah, don`t know what I did there!

[Eco]

3 minutes ago, phantom said:

Is it these (after 70 minutes) 

Nope it was our record in previous seasons v Arsenal plus the fact we'd lost xxx number of games after trailing at half time. Thanks for posting these though, scary enough.

[redkev]

Every time I flick over there another goal down , it must be soul destroying playing for city ladies , they seem to get battered every week , even when the scores are only 2 or 3 they seem to spend nearly all game defending , it’s as if anything below 3 is a victory , 

if the funding isn’t there by city ( which it obviously isn’t )  no point in being in the prem league of ladies football far to big a gap for them , they really can’t enjoy it 

[Back of the Dolman]

28 minutes ago, Spoons said:

This is hard to watch ….. 

I must admit I don’t watch a lot of women’s football, not because of any sort of sexism or misogyny, but it just doesn’t interest me in the same way as watching snooker or tennis doesn’t interest me.

But I am watching tonight and I would have to ask is this the way City have set up all season ?

Almost seems pointless playing, defending so deeply with no out ball.

Its just a training exercise for Arsenal

Edited April 14 by Back of the Dolman

[Davefevs]

Just now, Back of the Dolman said:

I must admit I don’t watch a lot of women’s football, not because of any sort of sexism or misogyny, but it just doesn’t interest in the same way as watching snooker or tennis doesn’t interest me.

But I am watching tonight and I would have to ask is this the way City have set up all season ?

Almost seems pointless playing, defending so deeply with no out all.

Its just a training exercise for Arsenal

The games I’ve watched we defend as 3 units, and each unit is disconnected and easy to play through.  We knacker ourselves by not having any compactness, and are constantly doing doggies to close the ball down.

[Back of the Dolman]

1 minute ago, Davefevs said:

The games I’ve watched we defend as 3 units, and each unit is disconnected and easy to play through.  We knacker ourselves by not having any compactness, and are constantly doing doggies to close the ball down.

It does seem very poor defensively for a team who are clearly set up defensively.

No point being so defensive if you can’t defend as a team.

May as well try and play higher and put the opposition under pressure a bit 

[Sleepy1968]

3 minutes ago, redkev said:

Every time I flick over there another goal down , it must be soul destroying playing for city ladies , they seem to get battered every week , even when the scores are only 2 or 3 they seem to spend nearly all game defending , it’s as if anything below 3 is a victory , 

if the funding isn’t there by city ( which it obviously isn’t )  no point in being in the prem league of ladies football far to big a gap for them , they really can’t enjoy it 

City chose not to fund it properly, which is absolutely pathetic if you ask me.

I do genuinely feel sorry for our girls, most of whom are being asked to do a job beyond them.

If we ever get to the Prem, don't be too shocked if a similar investment strategy is implemented.

[astrondrew]

It's very different to how we played in the Championship. We tried to keep playing that way but got hammered by Man City and changed to a much more defensive set up. It almost immediately worked and results picked up but dropped off and January signings at West Ham vs the ones we made have made quite a difference.

Plus, in fairness, injuries to Furness, Layzell and others haven't helped.

Edited April 14 by astrondrew

[phantom]

13 minutes ago, Davefevs said:

The games I’ve watched we defend as 3 units, and each unit is disconnected and easy to play through.  We knacker ourselves by not having any compactness, and are constantly doing doggies to close the ball down.

Exactly that, and to compound the problem we never pick up anyone, it's like they're fixed to a position somewhere on the pitch and have to stay there 

[Pippintogg]

14 minutes ago, Davefevs said:

The games I’ve watched we defend as 3 units, and each unit is disconnected and easy to play through.  We knacker ourselves by not having any compactness, and are constantly doing doggies to close the ball down.

Sadly, it's down to 3 things. The coaching and tactics have made it very hard to get results. I can't see LS learning a great deal from this and rebuilding next season. I would get a new coach. The players are simply not good enough for WPL. When you come up against seasoned internationals every week then it's tough. This leads on to the final point. Investment, recruitment and development. If Bristol Sport is serious about a WPL team then it will cost. 

[phantom]

These stats for Kim Little are crazy. She made 129 successful passes from 130 attempts 

[Sleepy1968]

3 minutes ago, phantom said:

These stats for Kim Little are crazy. She made 129 successful passes from 130 attempts 

She probably bested us on her own.

[Erithacus]

Finally the final whistle. An end to that game and one which we realistically didn't have a chance with. Still a hard pill to swallow, but not unexpected, sadly. Amongst other stats to ponder over, the attendance was 3,500 (perhaps a late Sunday game has had some effect, but I suspect a lowly turnout by Gunner's standards. With West Ham picking up another point the gap is widening still further.

[phantom]

2 minutes ago, Pippintogg said:

Sadly, it's down to 3 things. The coaching and tactics have made it very hard to get results. I can't see LS learning a great deal from this and rebuilding next season. I would get a new coach. The players are simply not good enough for WPL. When you come up against seasoned internationals every week then it's tough. This leads on to the final point. Investment, recruitment and development. If Bristol Sport is serious about a WPL team then it will cost. 

See my post below. 

Comms on Sky / FA Player have seemingly leaked information in the past 

To me it needs a clean sweep, if nothing else to change the losing mentally. It must be difficult to keep going every week knowing you are on a different level to the opposition, and with our remaining fixtures our goal difference is going to take a real hammering 

1 hour ago, phantom said:

Interesting on Sky comms they mentioned Lauren can relax as she knows whatever happens this season she'll be in charge next season 

 

1 hour ago, Eco said:

I do like the crowd singing. 

It got more like cub campfire songs from the early 1980s

[phantom]

Just now, Erithacus said:

Finally the final whistle. An end to that game and one which we realistically didn't have a chance with. Still a hard pill to swallow, but not unexpected, sadly. Amongst other stats to ponder over, the attendance was 3,500 (perhaps a late Sunday game has had some effect, but I suspect a lowly turnout by Gunner's standards. With West Ham picking up another point the gap is widening still further.

I'd imagine the fact their first team played earlier may have had an impact, but that ground has a capacity of 4,500 so not much short 

[Sleepy1968]

8 minutes ago, Pippintogg said:

Sadly, it's down to 3 things. The coaching and tactics have made it very hard to get results. I can't see LS learning a great deal from this and rebuilding next season. I would get a new coach. The players are simply not good enough for WPL. When you come up against seasoned internationals every week then it's tough. This leads on to the final point. Investment, recruitment and development. If Bristol Sport is serious about a WPL team then it will cost. 

The women's team are a subsidiary of the men's team, and you need look no further than Gavin Marshall/Jon Lansdown--> Steve Lansdown. Guaranteed they'll be spending as little as possible next season. But good news, they won't need to scuff up the Ashton Gate pitch 11 times.

Edited April 14 by Sleepy1968

[phantom]

Did anyone else notice when the game went into injury time how behind Fran Bentleys goal loads of kids appeared with those begging signs for shirts? 

Next shot of that area showed the stewards moving them all along lol

Just now, Sleepy1968 said:

But good news, they won't need to scuff up the Ashton Gate pitch 11 times.

Don’t be so sure about this

[Spoons]

38 minutes ago, astrondrew said:

Certainly from our point of view but Layzell and Furness returning is excellent 

Layzell comes on and sets up Arsenal for the 5th goal with a shocking pass

[Spoons]

Kym Little completed 129 out of 130 passes against us

 

[Eco]

18 minutes ago, Spoons said:

Layzell comes on and sets up Arsenal for the 5th goal with a shocking pass

We've had hundreds of shocking passes this season tbh

[Hamdon Mart]

49 minutes ago, phantom said:

See my post below. 

Comms on Sky / FA Player have seemingly leaked information in the past 

To me it needs a clean sweep, if nothing else to change the losing mentally. It must be difficult to keep going every week knowing you are on a different level to the opposition, and with our remaining fixtures our goal difference is going to take a real hammering 

 

It got more like cub campfire songs from the early 1980s

I don't think Lauren being here next season was 'leaked info'. Didn't it come from an interview where it was mentioned that she had signed a new deal?

[phantom]

55 minutes ago, Hamdon Mart said:

I don't think Lauren being here next season was 'leaked info'. Didn't it come from an interview where it was mentioned that she had signed a new deal?

If you mean this, it's from last October 

https://www.bcfc.co.uk/news/smith-signs-new-long-term-deal/

I'm amazed after this season that her position isn't under threat 

The way it was said in comms was like she'd received some recent update 

[shahanshahan]

Catching up on some posts now

On 14/04/2024 at 19:04, Eco said:

I do like the crowd singing. 

Yeah, the North Bank at Meadow Park was loud. Very vocal fanbase. Seemed even louder when I watched footage the game back 

On 14/04/2024 at 19:09, Lanterne Rouge said:

I particularly enjoyed the rousing rendition of `you`re shit ahhhhhh` from what sounded like a busload on a school trip!

I think Arsenal are the only fans I've heard to do that in women's football. I've tried to do it at games myself but am always conscious of kids being around. Although me & some others did try to do this for when Sabrina D'Angelo was in the goal in front of us during the first half, but she didn't take many big goal kicks

On 14/04/2024 at 19:42, Back of the Dolman said:

And renditions of ‘Bristol get battered everywhere they go’

I didn’t think that was part of the women’s games mantra.

I think they only sang that once towards the end of the first half. They mostly sang "Arsenal are massive, everywhere we go". Which makes more sense if they were at an away game, but each to their own.

Because there was a comparably smaller amount of away fans (in the opposite South Stand), I don't think most Arsenal fans in the North Bank saw or heard us. We kept singing as much as we could, and we were noisier than most Arsenal fans surrounding us in the South Stand terrace

[shahanshahan]

In true NTTDS style, here are most of my away day photos!
Meadow Park in Borehamwood is a nice little ground. Not sure how long Arsenal will play there as they continue to have more games at the Emirates.
I'm definitely in no rush to go again but at least I can say I have now been!
 

 

Edited April 16 by shahanshahan

[Slacker]

Could you not have left the last photo out?

[shahanshahan]

A fair few people (including @phantom & @Dollymarie) sent photos to me & my friends of when we briefly appeared on Sky just before KO.
I managed to find the footage & it should be in the videos below...
 

 

[shahanshahan]

1 minute ago, Slacker said:

Could you not have left the last photo out?

Fair point. Removed 

(For those that missed it, it was a picture of the scoreboard (when it was eventually working)

[Sleepy1968]

17 minutes ago, shahanshahan said:

In true NTTDS style, here are most of my away day photos!
Meadow Park in Borehamwood is a nice little ground. Not sure how long Arsenal will play there as they continue to have more games at the Emirates.
I'm definitely in no rush to go again but at least I can say I have now been!
 

 

Are there no bins at Meadow Park then?

[Eco]

44 minutes ago, shahanshahan said:

In true NTTDS style, here are most of my away day photos!
Meadow Park in Borehamwood is a nice little ground. Not sure how long Arsenal will play there as they continue to have more games at the Emirates.
I'm definitely in no rush to go again but at least I can say I have now been!
 

 

Great stuff. Good to see a large contingent of Reds made the trip. 

[shahanshahan]

43 minutes ago, Sleepy1968 said:

Are there no bins at Meadow Park then?

I get the joke, but I'll leave that purely for NTTDS.

I didn't get to see much of the concourse/burger van. Or Gunnersaurus (if he was actually there, but probably in the home end)