#chelsea vs crystal palace

[pernillecfcw]

It’s gameday💙😅

[theitaliansalad]

at the top of the list of places I wouldn't even go with a gun tonight there is the Crystal Palace's dressing room.

[therapeutic007]

Messi Collection

Check Now !

[coachtfd]

It’s Havertzzzz! Get in there Kai!

(I typed in Kai Havertz and this came up? Okay? 😂)

[effervescentdragon]

F1 drivers as Premier League teams, 2024 edition

Compiled by yours truly and @sebsrainbowbicycle

Stay tuned for the post that will get both me and Dee cancelled in both the F1 and the football fandoms. Onwards, unto the breach!

Lando Norris - Chelsea

Overpaid, overrated, 99,999% chance of being fundamentally racist, and yet somehow doing really well this season.

Checo Perez - Everton

SHITE and yet still in competition somehow despite it all.

Max Verstappen - Man City

115 charges vs 1.8 million catering budget, FIGHT!

Lewis Hamilton - Arsenal

Was really good but really hated, is trying to regain former glory but somehow it's reaaaally not working bcs it all falls apart in the last leg. Also he's an Arsenal fan so it rly works out.

Fernando Alonso - Manchester United

The greatest of them all... just don't look at the referees/Singapore GP/the money put into the stadium/what is done to the peach/the staff around Fergie/et cetera et cetera. Fucks real hard but it's just not going well at the moment. There is still hope, tho. :,)

Alex Albon - Tottenham Spurs

Cracks under pressure. Bottles it a lot. Is a dick. Also I never thought I'd say this, but I really miss Logan Sargeant as an option just about now.

Valtteri Bottas - Leicester

Were really good once. Are pretty shit now.

Charles Leclerc - Liverpool FC

Loses, and loses, and loses, and suffers more than Jesus himself (apart from being a really really rich brand), is amazing and has the absolute chance to win, unless they.. slip. :)

Carlos Sainz Jr. - Aston Villa

They're pretty high placed and you're like. What are you even doing here, polar bear?

George Russell - Crystal Palace

You're thinking The Great Exhibition of 1851, you're thinking royalty, you're thinking Queen Victoria... and then he speaks and suddenly you realize - it sounds fancier than it is.

Oscar Piastri - Nottingham Forrest

Mate, nobody understands you speaking.

Pierre Gasly - Newcastle United

You think they should be doing better than they are since they've been around for so long, but then you think twice and you're like. Should they tho?

Franco Colapinto - Brighton Hove Albion

You don't expect them to be that scrappy, but you kinda dig it.

Yuki Tsunoda - Brentford

They're doing pretty well, scoring in the 1st minute and rly agressive (complimentary), but you know they'll probably lose.

Nico Hulkenberg - West Ham United

They've been around for so long and they were good once, but they've also just been consistently mid for quite a while.

Liam Lawson - Fulham FC

Esteban Ocon - Bournemouth

Isn't in the relegation zone but REALLY should be.

Zhou Guanyu - Ipswitch

Is in the relegantion zone but kinda shouldn't be.

Kevin Magnussen - Southampton

In the relegation zone.

Lance Stroll - Wolves (nobody got time for your wannabe Shakespeare lvl name, we all know you're Racing Point, dude)

Is in the relegation zone but will pull out because of divine intervention (Daddy).

[canirove]

Crystal Palace Vs. Chelsea | 12.02.2024

[cookies-sports]

Matches from Week of 16th September (1/2)

Below the cut, longish rambles on some matches I watched:

Aston Villa vs Chelsea

Arsenal vs Manchester City

Crystal Palace vs Tottenham Hotspur

More rambling in a second post to keep this one from getting super long :)

Aston Villa 0 - 1 Chelsea

First games of the season are always a bit odd. This game definitely felt a bit odd.

Chelsea seemed to have some challenges getting into a flow and Villa were a step up from last year. Bits of both of that contributed to the end result and it wouldn't exactly have gone against the run of play if Villa had grabbed an equaliser.

There's perhaps also an unconscious element of expecting Chelsea to do really well because of their track record, but it's not as if they're running away with the WSL every season. It's good for the WSL if more matches are hard fought. Chelsea have to learn to find their rhythm again under a new coach and with new team members, which will take a bit of time.

A couple of shots went just wide from Chelsea and D'Angelo had a pretty solid game. Also, Villa's defense did an admirable job of keeping Ramirez out of too many danger areas or getting the run on them. Which is not an easy task at all.

(Also, take note some other teams/defenders, they did this without fouling, yanking constantly on her arms or her shirt, or other similar tactics.)

However, Villa did have to commit two players (on a few occasions three) to Ramirez many times and this stretched them. Rytting-Kaneryd's goal was excellent and took advantage of a lapse in their stretched defense.

A mixture of good saves from Hampton and difficulties being clinical in the box meant that while Villa had chances, they never finished them. There's a part of me that wonders if that equaliser might have happened if Gabi Nunes was ready and available for this match. Villa had about 8 (?) corners and a fair number of crosses, and just couldn't get the ball in the net. On one occasion, Hampton was completely beaten and the ball was put over the top.

Now, obviously new signings don't always manage to replicate what they do for other clubs, but Nunes has decent aerial play and also good at clinching those goals when the ball is clattering around the 6 and 18 yard boxes. There's a few of her goals here that show what I mean: Gabi Nunes YouTube clips. If this is the style of play Villa are doing going forward, they could be very interesting this season.

Anyway, Chelsea had the fortitude to hold on even when struggling and it was a decent opener for the WSL because it really felt at times like it could end any way. Would have been a hilarious start to the season if D'Angelo had equalised at the end there, though...can you imagine?

Arsenal 2-2 Manchester City

I meant, after Miedema left Arsenal for Man City, this being their opening match seems a bit too coincidental to not have been by design, right? Make sure there was a big, potentially chaotic game to start of the season? I don't know... maybe it really was coincidental.

It was as chaotic as match-ups between the top teams often are and kind of a nervy affair at times. Manchester City started out shaky, conceded early, then grabbed a goal back just before half-time from...Miedema.

Second half got even more all over the place. Park put a beautiful shot right in the top corner of the Arsenal goal, Foord had a goal ruled offside when she was actually onside, then Mead scored off of a deflection from the upright shortly after a tackle from McCabe ended up with Kelly on the floor and Little tripping over her and landing on top of her. Two City players got yellow cards for complaining about that, and five were carded in total throughout the game.

Manchester City did not seem to cope well with Arsenal's long balls over the top and then when they had the ball in defense, they were too indecisive and slow playing out from the back. It also looked like Bunny Shaw was sitting pretty far back in the midfield which was unusual and didn't seem to give her the space to get out and on the attack easily. On the other hand, Arsenal failed to take some decent chances that they got and made errors closing down in defense. So both teams just looked that bit...not quite their usual play. Kind of like Chelsea, but more on edge.

I've seen a lot of criticism of Zinsberger and Yamashita online. Now, I will go to bat for goalkeepers a lot. I think they often get unfair criticism and frequently people don't think about what the game looks like from their perspective. It's kind of well known at this point that Zinsberger gets a lot of criticism that is undeserved; not to say she always plays well, but it has become almost a reflex to blame Zinsberger when she isn't the one shouldering the main fault for a goal. Yamashita is also already getting a lot of criticism and being written off, on top of the dismissal I've seen of her from some people who apparently have never watched her play in goal for Japan.

The four goals were all tricky in different ways. Maanum hit the first ball hard (she was making sure that thing went into the net!) and even if Yamashita had gone the right way (she had to make a split second reaction, likely influenced unconsciously by where players were in the box and where the ball was most likely to be hit) I don't know if she would have got a hand to it. The second Arsenal goal, Kafaji hit it near post, Yamashita threw herself that way to cover the angle, but the ball hit the upright and bounced to Mead. Not a lot she could do there.

The first Manchester City goal deflected off of a defender's head and having already set herself up to go the original direction of the shot, Zinsberger couldn't reposition in time for the deflection. Then Jess Park's goal was right, right up in the top corner, dinking in from the bar. It's easy to go "if such and such was positioned better, they'd get there", but if you were positioned better to stop one type of goal, you'd likely open yourself up to conceding a different type of goal. It's decisions made in seconds or split seconds and sometimes it pays off, sometimes it doesn't. Both Zinsberger and Yamashita had great saves during the game, but too many people dismiss those with "the striker should have scored" or "the ball was right at her" without thinking that the goalkeeper also played a role in putting the striker off or making those positioning decisions constantly throughout the approach to close angles or make it more likely that the striker would aim it close to or at them. Goalkeepers do a lot more than gets appreciated sometimes.

I'm sure both Manchester City and Arsenal fans have many feelings about that game, but as a fan of no team, it was certainly an interesting watch.

Crystal Palace 0 - 4 Tottenham Hotspurs

Going back for just about as long as both the WSL and the Championship (and their previous renditions) have existed, there have been warnings and discussions about how the changes in the top division are not being replicated further down... Unfortunately, I suspect Crystal Palace are going to have as rough a time in the WSL as their predecessors did.

Tottenham took a bit of time to find their flow, they went in at half-time with just the one goal from Hayley Raso, but in the second half they came out and just outperformed Crystal Palace across the pitch. Neville was fantastic, Spence was brilliant, and they controlled the game for most of the second half.

Crystal Palace struggled so much more in the second half. There were also some things which will get them pinged by referees; repeatedly running in front of Becky Spencer and physically preventing her from releasing goal-kicks quickly, pulling on Tottenham player's shirts hard when they were running for goal or in the box...

As ridiculous as it might sound with the scoreline, Shae Yanez in goal for Crystal Palace was probably their best player, her keeping it to 4 was respectable considering it could have been much, much higher...

Three young Lionesses got minutes for Crystal Palace: Lexi Potter started and had a decent enough game considering the outcome, Brooke Aspin came on in the 64th minute and Poppy Pritchard came on at 82 minutes. Unfortunately, in the 94th minute, Brooke Aspin lost her composure completely, reacted poorly to a call by the referee and received two yellow cards within seconds of each other. Not a good start for her.

I rewatched the incident, but with the quality of the footage on YouTube I cannot for the life of me see the original foul. The commentator says she pulled the Tottenham player down, but her hands don't look like they're near her shirt? I thought maybe she clipped her trailing leg as she moved inside to cut off her run towards goal, but I cannot see the contact with the poor film quality. So, I don't know whether the two yellow cards came from the foul, then Brooke Aspin shouting at the referee and kicking the ball away, or whether both were for her reaction. First she stopped and yelled at the referee, not sure what was said, then booted the ball in frustration and I think it hit the Tottenham player who was on the floor. I don't think there's anywhere we can see referee reports/write-ups for the WSL, is there? It would really help to understand some of the decisions.

Either way, a bad day for Brooke Aspin. Probably not the start to the season she would have wanted. A serious "learn from this moment" event.

[cookiepotofchaos]

So, the Spanish U-19s beat England 3-1 and Netherlands went through beating France 2-0, giving us a Netherlands vs Spain final on Saturday.

Their head-to-head form has been almost evenly matched, with 4 wins each and 3 draws, and Netherlands scoring 15 goals against Spain's 14. Should be a good final match for the youngsters.

More rambles below the cut

U19s England vs Spain

Spain's Marisa (Real Madrid) had a chance on goal in under 45 seconds, with the England defense doing just enough to push her into a bad angle.

I think this rattled England, because some panicky football under high pressure from Spain followed. After a spell of some nervy playing (and I do kinda wonder how much help the coaches yelling so much from the touchline is sometimes. I know some guidance is needed but there was a lot of shouting) England seemed to settle a bit.

Side Note: I did smile when the commentator described one unintentional but clumsy poor tackle as, "It was very much a forward's challenge, shall we say".

It's the phrasing I've been looking for to explain to sometimes that, "No, many of these challenges by forwards are not "bad" tackles in the sense of being ill-intended, malicious, or a loss of composure; many forwards just don't have great strengths or finesse when it comes to tackling 😅"

Anyway, England struggled to get through the midfield of Spain, but fared better on the wings, where Bose (Recently Chelsea, currently seems unattached), Watson (Sunderland), and Earl (Arsenal) all did some decent footwork to get round the midfield and defenders there. Earl wriggled out of trouble early on a lot and Bose made some very good runs up that wing. That said, they faced a lot of trouble from Real Madrid's Pau who was in a constant battle for possession and chasing each other down with Bose and Watson.

Due to the defensive backfoot England spent a lot of the game on, we also got to see more of the play from the defenders this game, and both Aspin (Chelsea) and Newell (Unattached? Dual Manchester United - West Brom last season) were heavily tested, having to make numerous clearances.

A nicely timed long-ball from the Spanish team was not cleared well, with Newell kicking it into Agote (Athletic Club), who then showed strong composure to take it past Cox (Chelsea) and score.

England had a few opportunities at the Spanish end, mostly from corners where Crystal Palace's Lexi Potter demonstrated some good deliveries on the corners, but none could be capitalised and the Spanish defense were always on the ready for a swift counter attack delivery up the pitch.

Just before half-time, Pau was the one to put the second goal for Spain in, where Aspin's block couldn't be cleared and Pau slotted it into goal. Aspin blocked with her torso, so there's not really a lot of direction you can do when getting your body in the way like that; it was quick reactions and well-placed shooting from Pau.

The second half saw Liverpool's Mia Enderby come on for Watson and she had an immediate impact, getting on the end of Agyemang's head-on to score within a minute of the half starting. It may have been her 1st touch, actually...

I've seen some talk about why Enderby, being one of the few U19s with WSL or Championship playtime and decent professional minutes under her belt, didn't start more often. I have to admit I don't know enough to comment on it, but thought it was interesting that one of the perhaps more experienced players didn't seem to have as much playtime as might be expected.

Enderby would later have a very close call for being offside made; she definitely had an impact on the game when she came on.

However, Spain remained the better side throughout the second half. The link up between Alguacil (Valencia) and Agote was a constant threat and Camara (Barcelona) was so alert and reactive in defense that England just couldn't get into any kind of forward attack, counter or otherwise.

Levante's Arques came on as a substitute for Spain and it was a really nice long shot that saw her score Spain's third goal and secured their win.

Spain definitely were the stronger side and resoundingly deserved the win. England's future players on the squad though are looking good, though, so I hope the various teams they are attached to in the domestic leagues given them the opportunities through loans or game time to develop.

U19s France vs Netherlands

Now this was a very different match, not least because I don't think it could be easily argued that Netherlands outplayed France in the same way that Spain outplayed England. I even think an argument could be made that France put in stronger performances in a number of places on the pitch. Their struggles, however, came from not being able to put the ball in the back of the net, even if they could do everything right to get there. And France hit the goalkeeper, the woodwork, and defenders a-plenty, but the back of the net remained elusive.

In the England vs Spain game, England had 4 attempts on goal, 1 on target to Spain's 15 attempts with 6 on target. In this game, Netherlands had 5 attempts, 4 on target to France's 21 attempts with 7 on target. Which I think gives an idea of the different types of games played.

The game overall was a lot less frantic and nervy than the other game, with both France and Netherlands having strong possession and decent passing when they did have the ball. Swierot (Lyon) played some lovely through-balls into the forwards which troubled the Netherlands defense in the opening fifteen minutes but it was the Netherlands who scored, very much against the run of play, off of a free-kick in the 19th minute. Unmarked at the back-post, Woons (AZ Alkmaar) timed her run well and put the shot away.

France continued to look like they were going to score any minute even after that goal, but despite shots hitting the posts and defenders, they couldn't best the Netherlands defense.

What really was a strength for Netherlands was their defense were strong to regroup and they played some spectacular long-ball plays. Their long-ball counter attacks caught France out on more than one occasion and they really were timed so well. That strategy was the biggest strength of their play.

The second ball came from one such play. It went from goalkeeper Van der Vliet (Unsure, UEFA says Ajax but she isn't on their official squad page?) to the head of midfielder Van Hensbergen (Ajax) when she flicked in onto Tolhoek (also Ajax!) who was left with just France's keeper to beat. And, one on one with a striker, there often isn't a lot a goalkeeper can do. 2-0 to Netherlands.

That was a perfect example of just how well-timed the Netherlands played their long-balls. While they didn't manage a 3rd goal in the second half and, indeed, the second half was largely France battering the Netherlands defense, they did have opportunities for counter attacks and many of them involved that same well-placed long-ball play. I wonder how Spain will respond to it on Saturday.

France's substitutions, Traoré (PSG) was a great addition to the game. My word, did she work hard on that right wing: clever runs, well-placed crosses, zipping in between players. Absolutely put a spark in the game and yet France still could not get that ball into the net. PSG must be watching her gameplay with interest though. Swierot also put in a solid second half, constantly finding ways to get the ball forward or win back possession.

And Van der Vliet, Netherland's goalkeeper, kept a very cool head during all this. For all France's strengths getting the ball forward, the Netherland's back four of Woons, de Klonia (Ajax), Kardinaal (Ajax - so much Ajax in this team), and Chibani (Jong PSV), plus Van der Vliet, did not seem to panic or get overly nervy. There were a few moments, of course; they're only young and nerves are unavoidable to some degree, but they put in a solid performance.

So, Spain vs Netherlands next. Let's see how that goes!

[julianalvarez9]

MASON MOUNT - Chelsea FC vs Crystal Palace - January 15, 2023. (Photo by Jacques Feeney)

[bolaskot]

skor88 liga priemr

Chelsea VS Newcastle Crystal Palace VS Tottenham West Ham vs Manchester Utd Arsenal vs Liverpool Bochum VS Bayern Munich

[pernillecfcw]

Our saviour today 💙🇨🇴

[ligapetani]

Prediksi Liverpool Vs Chelsea 20 Oktober 2024

Prediksi Liverpool Vs Chelsea 20 Oktober 2024

Ligapetani.com – Prediksi Liverpool Vs Chelsea yang akan berlangsung di Anfield dalam laga pekan ke-8 Liga Premier Inggris 2024/25, Minggu (20/10/2024) pukul 22.30 WIB. Liverpool saat ini memuncaki klasemen sementara dengan torehan 18 poin. Sedangkan, Chelsea menempati posisi enam dengan torehan 14 poin. Liverpool di laga terakhirnya meraih kemenangan tipis 1-0 di markas Crystal Palace sebelum…

[taynguyenmedia]

Nhận định Chelsea, thông tin, lực lượng, phong độ, tỷ số. Trước đối thủ West Ham đang ở phong độ bất ổn, Chelsea có nhiều hy vọng để tiếp tục giành 3 điểm ở Premier League mùa này.

Nhận định trước trận West Ham vs Chelsea Chelsea chật vật thắng Bournemouth 1-0 ở trận gần nhất. Trước đó, “The Blue” hòa Crystal Palace và thắng Wolves. Những trận đấu gần đây chưa có k���t quả tưng bừng cho Chelsea. Song, nửa xanh thành London dần vào guồng, với lối chơi khởi sắc và có ý đồ rõ ràng hơn. Ngược lại, West Ham đang khởi đầu cực tệ với chỉ 4 điểm sau 4 trận. “The Hammer” bị Fulham cầm…

[mutange12]

Both teams to score Saturday 21/09/2024

Both Teams to Score Saturday 21/09/2024  West Ham Vs. Chelsea Tottenham Vs. Brentford  Crystal Palace Vs. Manchester United Juventus Turin Vs. Ssc Napoli Kitchee Vs. Hong Kong Rangers Bochum Vs. Holstein Kiel Eintracht Frankfurt Vs. Borussia (Mg) Heidenheim Vs. Freiburg  Fenerbahce Istanbul Vs. Galatasaray Istanbul Us Lecce Vs. Parma Calcio Al Hilal Sfc Vs. Al-ittihad Fc Werder Bremen…

[canirove]

Chelsea Vs. Crystal Palace | 03.10.2020 | post-match interview

[cookies-sports]

Matches from the week of September 23rd (2/2)

More football watched this week below the cut:

Chelsea vs Crystal Palace (WSL)

Liverpool vs West Ham (WSL)

Playing Time for the U-19s Lionesses

The first post (linked here) had:

England vs USA in the WXV (Rugby Union)

Hashtag United vs Lewes FC (FA National League)

Chelsea 7 - 0 Crystal Palace

The first half of this game was pretty interesting, with them going in at half time with Chelsea one hard fought goal up. I didn't find the second as interesting to watch, though, because Crystal Palace ran out of energy (like they did against Tottenham Hotspur) and Chelsea destroyed them. The Crystal Palace goalkeeper at the end just looked crushed. It is going to be a long, long season for them unless they manage to find some rhythm and stamina as the months go on.

It's a little concerning that the gap between WSL and Championship seems to be growing, as does the gap between Championship and the National Leagues. The teams backed by wealthy clubs who will invest in their women's teams are probably just going to keep getting further ahead. This isn't a WSL thing only, though and certainly isn't a criticism that can only be leveled at the English leagues; it is the current reality of women's football in many places.

Anyway, that aside... Stengel was probably a standout on Palace's side. She set up a couple of chances and got on the end of one as well. None came to anything, but that was as much poor finishing as it was good defending on Chelsea's part. There was good defensive play from Chelsea during some of the few runs forward by Palace, but there were also a few occasions Hampton was taken unaware by an attacker and the defenders were just not there. However, the Palace players either fluffed their attempts or simply did not run in to get on the end of the cross or pass, letting it trickle out of play.

Even if they had managed to snatch some of those chances, it wouldn't have changed the outcome, Chelsea were so strong in their attack in the second half that there seemed to be nothing Crystal Palace could do to contain them. Ramirez had a positive impact coming on, setting up players and assisting goals. Reiten was in good form again after the frustrations of last week's misses.

But the player I was happiest to see get a goal was Lauren James. LJ has had a rough 6 months or so. She was carrying this foot injury she's had well before the end of last season and if you watch footage, you can see her limping in some games before April. I suspect she was playing games not at 100% for some time. Then she missed the Euro qualifiers and continued to struggle in pre-season both with form and her recurring injury. Last week, when she came on against Villa, she had some difficulty getting into that game as well.

Against Palace, she still wasn't at 100%. She gave away passes a few times, was dispossessed and dribbled past, and made some quite clumsy 'definitely a forward' tackles. The latter of this, disappointingly, reignited the nastiness online about her, complete with racist commentary. Attacking players are rarely superb at tackles, their tackles often range from competent to downright clumsy, with the occasional terrible one thrown in, and most of the time LJ picks up a yellow card for a tackle, it seems to be just a clumsy tackle and nothing more than that. People need to let the mistakes she made in the past lie and allow her to grow as a young player and young person, which I believe she demonstrated in this game.

Throughout the game, LJ worked hard. She was everywhere, backtracking and providing support and options all over the pitch. LJ suddenly popping where you'd expect a CDM to be is not a common sight, and sure it's not a location on the pitch where she shines the most, but she was there to give her team passing options and support when they needed it. When she made a mistake, she didn't let it put her off her game; instead she put her head down and kept focused to try and make sure nothing came of it. She put in a solid shift, worked so hard for that team, and finally got a goal. I was delighted for her perseverance despite it not being easy.

Liverpool 1 - 1 West Ham

West Ham, you truly are chaos in a football team form. From Gorry talking herself into a yellow card, to playing out of the back really not going to plan, to their equalising goal coming from a header from their 5'4" forward, Riko Ueki (who was also either in the top five or top eight last year in the WSL for winning aerial battles...at 5'4"), West Ham do know how to keep a match interesting from time to time.

West Ham often concede early, probably because the chaos is at its highest in those first 10 minutes, then tend to settle down a bit. They don't often take advantage of chances well once they've settled down, mind, but that is a pattern in their game play. This game pretty much went like that, except they managed to equalise in the 85th minute.

Liverpool controlled the game well for the first half, dominating most of the first 45 with only a few snippets from West Ham. Höbinger and Nagano were all over the midfield and definitely frustrating the West Ham attempts to get through. The goal, scored by Olivia Smith, came from a poor pass by Szemik out the back which was quickly brought back in and put in the back of the net. It was a nicely placed goal; a positive start for Liverpool's new signing and she had a few other opportunities later in the game as well.

I know West Ham's keepers get a lot of stick from the team's fans for playing out of the back the way they often do, often playing shorter to the defenders or midfielders rather than going for longer balls, but give the height of many of their forward players, I have to think there's a strategy to it.

Let's take yesterday: at two separate points in the game Ueki then new signing Manuela Pavi were marking and going up against Liverpool's Jenna Clark. Clark is, according to a quick search, 5'10". Ueki, as I've noted is 5'4" and Pavi is 5'1". Playing long balls out and hoping your players are going to consistently overcome the height disadvantage against the oppositions' defenders is a hopeful (and probably fruitless) task 80%+ of the time.

The team as a whole is not exactly overrun with tall players: Gorry is called Mini for a reason, coming in at 5'1" as well; Viviane Asseyi is 5'3", so is Halle Houssein; Oona Siren is 5'2"... Even with their defenders, typically the tallest players on the pitch besides the goalkeeper, a number of them are under 5'6". I don't know if they're the shortest average team in the league (average pulled up by Szemik, Brynjarsdóttir, and Cooke) but they can't be far off. So I think there's method to the plays they do, even if they don't always work out as planned.

Anyway, West Ham came out a bit better in the second half and their defending and playing forward was an improvement from the game against Manchester United. Liverpool remained relentless and Szemik pulled off some great saves to deny them any further goals; Liverpool also put a number of shots high and wide by some margin. I think what may have the been the thing that undid Liverpool, actually, was that Matt Beard made 4 subs at once at the 76th minute, then only a few minutes later brought on the 5th. That seemed to unsettle the Liverpool side and West Ham got a lot more chances going forward, to the point that you kind of felt that eventually something was going to fall their way. Pavi was a bit of a game-changer for West Ham as well, making an immediate presence on the left wing. A ball past the defensive line that keeper, Laws, came out for was just nodded over her by Ueki to get the equaliser.

I suspect Liverpool probably felt that this was their game to lose, while West Ham were likely quite pleased with the point.

Playing Time for the U-19s Lionesses

Checking in on the U-19s to see how their seasons are going so far, these are the players who have had some time on the pitch:

Cerys Brown - Has been a late substitution for London City Lionesses last two games. Only had 11 minutes of playing time so far, but it's still early in the season, so it's a positive sign that they're not holding off on subbing the young players in for some game time.

Brooke Aspin - After her somewhat disastrous first game last week, where she was sent off with two yellows in quick succession, Aspin couldn't play this week even if she wasn't suspended because Crystal Palace played Chelsea, where she is on loan from. I am a little surprised that your suspension can be played out in a game you were never allowed to play (as has been confirmed to be the case through reports), but we will wait and see if Aspin returns for their next game against Leicester.

Ria Bose - It is challenging enough trying to find out if the younger players in the English Championship got minutes, let alone those playing for teams in other countries... I don't think Bose has had any minutes for Sporting yet, but I'm not certain, hence her inclusion here.

Katie Reid - Came on for one or two minutes at the end of Arsenal's fairly laborious game against Leicester City. I think there were some questions about why she didn't come on earlier from the fans since it sounds like Caitlin Foord was played in the fullback position for some of the game. Reid did, however, sign a professional contract with Arsenal this week as she turned 18 recently.

Ashanti Akpan - Has had the most playing time of the U-19s so far this season; it looks like she's getting solid rotation with Birmingham City. So far, she's started two games and been subbed in with decent time left on a third, playing 171 minutes across three matches. Positive start for Akpan.

Lexi Potter - Another Chelsea loanee and therefore unable to play this week, but she played 90 minutes against Tottenham so we will almost certainly see her return in the upcoming weeks.

Mia Enderby - Has come on as a substitute in both Liverpool games so far, getting 42 minutes across the two games. Hopefully will continue to be valued at Liverpool, especially after the positive comments about her last season.

Michelle Agyemang - Has also been subbed in for both games Brighton have played so far this season, getting 35 minutes so far. Given that one of those matches was against Manchester City this week just gone, that's a positive sign.

Poppy Pritchard - Has come on right at the very end of Palace's 2 games so far, with eight minutes across two games. However, I did remember being impressed to see in the Chelsea game, despite Crystal Palace already being either 6 goals down at that point, when Pritchard came on and then up against Nathalie Björn in a footrace to get the ball, not only did Pritchard not pull out of the race when Björn got the ball ahead of her, she persevered and actually got the ball off of her and away from two defenders, back to possession in Palace's midfield which eventually set up an attempt into the box. While it didn't come to anything, coming on to such a crushing defeat and still fighting to regain possession was good to see from the youngster.

Katy Watson - Came on for a few minutes against the London City Lionesses in Sunderland's last game, in addition to the minutes earlier in the season. Pulling out a surprise result after their tough start, Sunderland beat London City 1-0.

Any U-19s Lionesses not mentioned haven't had any minutes yet. I'll check back in on their progress in a few weeks time.