Women’s football this year was supposed to kick off with a bang but, with seven of the weekend’s FA Cup fourth-round fixtures postponed, it was more like a whimper.
Matches at Brighton & Hove Albion, Blackburn Rovers, Everton, Leicester City, Crystal Palace, West Ham United and Arsenal fell foul of the weather as frozen pitches saw some games called off more than 24 hours before kick-off, creating an uneven start to the year. Clubs had already taken four weeks off from competitive football during the winter break.
WSL leaders Chelsea’s game went ahead, with some fans anxious not to have a repeat of the match against Liverpool two seasons ago that was called off shortly after it had begun when it became clear the pitch was unplayable. Sonia Bompastor referenced that fixture when thanking the ground staff after her team’s 4-0 win over Championship side Charlton Athletic, saying, “They did a wonderful job making sure the pitch was available”.
“They spent so much energy on making sure with this temperature that the field was covered,” the Chelsea manager said in the post-match press conference. “Even though we don’t have heat under the pitch, they heated it with lamps. At Cobham, as well as at Kingsmeadow, they were working so hard every day to make sure the game could be played.
“It was really important in terms of rhythm for the players to play the game.”
Bompastor could call on Lauren James for the first time since October 12 and the England forward looked sharp before being replaced at half-time. The opportunity to play Catarina Macario, Mayra Ramirez and James together was a tantalising glimpse of the attacking talents Bompastor will have at her disposal if everyone can stay fit.
Manchester City were also boosted by the return of some familiar faces in their 3-0 win over third-tier Ipswich Town. Vivianne Miedema, unavailable for the same period as James, came off the bench to score City’s third goal.
Vivianne Miedema scores Manchester City’s third goal against Ipswich Town (Carl Recine/Getty Images)
”Viv is a top player and she is always going to make this team better,” Manchester City manager Gareth Taylor said in the press conference after the match. “Hopefully this gives her the confidence and gives her more minutes under her belt to blow the cobwebs off a little bit.”
Miedema, who played as a centre-forward on her return, said her enforced absence had been “frustrating”.
“When you come back from injury, especially for players like me, people expect you to score goals again. I’m happy that I scored today and I can move forward,” she said on City’s official website.
Manchester City finished the year decimated by injury with no clear return date for any of Khadija ‘Bunny’ Shaw, Lauren Hemp or Alex Greenwood. Having Miedema available will be crucial as they enter a tricky period that has them facing Manchester United in consecutive fixtures — at home in the WSL and away in their League Cup quarter-final — before hosting Arsenal at the start of February.
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Those Manchester United matches will be particularly intriguing given United’s chameleon-like performances this season. They have enjoyed good results, losing just once this season, but the reality is more complicated.
United took a while to get going against third-tier West Bromwich Albion on Saturday, but the introduction of full-back Anna Sandberg, who joined from Hacken over the summer, enlivened the performance. She registered three assists in 25 minutes as United had a late flurry of six goals from the 77th minute onwards, putting a gloss on the 7-0 scoreline.
Sandberg arrived in Manchester with an injury, but her availability might help them evolve for the second half of the season.
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All of this leaves Arsenal facing a more truncated schedule than their nearest league rivals. They have a League Cup quarter-final against Brighton on January 22, so their rearranged FA Cup match against Bristol City has been squeezed into one of their few remaining midweek slots (Wednesday, January 29). When they resume their WSL campaign on Sunday against Crystal Palace, it will have been over a month since their last domestic game (the 1-0 win in Liverpool on December 15).
It has been a lengthy wait to confirm Arsenal’s new manager, too, but the end of their search appears to be in sight. Renee Slegers continues in the interim role but if someone from outside the club succeeds Jonas Eidevall, they could face significant upheaval, making it all the more odd that failed to make a decision before the season resumed.
The only other WSL team to play over the weekend was free-scoring Aston Villa, who put nine past fourth-tier Bristol Rovers, currently in the fourth tier. Villa’s interim boss, Shaun Goater, will be pleased to see his team playing confidently, albeit against limited opposition, as they try to turn their season around.
(Top photo: Carl Recine/Getty Images)
