Manchester City beat Manchester United in a derby at Old Trafford to stay in touch with Chelsea at the top of the Women’s Super League (WSL) and La Liga leaders Barcelona continued their form. Classico Real Madrid dominated as clubs across Europe tackled the first weekend of the season after the Champions League.
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Tensions of the situation in the Champions League
With the Champions League group stage getting underway last week, the impact was felt across the European leagues at the weekend, with some teams looking sunk in the eyes as domestic commitments put their squad depth to the test.
Lyon’s return on Friday set the tone, and they had a foul from Dijon’s young goalkeeper Ales Benguet to thank for allowing them to equalize after trailing 1-0 at home. A string of late goals sealed a 4-1 win that made a frustrating evening seem even more apparent than it was. In Germany, neither Eintracht Frankfurt (against lowly Nuremberg) nor Bayern Munich (against Werder Bremen) looked as secure as their 2-0 win suggests, and the same was true elsewhere for Benfica against Braga (1-0), and Roma against Roma. Sassuolo (2-0) and Paris FC when they faced Bordeaux (1-0). Paris Saint-Germain’s 2-1 win over Fleury looked like it would never happen until Jackie Groenen curled a beautiful shot into the top corner in the 97th minute. Ajax, who pulled off a shock result in the first round of UWCL action by beating Paris Saint-Germain 2-0, were not so lucky, suffering a 1-0 defeat at home to high-flying Twente.
It’s a problem highlighted by Chelsea coach Emma Hayes after the Blues’ 5-1 win over Liverpool. After arriving home at 4 a.m. on Thursday with the start of Saturday lunchtime to prepare, the manager lamented the schedule and stressed the importance of adequate recovery time, emphasizing her team’s simple need to get enough sleep between matches. Although the depth of Chelsea’s bench has allowed Hayes to make six changes to her starting lineup, and only made the team look stronger, most teams do not boast the same depth.
City stops its decline by winning the derby at Old Trafford
After suffering losses to Arsenal and Brighton & Hove Albion, Manchester City’s first visit to Old Trafford proved to be a tonic as they showed their mettle against Manchester United.
The hosts were helped by the sending off of Laia Alexandri in the second half as City lost possession and put everyone behind the ball, leading to pressure from a flat United side. But the damage had already been done by a strong display from City, who repeatedly pulled the home side’s defense out of its depth during the first 70 minutes to win 3-1. From a toe strike to a stunning volley and clearance, the combination of goals and scorers was the feather at the top of the win.
For United, who looked smart on the counter-attack during the first half and even took the lead through Katie Zelem’s penalty, there would not be another shot on target until deep into the second half as the home side struggled to cope. Their uninspiring performance was enough to see City jump them to third, although both Manchester clubs are well behind Chelsea at the top of the table.
Arsenal love the late show
Stop me if you’ve heard this before, but Arsenal left it late to seal a 3-0 win over Brighton. The Seagulls failed to offer much going forward, but the Gunners did little to build on Stina Plaxtenius’ 12th-minute lead until Caitlin Ford’s clean shot 10 minutes from time.
In many ways, this has been the story of Arsenal’s season so far, their dominance without much to show for it. But just as against Manchester United, Aston Villa and Manchester City, it was the late goals that mattered most to the visitors as Ford’s stoppage-time strike by Frieda Mannum was added to help Arsenal’s goal difference.
There’s nothing surprising really, given how well Arsenal press and counter-press their opponents and how deep coach Jonas Edvall is on the bench, with the introduction of new players and different attacking dimensions always being the difference maker. In fact, if Edival’s top scorers don’t enter the fray late in the day – like Mannum against Brighton, Chloe Lacasse against United or Blakstenius against City – it is those who provide assists who make an impact from the bench, like Viktoria Belova and Bethe. med vs villa.
Leicester regain their resilience as Tottenham struggle for wins
Leicester City’s last league game, a 6-2 defeat at home to Arsenal, showed none of the defensive fans are used to it since the start of the calendar year. In their return to action against Tottenham, the hosts responded strongly by imposing control of the match from the beginning and took a well-deserved lead after less than 20 minutes through Janis Kayman.
The Lilywhites got back into the game and began to work with Foxes goalkeeper Janina Leitzig. But at the end of the game, despite missing a goal, Letzig made 10 saves in the afternoon, including an eye-catching hat-trick in the first half, and Leicester had clearly left their forgettable display against Arsenal in the past.
Tottenham finished top of the table with a 1-1 draw for the third match in a row, and they had chances to get three points, but there was once again a lack of decisive advantage. Indeed, Robert Villahamn’s side, who appeared to be fine-tuning their intensity in front of goal before the last international break, have been short on goals since the last international break. Having picked up just three points from their last three matches, the team that was flying high at the start of the year has come out of the boil this season. Although Villahamn notes the steps being made in each game, with others around the league also dropping points, more ruthlessness in front of goal could have seen the Lilywhites mix with the usual top teams.
When something happens to you, it may get worse
Goal! I suspect pic.twitter.com/pWCq86ZV6K
– Sophie Lawson (@lawson_sv) November 19, 2023
An early Premier League start on Sunday saw Everton host Bristol City at Walton Hall Park in a lively 2-2 draw that saw the Robins grab a late point after falling twice behind. However, the actual football details remain a secret to all but the 886 fans in attendance.
Although some games selected for live television have the advantage of using multiple cameras, most WSL games are filmed through a single camera placed above the stand. This is good, sometimes you miss key angles, but by and large, you get what you pay for on FA Player, which offers you free football. But the only camera on Merseyside couldn’t cope with the torrential rain, with the lens being covered in a layer of precipitation for most of the match despite the best efforts of the camera operator and chamois. The league’s official X account (formerly known as Twitter) didn’t bother posting Amalie Thestrup’s equaliser. The work was barely visible.
Given the restrictions imposed on the league and the nature of the FA Player live stream, perhaps we should all be grateful to have regular access to all matches across the Women’s Super League, and thus not have to sit out in the pouring rain (unless we were one of the 886 intrepid people who wanted That of course.)
Barcelona gives Real Madrid a reality check Classico
Since the Real Madrid women’s team was officially integrated into the club in 2019, they have played 12 matches El Clasico Against Barcelona. Their register: W0, D0, L12.
Real Madrid looked like they were closing in on their arch rivals, but Sunday’s 5-0 defeat at Montjuïc was a tough sell.
The timing of the goals (17′, 43′, 45’+1, 90’+1, 90’+3) would suggest so. Las Blancas They fought back before succumbing to demoralizing late goals at the end of each half, but there was no doubt about the home side’s dominance. In fact, it was poor finishing by the hosts, rather than defensive tackles by the visitors, that stopped this match, setting a new record for the biggest defeat in a short period of this match.
However, the overall score is in twelve El Clasico Played since the first match in 2020, Barcelona 42-6 Real Madrid. In those matches, Real Madrid failed to score in seven of them, scoring only two goals on one occasion.
