Ladies FA Cup Quarter final. Arsenal v Chelsea
By Andrew Crawshaw
A report from a sunny but windy BorehamWood ground. Attendance 964
Arsenal
Kelly Smith (C), Emma Byrne (GK), Alex Scott, Emma Mitchell, CaseyyEmma Stoney, Vicky Losada, Jordan Nobbs, Danielle Carter, Leah Williamson, Natalia De Pablos Sanchon, Jemma Rose
Arsenal and Chelsea were the two ‘form’ teams from the previous round, Arsenal winning 7-0 and Chelsea 6-0 so the supporters could reasonably expect goals.
Chelsea got off to much the better start pressing Arsenal back towards their own goal through the opening exchanges and generally being more physical, winning all of the 50/50 contests (and most of the 30/70s as well).
Their dominance led to the first goal. Emma Mitchell was beaten on the right hand side and a Chelsea cross went behind for a corner. The corner was taken by Jim So-Yun and headed in by Katie Chapman. One Nil to Chelsea.
On the half hour mark it was two nil. Gemma Davison rounded Ema Mitchell again on the right hand side and scored a solo effort in from a narrow angle at the near post. Emma Byrne will probably feel she could have done better.
By this stage Chelsea were far the better team, Arsenal weren’t mounting anything in the way of coherent attacks and were short of ideas.
In added on time at the end of the first half Arsenal got one back, Emma Mitchell scoring from the left hand by-line. In truth it might have been intended as a cross but it went over the keeper into the top of the net. An easier half time talk for Pedro Losada than it would have been.
Tho changes made at half time, both of our Spanish ladies, Vicky Losada and Natalia De Pablos Sanches being withdrawn and Lianne Sanderson and Chioma Ubogagu coming on. Clearly the aim being to introduce some more power and speed and increase our attacking threat, which to be honest, had been pretty much non-existent in the first half.
It was a much brighter start to the second half with Arsenal looking far more lively. Chelsea weathered the early storm and re-established their dominance and nearly extended their lead with a fierce shot coming back off the bar.
Chelsea made substitutions in the middle of the second half as they kept control of the game by fair means and foul. They wasted time at every opportunity and committed niggley pushes and pulls all game but never quite enough for the referee’s whistle.
In the end Arsenal weren’t good enough and only had two or three shots on target all game and relinquished their Cup in a very disappointing and tame fashion. Chelsea progress to the Semi-Final. Unless Arsenal find more cohesion quickly it could be a long season fighting for scraps rather than honours.
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Happier times on this day
13 April 2003: Arsenal 1 Sheffield Utd 0. FA Cup semi-final. And here
Follow us on Twitter @UntoldArsenal
Thanks for the report Andrew.
The only thing I had found, is a 2 line twitter summary on the WSL website.
Gord, Andrew has volunteered to cover both the ladies games and the youth games, where he can get to them, so I am hoping there is more to come. But as with all of us working on the site, running Untold has to fit in with the real world.
Thanks Andrew, an interesting report.
Gord, I thought arsenal.com had live updates going. They had twitter updates. Both youth and ladies games….like they have for the first team games.
Some of the preview articles for the ladies and youth mention the twitter feed (with an URL), not all. I can’t ever remember reading a preview for the first team which mentions the twitter feed.
A site called ParentDish has a longish article on Helping your child choose the right football team. Might be interesting.
http://www.parentdish.co.uk/fun-and-activities/helping-your-child-choose-the-right-football-team/
With respect to feeds, an ongoing topic I’ve thought about is related to finding data about games. While I suspect Arsenal is generating essentially the data I am thinking of with the first team, there are lots of reasons why that data would never be released. I am sure that Arsenal has good people hired, that doesn’t mean they have found the best way to process data. Hence, perhaps a public data feed (I am thinking RSS) from the Women’s team would work.
Many of us have talked about possession time, having information as to when a player takes possession of the ball and when the player releases possession (pass, shot, tackle, …) would allow accurate possession to be determined. Knowing where players are (once per second?) and where the ball is would be useful. How would a person do this via RSS? Programs to work with the data could be developed, and a public Git repository makes the most sense for storing it.
Tony – Untold is the real world !!!!
April 15 Arsenal versus Bristol City Women
Game roster was a picture, with top 2.5 names cut off. 11: Emma Mitchell, Jemma Rose, Casey Stoney, Leah Williamson, Jordon Nobbs, Vicky Losada, Dan Carter, Rachel Yankey, Carla Humphrey plus two more (Alex Scott, Sio Chamberlain). Subs: Emma Byrne, Chioma Ubagagu, Caroline Weir, Jade Bailey, Lianne Sanderson, Taome Oliver, Natalia Pablos Sanchon.
2 – Nobbs crosses, gathered by keeper.
5 – Townsend hurt (Bristol).
7 – Losada tries for Humphrey, cut out. Bristol fires wide on counter.
8 – Humphrey and Scott combine to feed Nobbs, saved.
8 – Humphrey wins free kick, Yankey to take.
9 – Carter attempt half volley from free kick, cleared.
11 – Bristol substitution.
15 – Carter beats marker, squares to Humphrey, Goal! 1-0
17 – Williamson past defender, to Nobbs, shot deflected wide.
24 – Bristol shoots, save by Chamberlain.
29 – Bristol attack cut out by Rose.
30 – Bristol cross collected by Chamberlain.
32 Yankey corner strongly headed by Rose, cleared off line.
33 – Losada take a control touch before volleying a shot. Goal! 2-0
36 – Bristol attack and shoot wide.
39 – Losada hurt.
43 – Deep Bristol free kick way over bar.
44 – Humphrey to Scott who crosses, gathered by keeper.
45 – Bristol shoot way over bar.
2 minutes extra time, half time.
Bristol make a substitution to begin the second half, and kick off.
49 – Nobbs over bar with half-volley.
52 – Bristol shoots wide.
57 – Bristol volleys Chamberlain’s headed clearance, Mitchell clears.
59 – Carter races into box, her cross is cleared.
60 – Yankey replaced by someone (using scrambled twitter tags instead of names).
63 – Carter makes space, shoots wide.
67 – Williamson replaced by Bailey.
72 – Carter races into box, shoots into near side netting.
78 – Bristol header from free kick, saved by Chamberlain.
79 – Sanderson replaces Losada, who receives massive cheers.
80 – 3 Arsenal places combine to shoot, which is blocked.
82 – Scott tees unSanderson, who’s volley is saved.
84 – Nobbs feed Carter, who is tackled at last second.
85 – Sanderson forces a save, Carter heads rebound off post.
88 – Nobbs narrowly wide.
90 – Mitchell heads over from Nobbs corner.
3 minutes added time.
Game over, 2-0 to the Arsenal!
Thanks to the Arsenal twitter feed (on a different computer than this one).
The first half posting is in moderation, available sometime.
Arsenal are going to send a U19 team to a (10 day) tournament in South Africa at the end of July, beginning of August.
http://www.arsenal.com/news/news-archive/20150416/u19s-to-take-part-in-durban-tournament
> The Gunners will compete against AC Milan, PSV Eindhoven, Galatasaray, Celtic, VfB Stuttgart and South Africa.