Lineker's Lugs

He's certainly there but the cameras are on the same side as the bench so it's not easy to see how much he's getting involved or whether he's letting others take the lead.

WSL2 channel on YouTube. I think every game is on there but it might just be a selection.

So it turns out the problem for Leicester this season has been that the pitch was too big and there were too many players on it.

A BBC article a couple of weeks ago suggested Meadow Lane was being considered in the event of relegation. Strange that paying rent to another club is a better option financially.

Good for the WSL to finally be shot of Leicester. I'm not sure Charlton are going to add much, but at least they'll be different dross.

Not really, I don't care who wins.

This feels tailor-made for Rachel Williams to come on for the last 20 minutes, Leicester start hoofing it into the box and she gets the winner.

Even by the low standards of Leicester's season, Jansson is having a shocker.

Two out of three. Rantala could make all the difference but she'll be rusty.

Charlton played their last league match on 2nd May which could be a blessing or a curse for them. I make Leicester favourites but at the same there isn’t any scoreline that would surprise me.

Leicester confirmed as one of the 8 teams in the next World 7s on May 28th to 30th. The other 7 are all WSL. Strange timing just before World Cup qualifiers. $500k for the winners. It will be on Sky.

It''s not a skin but hidden attributes can be added to views by right clicking a column heading. The export side of it is explained here for anyone interested, with relevant links in the description: Only the squad and player database search screens are included so far I think. From my experience you need to select the top and bottom rows of data, but there's a imit of 5000 rows. If your data has e.g. 6000 rows you need to reduce it below 5000 by changing a search parameter such as age range. Just selecting the top 3000 and printing, then the bottom 3000 and printing doesn't work. The first half might, but not the second.

It can get a bit involved but all seems pretty logical. Rather than try and work it out too much I just joined his Patreon for a month and downloaded all the resources. The spreadsheet needed a tweak, but nothing complicated. I couldn’t achieve results as good as his, probably because he understands his own methods better than I ever could so can spot problems and fix them where I can’t. But it still gave me a head start for my own version. The data exports have really rekindled my interest.

Now that data exports are back (albeit using a third-party mod) I’ve finally been able to get back to my preferred moneyball type of save. Data, spreadsheets, what’s not to like?! I started in WSL 2 with Southampton and adopted the dark arts moneyball system from the YouTuber MunstermannFM. It’s based on performance data rather than player attributes, and ultimately I found that to be a problem. I’d find players who fitted the bill based on their performance data at the end of a season, then when I looked at the end of the next season they had done nowhere near as well. A few continued to perform but most didn’t. We finished 8th of 12 in the first season before the moneyball aspect had kicked in because the performance data needs that first season to build into a decent sample size. We did ok, finishing 8th of 12 when the board just wanted to avoid relegation. Once able to recruit based on data, things did improve as we finished second but lost the playoff - to Leicester of all teams. Season three brought promotion as champions so the moneyball thing was getting results despite the variability of performance stats. The first season in the WSL was going ok but by mid-season I chose to ditch the performance data approach and focus on attributes instead. I spent a day setting everything up but Southampton’s lowly standing meant it was difficult to find players who would improve the side. And then Aston Villa came knocking and despite having intended to stay with Southampton the whole save, my head was turned by a wage budget triple that of Southampton and a transfer budget ten times bigger. Villa were actually below Southampton, but we went unbeaten to the end of the season to finish one place above them in 8th of 14. With eleven players out of contract I was able to massively change the squad and we had a great season, only to be pipped at the post in both league and cup. Arsenal hammered us in the penultimate game when a draw would have meant we were top going into the final round of matches. Instead the last-day 6-2 win over Everton meant nothing. Then we threw away the FA Cup Final in one of those games where it just feels FM has decided you have to lose. 2-0 up to 2-2 after 90 minutes, lead twice more in extra-time only to draw 4-4, have a penalty to win the shootout but miss it and ultimately lose. Midway through the next season we have won all 6 Champions League matches to qualify for the QF, are still going in both domestic cups and are second behind Chelsea in the league on goal difference, but with a game in hand and ten to play. The save has changed from true money ball – unearthing hidden gems for low fees and low wages – and become more about using the data to identify which of the expensive players are the best fit for our tactic which is 433 gegenpress. But I’m looking on it as a test run before I use the approach on a pentagon.

More a case of contracts ending and the clubs moving on rather than the league losing its appeal. Arsenal look like recruiting Stanway, Batlle and Çerçi among others. None of their outgoings are of that quality. Chelsea are only losing Kerr who has barely played in the last couple of years and will turn 33 around the start of next season. Man City might lose Bunny Shaw, but if she does leave she'll most likely go to Chelsea so won't be lost to the league. Barcelona are struggling financially so there's a decent chance one or two of their players move to the WSL.

I can’t recall if we (Loughborough Foxes) were tier 3 or 4 at the time but there was a season when the league fixtures were announced and included a round of matches on the same weekend that every team in the division entered the FA Cup. There was also, and I think still is, an insistence on playing a couple of rounds of midweek matches at that level when the small league sizes mean there are plenty of weekends to spare. That can be difficult for players who have full time jobs. It’s always been a case of lionesses led by donkeys.

Says even less about the voters.

The foul was before the pass that resulted in the offside. The referee was communicating with the assistant to clarify that before awarding the free kick. I do think Leicester have a good chance in the playoff now it’s Charlton, but whoever wins it will almost certainly be bottom next season. Might as well be Charlton, Leicester have stunk the league out long enough.

With around half an hour to go Birmingham are two up and Palace are three up, so unless something dramatic happens it will be Charlton in the playoff. Probably the most winnable of the alternatives for Leicester. If there is such a thing as winnable for Leicester.

I was asking our club secretary about the impact of the noon kickoffs on participation by our juniors and he said there was none at all. What has been impacted is the tickets Leicester distribute via the club used to be in big demand but now no-one wants them. It might have been a different story if Leicester were any good of course, but as it is it’s Leicester that are losing out as a result of the noon kickoffs, not our club.

I think it’s more likely to be Charlton or Birmingham now as they play each other on the last day (next Saturday). Palace will leapfrog at least one of them if they win their game which is at home to relegated Portsmouth. If Birmingham lose, a draw would be enough for Palace to finish second. But whoever it is, they will be favourites at home against Leicester. Mind you, Birmingham could have gone up today but were stuffed by Ipswich and also blew promotion on the last day of last season so they have some scars to overcome.

Normal service is quickly resumed.

Er, what?

Or referencing the dodgy official attendance figures.

Looks like 28,000 to me.