by Andrew Crawshaw
I know its an Interlul for the Men’s Teams but there is Arsenal Football this evening at Meadow Park when our Ladies take on Reading in their first game of the Women’s Super League (WSL). I’m heading to the game and will welcome a chat with any Untolder’s who will be there. I’ll be wearing my usual black leather cowboy hat. Do say hello is you see me.
Team news.
Arsenal have made five signings over the closed season so we will be able to welcome some (if not all of) Fara Williams MBE (the most capped England player ever – 150 and counting) , Danielle Van de Donk (Dutch international midfielder), Katie McCabe (Irish international forward), Josephine Henning (German international defender) and Asisat Oshoala (Nigerian international forward).
Carla Humphrey and Rachel Yankey MBE have both left on loan.
Main opposition within the League are likely to remain Chelsea and Manchester City who both finished ahead of Arsenal last season and thus qualified for European competition and our main objective this year must be to finish either first or second in the league.
We got off to a solid start to the season on Sunday with a hard fought win in the FA Cup against Birmingham, winning 5 – 3 on penalties after the game finished 1 – 1 and neither team scored in extra time.
Three points tonight must be our main objective though. With only nine teams in the league points dropped are far more difficult to make up than in the Premier League.
Our opponents are Reading newly promoted from WSL2 for this season – they are a younger and less experienced team than Arsenal, but also won their Cup game at the weekend so mustn’t be taken lightly. Last season their top scores in all competitions were midfielder Emma Folis (13) and forward Helen Ward (12). Both Emma and Helen are still with the club and I’m sure our players have been well briefed to be particularly aware of these two in particular.
With virtually every member of our squad being a full international this is a game that we should be looking to win reasonably comfortably, but football is never that predictable.
Possible Arsenal team
Byrne (GK)
Scott (C), Mitchell, Stoney, Henning
Williams, Janssen, Nobbs
Natalia, Carter, Oshoala
Subs (from)
van Veenendaal (GK), Sampson, Rose, Losada, Williamson, Corredera, Smith, McCabe
I’ll try and post updates from time to time as the game proceeds.
Last season’s table…
| # | Team | Pl | W | D | L | F | A | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Chelsea | 14 | 10 | 2 | 2 | 30 | 10 | 20 | 32 |
| 2 | Manchester City | 14 | 9 | 3 | 2 | 25 | 11 | 14 | 30 |
| 3 | Arsenal | 14 | 8 | 3 | 3 | 21 | 13 | 8 | 27 |
| 4 | Sunderland | 14 | 6 | 2 | 6 | 24 | 24 | 0 | 20 |
| 5 | Notts County | 14 | 4 | 3 | 7 | 20 | 20 | 0 | 15 |
| 6 | Birmingham City | 14 | 3 | 4 | 7 | 7 | 14 | -7 | 13 |
| 7 | Liverpool! | 14 | 4 | 1 | 9 | 15 | 24 | -9 | 13 |
| 8 | Bristol Academy | 14 | 2 | 2 | 10 | 12 | 38 | -26 | 8 |
COYLG
————-
Untold Books
Danny Karbassiyoon’s book “The Arsenal Yankee” with a foreword by Arsene Wenger will be published on Tuesday 29 March. You can buy the book…
- On line here for £14.95, plus delivery
- Or by phone on 01536 399 011 using a credit card.
- Or by Pay Pal to Jane@hamilton-house.com Don’t forget to enter the title of the book and your delivery address on the Pay Pal site, and calculate the full amount including delivery, see below.
- Or by post to Hamilton House Mailings Ltd., Earlstrees Ct., Earlstrees Rd., Corby, Northants NN17 4HH with a cheque.
The cost of packing and delivery is UK £3.95, EU £4.95, Rest of world: £5.95, and that applies irrespective of the number of books ordered. The book is also available on Kindle.
Unlike Andrew, I am not going to the game. No busses from Dawson Creek go to the UK, let alone Boreham Wood FC.
Usually the pre-match introduction has a link to the ArsenalLadies Twitter thing. Not today. Visiting FA-WSL site, no leadup page for this game, but there was for 4 others. The FA-WSL website has directions to Boreham Wood FC, if you need them. No twitter link in the pre-match here either. Okay, the team page for Arsenal at FA-WSL has the Faceplant and Twit links, noted below. Still a bit before game time, and nothing to report from twit feed.
Adults: £6
Concessions : £3
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Arsenal-Ladies/201742969856534
https://twitter.com/ArsenalLadies
COYLG!
Gord,
The Twitter feed normally starts a few minutes before kickoff, sometimes has more tweets sometimes fewer. I’ll try and post comments here as the game progresses.
TEAM. Vanveendaal, Scott, Mitchell, losada, nobs, Carter, Williamson, corredera , Rose, Janssen, oshoala
Subs Byrne, Williams, Stoney, Natalia, Smith, McCabe and Van de Donk
Reading, Moloney, Jane, Hines, Bartrip, McGee (c), Follis, Bruton, Rouche, Boho-Sayo, Ward, Rowe
Subs- Scott, Horwood, May-Walkley,ZCox, Eastcourt, Earps (GK), ““Jones
And we’re off reading kick off
Pedro Losa has the ladies playing a 4-3-3. Who is where? Andrew may tell.
I haven’t memorized players and positions, and I haven’t looked anything up. Van Veenedaal is a goalkeeper. Scott and Rose I believe are defenders. I believe Losada is midfield. And I think Corredera is a striker.
COYLG!
Ft even minutes in, no score yet very nearly one to us. Game played at 100 mph. Arsenal looking more skilled but no-one being allowed any time o the ball
Twit feed says the fan support tonight is very good. Is there something there about a fan named Andrew being louder than everyone else? 🙂
Sounds like Jordan Nobbs took a shot on net which ended up in the next county.
COYLG!
33 minutes and Arsenal score. Janssen intercepted a reading pass, moved inside and great shot to the bottom left corner giving the keeper no chance
Yes!
COYLG!
Half time and still just the one goal. Very nearly two oshoala with a delightful chip over the keeper but came back off the left hand post
Difficult typing on a pad quickly. I’ll do a proper report when I get home. Second half under way shortly. Only one goal scored but it was a cracker from Janssen, one of our midfielders.. Front three as I posted, all working hard but the ball just not falling for them yet.
Two changes for a Reading, no just one. Estcourt on for Hinds. And we make it two within a minute. Oshoala rounding the keeper and scoring. Nice move and the score more reflecting our superiority
One back for Reading, defensive cock up !
Yes! 2-0
COYLG!
Oops. 2-1
COYLG!
Alex Scott been fitted with a set of Alexis batteries this evening. She is everywhere!
Losada and Nobbs off Williams and Van de Donk on.. Fabulous header just palmed away by Reading keeper
And it’s three one, Carter header from a left side corner. Been coming.
Yes! 3-1
COYLG!
Reading rattled at the moment, all the pressure from Arsenal
McGee replaced by Jones for Reading
Final change for Arsenal. Alex Scott coming off batteries run down. Natalia on.
A rabona from Corredera in the 78th minute, met with cheers I gather.
COYLG!
Two minutes of time added on.
COYLG!
Final seconds here and Arsenal deserved three one winners. Game over and WE ARE TOP OF THE LEAGUE rings out. 1208 supporters here. Good game. Well done Ladies.
I did searches for “arsenal reading” before and after the game at Google News.
The search term is a bit ambiguous, but then I asked Google to present things in chronological order (newest first).
Before the game, I got a hit from Talk Shite. As I don’t visit that site, I don’t know if Talk Shite was actually talking about ladies games that evening.
After the game, I got 3 hits specific to the game: two from newsy type places, and one from Nigeria (one of the Arsenal goal scorers is Nigerian).
Congratulations to Goal.com and BBC.Co.UK for covering the ladies game. And congratulations to the Nigerian Complete Sports Nigeria for covering Oshoala’s game.
Gord, and congratulations to Andrew for his coverage.
The Ladies are back in town 🙂
Hmm, me thinks Tony is suggesting I missed someone. Sorry Andrew. Thanks to you as well.
Later last night, I started to see some of the major news outlets start to cover yesterday’s Ladies games.
Great result, well done the adidas.
Ladies of course.