2020/21 W-League Thread

[giggler99]

The 20/21 W-league thread just like last seasons thread I will be adding fixtures lists weekly.

Round One fixture

Tuesday 29th December
Brisbane Roar V Melbourne City, Dolphin Stadium Redcliff, 4:35pm ESDT 3:35pm EST

Wednesday 30th December
Canberra United V Adelaide United, Viking Park, 4:05pm ESDT
Western Sydney V Sydney FC, BankWest Stadium, 4:30pm ESDT

Saturday 2nd January
Perth Glory V Melbourne Victory, Dorrien Gardens 8:05pm ESDT 5:05pm WST

Note: Melbourne City, Newcastle bye due to postponement and rescheduled fixture

 

[Dixie Flatline]

I reckon it's Sydney's championship to lose. Have a fair amount of their roster from last season returning (except Foord and Kennedy) and have firepower up front. Only question is what Covid does to their season.

 

[stax on the mull]

Its pretty hard to tell with the current squads which team is the strongest. I was looking at them the other day and there like 18 players for each of the clubs, but there's always late signings in the W-League, and players that arrive after the season has started. 18 (and that includes 2 GKs) isn't enough to go through a whole season so they must be able to draw some more players from somewhere

Along with the missing Matildas, there's the international contingent that has provided squads with about 3 players each that won't be here this season, although I've noticed one or two have arrived or stayed on. There's a couple of New Zealanders I forget the names of (one is Longo at Melb Victory), Rojas from Chile going to Adelaide and Sam Johnson the experienced full back who has played a few seasons at several W-League clubs coming out of retirement from the US League but has decided to keep playing W-League - this season for Melb City. Also saw Alex Chidiac has just signed today for Melb City - a fringe Matilda who hasn't been getting game time in the Spanish league but should be one of the better midfielders here.


As it stands with the current squads, its going to look a bit like when the competition first started - when there wasn't the quality of the overseas players, but there will be a better standard of juniors making up the squads. The more seasoned W-League players should dominate over the youngsters.

Brisbane looks like they have an even experienced spread of players in Polkinghorne,Kim Carroll, Gorry, Gielnik and Yallop - not that these players are stars but they become bigger fish in a smaller pool and provide leadership.

Sydney do have a lot of youngsters who have been around and might get the chance to step up in the absence of overall quality. I'm thinking of players like Ibini, Siemsen and Toby (who has come down from Brisbane) who have shown promise in the past but haven't really had a break out season yet. They might shine in attack with the weaker defences. Sydney still have a few experienced players like Ralston, Brush and Polias but at the moment, its one of the weakest looking Sydney squads I've seen.

Any team with a good defence should stand up ok. Melb City have Allen, Checker (not sure of her injury status), McMormick and Johnson, and any team with a proven goal scorer should be able to get some wins so I also like Melb Victory with De Vanna and Cooney Cross.

One thing is there's no stand out keepers. Dumont at Melb Victory the most experienced, and there's some youngsters that have come through the ranks of the junior Matildas in Whyman at Syd, Micha at Melb City, and Aquino at Brisb.

The other teams - Newcastle, Adelaide, Perth, WSW and Canberra are pretty much unknown in terms of quality, but they've blooded a lot of players over the past few season and could surprise just through having a cohesive group looking to improve on past seasons.

Its really an unkown, but I will pick Brisbane, Melb Victory, Melb City as 3 of the top 4.

 

[Dixie Flatline]

Dumont is going to miss the season with an injury.

 

[Dixie Flatline]

Melbourne City completely unrecognisable compared to the last season. McCormick named captain of City.

Not sure who will score City's goals this season. No recognisable strikers in their side against the Roar today.

 

[Dixie Flatline]

Watching it on Fox, it says it is in high definition but it looks like it is in standard definition.

 

[Dixie Flatline]

Brisbane unlucky not to come away with all three points. The ball appeared to cross the line of City's goal early in the game but the referee didn't give the goal. Then Teagan Micah activated beast mode in goal to repel everything Brisbane threw at her. City had their chances at the other end, but Dobson wasted them. Still, with a few players to come back into the team for City and a tough trip first up to Brisbane, Vidosic would be pleased to come away with a scoreless draw and a point to start the season. Goodship might come to rue the wastefulness of his players up front.

 

[stax on the mull]

Convincing win by Sydney against WSW. They had a much more of the possession in the first half and lots of good passing combos as it was a really open game which aided their players with extra pace up front (Vine, Siemsen and Ibini). Sydney's first goal started from a backpass in midfield that found the defenders out of position with Vine charging into the space to receive from Siemsen, but I did think that Cooper and Nevin were slow to close down space. Cooper is slow.

Some individual brilliance from Ibini for the 2nd goal - but you can see there's a lot of time and space through the midfield.



A couple of WSW most experienced players in Yoeman-Dale and Khamis went off at half time, but WSW played a bit more possession football instead of just sending balls up in hope. Copus-Brown in the midfield for WSW was responsible for most of the good balls, and Nevin on the left side did some good work supporting the attacking moves and sending in some good crosses after taking on and getting around a defender. Another good WSW player was their defender on the right side - Chauvet who was playing her first game and got a yellow card in the first couple of minutes but blunted a fair few of Sydney's attacks.

Whyman in Sydney's goal didn't have to do a lot to keep a clean sheet, but a couple of times she was jittery under the the high ball and spilled a couple of crosses. Disappointing because she looked like a million dollars on the other stuff. Matildas really need some goalkeepers coming through to provide pressure on Williams and Arnold.

Sydney do look like they have enough talent to be playing finals at the end of the season. They have a good variety of forward talent - Vine, I probably under rated as a threat. Toby looked good and provided a couple of through balls including the assist pass for Ibini's 2nd goal and they also have a decent midfield led by Polias. Their other young change of club player Rachel Lowe came on in junk time and distributed some quality passes.

 

[stax on the mull]

Canberra vs Adelaide
0-1 0-2 1-2 2-2 3-2 4-2 4-3

Heyman scored goals 1, 2 and 4 for Canberra.

Moves up to 66 W-League goals. Only needs 4 more to get the record back off Sam Kerr.

 

[DEVO]

Canberra vs Adelaide
0-1 0-2 1-2 2-2 3-2 4-2 4-3

Heyman scored goals 1, 2 and 4 for Canberra.

Moves up to 66 W-League goals. Only needs 4 more to get the record back off Sam Kerr.

Good to see Heyman back, and in Canberra green, she played her best football in Canberra colours.
It’s hard to tell how Canberra are going to go this season, they have a fair turnover of players after a few disappointing seasons, but they look like a team that will fight to the end.

 

[giggler99]

With WA bringing another hard boarder on Victoria looks like the match on Saturday Glory V Victory may need to be postponed.
Will update if anything comes up.

 

[giggler99]

W-League Round 2

Saturday 2nd January
Western Sydney V Newcastle Jets Wanders centre of Football, 7:05pm ESDT
Perth Glory V Melbourne Victory Dorrien Gardens, 9:05pm ESDT 6:05pm WST

Sunday 3rd January
Canberra United V Melbourne City Viking Park, 4:05pm ESDT

 

[acm21]

W-League Round 2

Saturday 2nd January
Western Sydney V Newcastle Jets Wanders centre of Football, 7:05pm ESDT
Perth Glory V Melbourne Victory Dorrien Gardens, 9:05pm ESDT 6:05pm WST

Sunday 3rd January
Canberra United V Melbourne City Viking Park, 4:05pm ESDT

The Perth game has been postponed

 

[Dixie Flatline]

W-League Round 2

Saturday 2nd January
Western Sydney V Newcastle Jets Wanders centre of Football, 7:05pm ESDT
Perth Glory V Melbourne Victory Dorrien Gardens, 9:05pm ESDT 6:05pm WST

Sunday 3rd January
Canberra United V Melbourne City Viking Park, 4:05pm ESDT

Since WA closed its borders to Victoria, Victory is hosting Brisbane Roar at CB Smith Reserve on Sunday afternoon at 6.05pm.

 

[giggler99]

Man things change so fast now it’s hard to keep up.

changes to the fixture.

W-League Round Two

Saturday Januray 2nd
Melbourne Victory V Brisbane Roar CB Smith reserve, 6:05pm ESDT

 

[Fossie 32]

Man things change so fast now it’s hard to keep up.

changes to the fixture.

W-League Round Two

Saturday Januray 2nd
Melbourne Victory V Brisbane Roar CB Smith reserve, 6:05pm ESDT

Says Sunday on the Victory site

Westfield W-League R2

Lakeside Stadium

Your Time: Sun 3 Jan, 6.05PM
local: 3 Jan, 6.05PM

Fixtures & Results | Melbourne Victory

The latest fixtures and results for Melbourne Victory's men and women's teams in the A-Leagues competition.

www.melbournevictory.com.au

 

[giggler99]

Says Sunday on the Victory site

Westfield W-League R2

Lakeside Stadium

Your Time: Sun 3 Jan, 6.05PM
local: 3 Jan, 6.05PM

Fixtures & Results | Melbourne Victory

The latest fixtures and results for Melbourne Victory's men and women's teams in the A-Leagues competition.

www.melbournevictory.com.au

Yeah my bad. Thanks for the correction.

 

[giggler99]

Changes to the fixture.

W-League Round Two

Sunday Januray 3rd
Melbourne Victory V Brisbane Roar CB Smith reserve, 6:05pm ESDT

 

[DEVO]

GOAL OF THE SEASON

Flannery’s 93rd minute scorcher gives Canberra a 2-1 win over Melbourne City.

Brilliant goal.

 

[stax on the mull]

GOAL OF THE SEASON

Flannery’s 93rd minute scorcher gives Canberra a 2-1 win over Melbourne City.

Brilliant goal.
[/QUOTE

Was a great strike by Flannery - pity we didn't get a good vision of it until the 2nd replay. At this current W-League level, even via the TV, you can see those things beginning to unfold and think isn't any defender going to narrow the space and at least make it difficult to stop her having a free strike at any part of the goal.

Game seemed bereft of highlights in the 1st half. The speedy NZ player for Canberra made some good runs and looked the most dangerous along with a couple of bits of skill from Heyman.

Melb City had nothing up front. Much better in the 2nd half when they made the subs with the Japanese midfielder and the quick girl up top (Withers?). I suppose they'll be better when they get the midfield combination of Kira and Chidiac going (Chidiac has never been much of a goalscorer though) but they lack a quality striker. Dobson seems to be their first choice and she's mostly been a sub player who comes on late and uses her speed along the flanks against tiring defenders.

 

[stax on the mull]

GOAL OF THE SEASON

Flannery’s 93rd minute scorcher gives Canberra a 2-1 win over Melbourne City.

Brilliant goal.

Was a great strike by Flannery - pity we didn't get a good vision of it until the 2nd replay. At this current W-League level, even via the TV, you can see those things beginning to unfold and think isn't any defender going to narrow the space and at least make it difficult to stop her having a free strike at any part of the goal. Flannery must have a good boot on her because she hit the back of the net in the 1st half too, but that was after the ball was crossed after it went over the line - and I think she hit a long range goal a couple of seasons ago.

Game seemed bereft of highlights in the 1st half. The speedy NZ player for Canberra made some good runs and looked the most dangerous along with a couple of bits of skill from Heyman.

Melb City had nothing up front. Much better in the 2nd half when they made the subs with the Japanese midfielder and the quick girl up top (Withers?). I suppose they'll be better when they get the midfield combination of Kira and Chidiac going (Chidiac has never been much of a goalscorer though) but they lack a quality striker. Dobson seems to be their first choice and she's mostly been a sub player who comes on late and uses her speed along the flanks against tiring defenders.

 

[DEVO]

Was a great strike by Flannery - pity we didn't get a good vision of it until the 2nd replay. At this current W-League level, even via the TV, you can see those things beginning to unfold and think isn't any defender going to narrow the space and at least make it difficult to stop her having a free strike at any part of the goal.

Game seemed bereft of highlights in the 1st half. The speedy NZ player for Canberra made some good runs and looked the most dangerous along with a couple of bits of skill from Heyman.

Melb City had nothing up front. Much better in the 2nd half when they made the subs with the Japanese midfielder and the quick girl up top (Withers?). I suppose they'll be better when they get the midfield combination of Kira and Chidiac going (Chidiac has never been much of a goalscorer though) but they lack a quality striker. Dobson seems to be their first choice and she's mostly been a sub player who comes on late and uses her speed along the flanks against tiring defenders.

The Kiwi is 22 year old Paige Satchwell, who was brilliant in the first half. She is lightning quick and caused all sorts of problems for the Melbourne defense, she was called off side on a couple of occasions, I'm not totally sure about the second off side she looked to have timed her run a little better but the TV angle wasn’t crash hot and so I'll give the benefit of the doubt to the lineswoman. She was quieter in the second, but it a half owned, for the most part, by Melbourne who locked down on the Canberra flankers better and kept them very quiet. It was only two moments of brilliance from Heyman (with lead up from Lauren Keir) and Flannery that got Canberra the 3 points.

The most interesting thing for me about the Canberra team is how many youngsters were playing, three were 16 year olds, one 18 and one 19, plus a 21 and two 22 year olds. Thats an incredibly young team to be putting out on the park, and if you take away Heyman and Fletcher then you basically have no one over the age of 26. And yet they have started the season 2-0, although leaving it until the final minutes in both games is probably going the shorten the life of their coach. Still, it's good early signs for Canberra United.

 

[giggler99]

W-league Round 3 fixture

Thursday 7th January
Brisbane Roar V Canberra United, Dolphin Stadium, Redcliffe, 7:05pm ESDT 6:05pm EST

Friday 8th January
Newcastle V Sydney FC, Hunter Stadium, 4:35pm ESDT

Saturday 9th January
Adelaide United V Perth Glory, Marden Sports Complex, 7:05pm ESDT 6:35pm CSDT

Sunday 10th January
Melbourne City V Melbourne Victory, Frank Holohan Complex, 4:05pm ESDT

 

[Dixie Flatline]

W-league Round 3 fixture

Thursday 7th January
Brisbane Roar V Canberra United, Dolphin Stadium, Redcliffe, 7:05pm ESDT 6:05pm EST

Friday 8th January
Newcastle V Sydney FC, Hunter Stadium, 4:35pm ESDT

Saturday 9th January
Adelaide United V Perth Glory, Marden Sports Complex, 7:05pm ESDT 6:35pm CSDT

Sunday 10th January
Melbourne City V Melbourne Victory, Frank Holohan Complex, 4:05pm ESDT

Heh, sorry to do this again, but apparently due to significant damage to the pitch at Frank Holohan Complex, the Melbourne derby has been transferred to CB Smith Reserve (same date/time).

 

[Dixie Flatline]