Matildas The Matildas Thread

[stax on the mull]

French Coach has been given the sack, so that might change the team that they were bringing out.

FFF sack women's coach Diacre after hearing

The French federation has parted ways with women's national team coach Corinne Diacre on the recommendation of the executive committee.

www.espn.com

 

[stax on the mull]

Couple of UEFA Quarter Finals games on this morning and tomorrow featuring Matildas. Can be watched for free on DAZN TV channel on youtube.

Bayern and Arsenal in a couple of hours 4.45am AEST but only Foord featuring with Catley currently injured.


Tomorrow's match between Lyon and Chelsea should feature Carpenter and Kerr. at 4.45am AEST

 

[stax on the mull]

AUSTRALIA SQUAD FOR MATCHES AGAINST SCOTLAND AND ENGLAND:
Mackenzie ARNOLD (Goalkeeper – West Ham United), Ellie CARPENTER (Back – Olympique Lyonnais), Alex CHIDIAC (Midfielder – Racing Louisville), Kyra COONEY-CROSS (Midfielder – Hammarby IF), Larissa CRUMMER (Forward – Brisbane Roar), Caitlin FOORD (Forward – Arsenal), Mary FOWLER (Forward – Manchester City), Katrina GORRY (Midfielder – Vittsjö GIK), Charlotte GRANT (Back – Vittsjö GIK), Clare HUNT (Back – Western Sydney Wanderers), Alanna KENNEDY (Back – Manchester City), Sam KERR (Forward – Chelsea), Aivi LUIK (Back – BK Häcken), Holly McNAMARA (Forward – Melbourne City), Teagan MICAH (Goalkeeper – FC Rosengård), Courtney NEVIN (Back – Leicester City on loan from Hammarby IF), Clare POLKINGHORNE (Back – Vittsjö GIK), Hayley RASO (Forward – Manchester City), Emily VAN EGMOND (Midfielder – San Diego Wave), Cortnee VINE (Forward – Sydney FC), Clare WHEELER (Midfielder – Everton), Jada WHYMAN (Goalkeeper -Sydney FC), Lydia WILLIAMS (Goalkeeper – Brighton & Hove Albion), Tameka YALLOP (Midfielder – SK Brann).

 

[AJ_2000]

The home kit is lit

 

[stax on the mull]

A couple of squad changes for the games against Scotland on Friday night and against England Wed am morning (aust times).

Foord injured in the Arsenal game against Man City on the weekend. Seemed to be a hamstring. Big blow as she's been in incredible form.

Watched Carpenter playing in the recent Euro quarters where Lyon were knocked out of the comp by Chelsea. Her running capacity seems as powerful as ever although she lost out in a couple of tackle challenges, one 50/50 challenge for the ball that she lost led to Chelsea's winning 1-0 goal in the first leg. Can't remember if she's ever been a great tackler though.

Also, Fowler and Raso have been getting very little game time at Man City. Wheeler the fans player of the match for Everton on the weekend.

Brian Sorensen hails 'outstanding' Clare Wheeler after dramatic Everton win

Sorensen was full of praise for the Australian after she helped Everton to a 2-1 victory over Tottenham

www.liverpoolecho.co.uk

 

[stax on the mull]

Be interesting to see if anyone can step up without Foord and Kerr on the bench. Neither or Little or Cuthbert are playing for Scotland which is disappointing. We seem to be meeting a lot of teams lately that aren't at full strength so its hard to gauge the quality of some of our wins.

 

[jhong]

Can they turn the mic near TG down pls , his screaming is off putting.

 

[CURVE]

Can not believe TG prefers Krummer over Heyman, she is slow and indecisive and barely troubles the scoresheet.

 

[jhong]

Good finish from Scotland, some awful defence from us

 

[CURVE]

That was insipid and uninspiring by Australia, deserved to lose. Gorry was dreadful, continually knocked off the ball, couldn’t connect with her team mates and just lethargic and frustrating for the full 90 minutes.

 

[jhong]

Main lesson from this loss , can’t put the ball in the net without Kerr and Foord.

 

[stax on the mull]

Another 60 minutes with Crummer which seemed like a waste. She's fairly quick as a straight line runner and has height and can occasionally hold the ball up but the connections aren't there. I thought in the first half she had opportunities to connect when Carpenter and Vine down the right and Grant and Raso down the left were making overlapping runs. Just doesn't seem to be up to the tempo and I don't know if she's even depth.

Would have liked to have seen Holly McNamara given a run, even if she's only 4 games back from the ACL.

Expecting to be thumped by England, but with some changes to the line-up it might be good that England only scouted a relatively poor performance against Scotland.

 

[jhong]

England will crush us .

 

[stax on the mull]

If Carpenter and Kerr play full games its not far off a full strength team. Grant can cover fairly well for what Catley brings. Replacing Foord's role is where I wished they would have tried Holly McNamara as a better option than Crummer.

I didn't think it was really horrible the way we played overall. We've still got the speed there to trouble good sides even though I still think Vine and Raso are hit and miss with their final decisions once they get around their opponents.

Cooney-Cross showed a fair bit of class in this game, but Gorry had little impact in the midfield after the first 20 minutes and was losing a lot of 50/50 balls towards the end of the game. I thought Fowler stuck at it too and made some really skillful turns and passes. Chidiac came on and had a positive impact.

The goal we gave up came after some slack play though. First Carpenter put the ball out trying to pass and then Hunt headed the ball back between two teammates and invited pressure - and maybe Arnold could have read the flight of that shot a bit earlier to get across to it because it had a bit of float time.

 

[AJ_2000]

Who else but sam kerr!

 

[jhong]

Surprise score line at half time .

 

[jhong]

2-0. Kerr cross , Grant header took a deflection and in .

 

[jhong]

England will crush us .

. Got that wrong .

 

[Munga]

The stats are ugly viewing, apart from the scoreline hahaha

 

[CURVE]

Very strong performance from the Matilda's after the disappointing defeat at the hands of the mighty Scots , really happy to see Grant get on the scoresheet, she has been a real surprise packet since coming in after Carpenter's injury last year and it has been great to see her hold her place for these two games. It will be interesting to see is she can keep it when Catley and Kennedy return.

 

[swingdog]

Good result but the bigger picture has to be that we have a clearer idea of the starting line up.

Apart from Catley in for Grant, don't change defence. Grant is great cover on both sides and he time will come but we missed Catley's set play kicking. No way should Kennedy (even if fully fit) be coming back in ahead of Hunt. Arnold starts as GK.

In midfield, stick with 4-4-2, with KCC and Gorry in the centre. Vine / Fowler on the left, Raso / Chidiac on the right. I'm not convinced by Fowler yet but they seem to want to give her every chance. Long term, she should be looking for another club after sitting on the bench most of this season - there's a few who would benefit from more time in other leagues. Look at how KCC and Grant have played in Sweden and then transferred that to national form. Minutes matter.

Kerr and Foord up front.

Crummer has to be dropped from the final 23 squad.

 

[stax on the mull]

This result gives a bit of confidence that Gustavsson has addressed what was the major issue that everyone identified with the Matildas team which is how many goals we concede. He came up with a defensive game plan for this game that made scoring difficult for an English team that's been scoring average of over 4 goals per game and who dominated possession.

If we can build on this, then we add another facet to our game where we can lock down on the better teams who might dominate possession against us and still be a threat on the counterpunch, instead of just being a team that attacks and gambles on scoring more than the opposition.

Both sides had players missing and maybe the weather had a part in stopping them from playing into scoring positions as quick as they would like - although their players would be more familiar with the conditions than ours - and on an unluckier night Kerr is called offside and Williamson blocks Grant's header rather than deflecting it past the keeper.

 

[giggler99]

Great news Well done Melbourne

 

[swingdog]

Great news Well done Melbourne

Awesome, will be there with my daughter. Should be a good test - France is one of my dark horses to take the tournament (basically if they stop fighting amongst themselves long enough).

 

[Dixie Flatline]

Will also be attending. Has crept up on me, to be honest. Great that it's an effective sell-out, but watching soccer at Marvel is not the best viewing experience.