Women's football

[Gingerfinch]

Not so much men against boys, but women against girls, Footman. The USA are obviously very good but England lack the ability to keep the ball and lack pace up front. Much as I like Ellen White, she looked slow and off the pace.

[Durhamfootman]

Not so much men against boys, but women against girls, Footman.

That's what I heard

a year ago the team were flying, they were beginning to challenge the established European order (although they still didn't beat the USA when they won the she believes)

it feels entirely possible that England could lose to Japan and Spain as well this year.

Neville has taken a team that was improving year on year and seems to be turning it into a team susceptible to suffering losses against almost anybody

Now that might be despite keeping the same core of players or it might be because of it. I really couldn't say

[Durhamfootman]

0-0 at half time for the lionesses -v- Japan

I haven't seen much of the first half, but it has been turgid fare by all accounts. England have created some chances, but wasted with poor finishing

[Durhamfootman]

Ellen White comes on late and scores with a quality finish. Horrible error from Japan to present the ball to Duggan who slid White in, but the finish was terrific and precisely what has been missing all game

[Gingerfinch]

Yeah great finish. England had a glorious chance in the first half but fluffed it. Apart from that the Japanese keeper had little to do prior to our goal. Thought Nobbs played really well.

[Durhamfootman]

England's only shot on target in the second half. Thank goodness for EW

Nobbs is a real dynamo

One of the things that annoys me with England (and this is equally true of the men), when they get a throw in in the opposition half, there is never anyone to throw it to, so they faff about trying to get someone to make themselves available and when nobody does the ball gets thrown hopefully and inevitably leads to England losing possession. I've never understood why that happens... it rarely seems to be an issue for other teams... do they just throw it in a bit quicker, before the defence sets itself?

[Durhamfootman]

the gulf in quality between this USA/Spain game and the Eng/Japan is vast

what a good game this is

[Durhamfootman]

Spain causing USA all kinds of problems, although the USA do look the most threatening on the break

[Durhamfootman]

Excellent first half. Spain have moved the ball really well, but their final ball and finishing needs work, although they have hit the woodwork. USA have carved out the best chances but have been on the back foot for much of the second part of the half and are starting to get a bit testy.... I guess they aren't used to this

[Durhamfootman]

USA steal it in the closing minutes

[Gingerfinch]

Be tough for England on Wednesday by the sound of it.

[Durhamfootman]

depends really. Spain's possession was excellent/glorious/accomplished (pick your preferred word) and far ahead of anything England can do, but their final ball was indifferent, their crossing poor and their finishing virtually non-existent. If England stay patient, then in EW they do have the firepower to do what the USA managed to do.

of course the bravest manager in the world will probably play everyone out of position again

[Durhamfootman]

Of course the USA were able to take off Megan Rapinoe and Carly Lloyd and replace them with Christen Press and Tobin Heath

must be nice

[Alviro Patterson]

I didn't see the lionesses she believes match against the USA the other night. From what I've gathered it was more of a she believes mis-match

England are a team in decline under the auspices of the bravest, bestest manager in women's football, yet the core of the team is pretty much unchanged from what I can see

thank goodness we have him, because every other team in the world would love to have him

well..... according to him anyway

I put it down to the women's game changing their season from summer to winter. I never understood the logic behind it from a commercial and participation perspective. Granted there would be a clash every other year with the World Cup or European Championship, but there was nothing wrong with pausing the season for 4-6 weeks.

[sussexpob]

If England's women team want to start to compete with the best, then they have to remove the bubble wrapped environment they operate in. The English media essentially allow the team way too much leeway, and there is never any critique of the team; rewatch that USA WC match, the fitness on show in the last third of the game was shocking. The ladies should be better professionals than to tire out so badly, a lot of them play at top clubs like Man City, where they share and have access to the most expensive training facilities ever built in football. They need to look at themselves and strive to get better. There are no excuses.

When France failed, the media went for the jugular. They dont over hype wins against teams with far less facilities either; when England beat Norway, people were proclaiming it as some wonder victory when in actual fact regardless of historical achievements, Norways top players cant be ar*ed with international football and dont bother to turn up, and whats left is playing games in rural stadiums to 10 people, and heavily amateur setups. Its hardly the David v Goliath rubbish the English media played it up to be, in fact it was more the giant kicking the life out of a midget.

Other teams like Spain seem to be very focused in improving, England seem stuck in the mud. But why would you look to improve that much when the message is always "hard lines". No one lays the boot in or demands better.

Just look at how professional the American ladies are, and how much pressure there is for them to perform. They dont have a free pass on failure or are allowed to float out terrible excuses, when England won the last tournament in the USA (by drawing with USA, I think they won on GD) the Americans got a pounding. They are fitter,stronger, more mentally prepared. They dont win all these trophies by fluke.... England need to create the same environment that does not accept failure.