Thanks to Vauxhall and She Kicks, I had the pleasure of attending my first ever women’s footie game at Wembley (although I attended the FA WSL Umbro 5 a few years ago) writes SYLVAIN JAMET.
I did not attend the Team GB game against Brazil in 2012 as I was in Newcastle to watch France instead, so it was my first 11 a side Women game at Wembley and the first ever women’s football game for my French mate Ben I had invited to come along, writes SYLVAIN JAMET.
(Image above: Some of the German fans – happy before the game…and happy afterwards too, no doubt.)
His post game words were : ‘very nice atmosphere, very different from men’s football and that I was the perfect guide as I knew so many players and people at the game.’
I got to the ground quite early around 1130 to collect my tickets at the box office and avoid the queues, the weather was just awful. I am glad I live close to the ground as I just need to take the 65 and 83 buses to make it to Wembley and avoid all the tube mess. I went to have my lunch at Nando’s early enough to anticipate the lunchtime rush there, saw Lucy and 2 other players from Liverpool Ladies go past me while I was eating. I also bumped into a player who is likely to sign for London Bees and was actually working in that Nando’s restaurant.
I went back to the ground, waited for my fellow French supporter and came across the Birmingham City Ladies supporters group, took a picture of them in front of the ground. My friend duly arrived having fought with the mess created by engineering works. He is a fellow FC Nantes supporter (the French canaries) and the game was his introduction to women’s football. He had visited Stamford Bridge the day before and I said, you will find that women’s football is slower than men’s football but that the skill level is very much the same. It was actually interesting and refreshing to watch a game with someone who had no pre conceived judgement on players as we regular of the games have. We had a drink (non alcoholic for me of course) and then took our seat early, to soak the atmosphere. It was Ben ‘s first visit at Wembley, so we actually went round the concourses from Club Wembley and it is quite a nice area.
The game kicked off, Jordan Nobbs (above) was close to scoring straight from the kick-off and then things started to go from bad to worse with two quick goals and Germany in full control. We had some good chat about tactics, positioning, pace and other football matters as Ben is a big football fan who had been a regular at AS Roma for home and away games for years before moving to London. He very much likes to analyse and understand football like yours truly and it always makes interesting conversation. Half time came with England 3-0 down. Again we went round the concourse to do some sightseeing and we bumped into a former FA WSL 2 manager who is one of the 27 female coaches in England with the UEFA A licence. We had a long chat with her and her friend (who coaches a FA WSL development team) on why the wrong tactics were used in the first half etc. I also lent her the Pep Guardiola book (a recommended read) and we have such a good 4 sided conversation that we actually went back to our seats with the clock showing 58 minutes played! During half time I also tried to cash in my 3-0 Germany bet on my phone but did not manage it as internet was non existent and spent the whole 2nd half praying no one would score. Luckily enough the 2nd half was quite dull with Germany in control and many substitution that slowed down the game’s rhythm.
Overall we had a very pleasant day, Ben was really pleased with his first women football experience and I went home quite quickly, walked to Alperton tube station got a train to South Ealing and got a Burger meal and was home by 6pm.
My views on the game itself :
- 4-4-2 Diamond midfield never materialised
- with Carney playing on the same level, very deep as Williams
- Sanderson ended up on the left wing
- Aluko as the lone striker with no real support
- Duggan in a no man’s land unable to influence the game
- Germany dominated the midfield battle moving their 4-3-3 into 4-2-4 in attacking position. Germany ‘s 3 forwards were really strong in possession in the final third, holding the ball comfortably.
- England gave away 3 sloppy goals to Germany and you cannot afford it against world class players :
- The 1st goal marking error on a corner and a defensive midfield putting through the opposition forward.
- The 2nd goal was just bad seeing Germany get a 70 yards straight line passing move from their penalty area to England’s one.
- The 3rd goal with a full back overlapping not taken care of and marking being a bit elastic with Sasic alone to smash her header into the net.
I think it will be a good lesson for the players and the coaching staff. Germany were very much improved from the poor game I witnessed in Offenbach (0-2 v France) when they were easily beaten by us. Lena Goessling in midfield had a big influence and was missed against France.
It looks like Mark Sampson put his best 11 more or less and the back 4 plus the defensive midfielder seem to be nailed on WC starters if you analyse the line-ups from recent games. The 4-4-2 diamond can be a very successful well balanced system if the players fit into and if they understand it. It looked to me that this was not the case and players wandered out of their designated position and unbalanced the side leaving the defensive block too stretched and looking like a gruyere at time.
Overall what I understand from the main teams (USA, France, Germany or England ) is they try to converge to the same point in term of balance between physical strentgh, attacking football, ball possession, defensive attitude and creativity, but as they start from different point of the scale, they are all using a different pathway to reach their maximum in time for the World Cup.
England will test themselves against quality opposition in 2015 and this will help them towards having a good World Cup.
Follow Sylvain on Twitter: @S_Jamet
(Images: The FA via Getty)
We want your thoughts from Sunday’s game. Please email HERE.
Want to read previous blogs on this subject?
Blog 1 is HERE.
Blog 2 is HERE.
SHE KICKS – the online community for women’s football
