lcfcrinaldi

I might be wrong, but I am sure I read that they decided against that in the meantime.

It's not really doom and gloom is it... We're 2 points off what we ended with last season, so whilst we've not improved our points tally, we have been battered by injuries to the point of playing Takarada up front for a good chunk of the season and during that time we still had one of the best defensive records in the league. You could very much argue that without a couple of key injuries we would likely have picked up a few points at least. I've moaned about our wingers enough and I agree with points made above, directness is good, but it does need to be done smartly. I don't think O'Brien is cut out for going through the middle, she's rarely in the right positions when the wingers do need her and being slightly built, she's just not able to stand up to players. I've been banging this drum, but I would really like to see Eiriksdottir get a start up front, particularly against Palace she could get a lot of joy. Shame we haven't seen Swaby much at all this season, assume it's due to injury? She also went straight down the tunnel when she got took off and saw her pointing to her hamstring, so hopefully it's not a reoccurring injury if so. Overall I'm not too concerned about the performances recently as at the end of the day now, it doesn't really matter so much now we're safe. The biggest worry (by a country mile) should be contract status' and the amount of key players that are out of contract at the end of the season. That's what is effecting my optimism for next season...

Not a bad result today, was fully expecting us to be well beaten. Rode our luck a fair bit and often gave them chances more than they created them themselves. A draw would have been a fair result today, so we can be proud of that. Be nice to end on a high and pick up a few points before the end of the season from the last 2 games.

Palace loosing 3-0, looks like safety is confirmed

ACL and knee injuries are just rife across women's football generally and have been for years. Haven't looked into it, but surely there's science behind it.

Not expecting much this weekend, but hoping for a bit more of a fight than against Arsenal. Man City aren't on a very good run of form at the moment and could work in our favour, but we've got a really poor record against them. Either way, hopefully we can at least celebrate safety if palace loose in the earlier kick-off.

Whilst I do agree that her decision making can be slow, that is something that can be worked on, whereas a physical attribute like pace can't really be taught. To be honest though, games like the Arsenal game will always be tough as she will not have a lot of support due to us playing more defensively. She's also very young, so has that on her side. Would she be a starter if we had a full fully fit squad?... No, but she's probably as good as we have right now with a squad that lacks depth anyway.

I feel like Chossenotte tends to look more dangerous than the likes of Cain or O'Brien at times. She makes things happen a little bit more and has a bit more physicality. But let's be real, once Goodwin is fit enough to start and *touchwood Rantala is back next season, we SHOULD be in a better place on the wings. Obviously assuming we can keep hold of them... In terms of up front, Eiriksdottir isn't the most mobile, but she doesn't need to be with capable wingers next to her, she seems technically good and obviously has buckets of strength. I think she deserves a proper run-out and hopefully with a pre-season under her belt, we will start getting the best out of her. I also don't agree that we are going backwards against Miquel, look at the first half of the season compared to now and we look like a different team for the most part, which gives credence to the injury crisis being the problem. Against the likes of Arsenal, City or Chelsea, any team in the league could be on the receiving end of a hiding. Unfortunately that's the difference in class between them and the rest of the league. We are much more consistent against those outside of the top 3/4.

Slow and weak sums up our performance today. I really want Eiriksdottir to get some more minutes going into these last few games. She has the only one to have shown that she is at least strong. I like Shannon, but with Cain, Goodwin and/or Chossenotte either side of her, it makes us very one dimensional. Las also needs more minutes, another player that will probably be very important for us next season. On another (but very much connected) note... Where on earth is Rantala?! Or even Peterman?

I'm not surprised, but I am disappointed. It's the usual stuff when we play the top 3, we pretty much roll over from the start due to our lack of ambition. Chelsea at home was the only exception, but that may have been more luck than judgement.

Whilst I don't think there's a world in which we win tonight (would love to eat my words), I hope we give it a proper go, we've got nothing to loose really. Same as when we play Man City next weekend. We've really struggled to keep it tight at the back, particularly playing better teams, so let's just take it to them.

I can agree that we should be offering her an extension, probably another 1 year. She's not had the best season with us, but pops up with critical goals now and then and though she's not been amazing, she's reliably good and always works very hard. But if I had to choose between loosing Takarada, Momiki or Cayman...I think I'd have to say Cayman as I feel that Mace can do what Cayman does well.

Does anyone know of any decent WSL podcasts? I listen to the guardian women's football weekly, but I just find that it's just 95% arsenal and Chelsea chat, then the rest of the teams share the other 5%. Also, the pundits don't seem to have much knowledge of the club's outside of the top 4.

Probably on par with how we had been during the start of the season, but we've played a lot, lot better than that recently. We're pretty much safe now I'd like to think, just one more win should seal it. Not so upset about not being able to make it today now 😂 it wasn't great.

Does anyone know of/have a stream of the game? Unfortunately don't have Sky sports and couldn't make it.

I agree, though she's not going to get ahead of Missy, I think she's a more than capable cover/sub.

I don't see Hannah Cain renewing her contract to be honest. If I'm not wrong, I saw someone on here said her contract is up at the end of the season. I'm also sure I read an interview not long ago with Willie where he said that him and Hannah talked about keeping it a secret and then one of them leaving. I wouldn't see it as a big loss anyway, I don't rate her at all, especially after that. Willie needs to just stop moping and trying to fish for a job, there's no chance he will get a role in women's football now, at least not in England.

Really enjoyed the game yesterday, I was so sure they were going to get an equaliser when their penalty went in... Well fought, even if we had been our own worst enemy at times. Haven't been a big Hannah Cain fan since she's been back from injury, but she had a decent game yesterday. I really would have liked to have seen Eiriksdottir rather than Torres, just to have someone that can hold up the ball. Though I like Torres' energy and just buzzes around the defenders feet. Gutted I won't be able to make the Tottenham game on Sunday due to it being mother's day.

Shame about Peterman and Rantala in particular, didn't expect to see Ruby again this season, but was hoping we'd see those two. Still think we should have enough to see us through to the end of the season and avoid relegation. Hopefully starting up again with another positive result on Sunday.

The feeling of safety has gone a little bit after that result, but it really is in our own hands. We have 3 out of 4 winnable home games left and we play Palace 2nd to last game of the season.

I'm not sure we will see her until next season now, unfortunately. We can hope she's maybe okay for the Euros, but without a run of games leading to the summer, I'm also not sure she will be picked by Wiegman.

Completely agree with that, my fear is the pure amount of the core squad are out of contract in the summer and the fact that the transfer policy is similar to that of the mens team... Minimalist. On top of the fact that every other team in the league will also have the same mentality of kicking on too, most of which are probably slightly more appealing to better players considering our league positions in prior seasons. You're right, that would be the mentality of a poorly run club, as at the point relegation is opened back up again, you're only setting yourself up to just get relegated straight away. I'm not so upset with them getting rid of relegation for a couple of seasons if they promote a couple of teams each season and it expands the league, short term pain for long term gain. If you just promote 4+ teams off the bat, the newly promoted teams are just going to struggle with the sudden jump in quality/fitness, which we see enough of already.

Couldn't watch the game as I don't have Sky and it was very difficult to find a stream. There wasn't a capitulation like we've seen before. And from what I have seen, mostly in the game against a side that is walking the league. It's progression, though I am wary that I thought that near the end of last season and believed we could really kick on from being relegation potential every season...

Thanks both. Hopefully a proper pre-season will get her to where we need her to be for next season.

Out of interest, was Hlin taken off at half time due to injury? Or did she not play well?