Rinse and Defeat

Chelsea Women host Barcelona Femeni in the UWCL Semi Final Second Leg at Stamford Bridge

The Blues host the Garnet and Blue in a repeat of the two previous Champions League Semi Finals. Getting boring now. We were here last year to see the Blues lose having come back from the away leg with a narrow lead. That’s not the case this year. They got battered in Spain and got a late consolation to make it 4-1. A big ask to get anything today. They have to play it as a one off and just try to win it. Sonia got it horribly wrong in Barcelona and needs to do something very different tonight. The Blues squad is missing LJ who was injured on international duty. Sam Kerr is nearly back but not quite ready yet. Natalie Bjorn was injured in the away leg on 81 minutes. The 3rd goal came straight after that change which unfortunately had to happen when defending a corner. The line ups are out. Hannah is in goal with Millie and Naomi G in front. Naimh is left back opposite Lucy on the right. In the middle are Erin, Kiera and Sjoeke. Sandie, JRK and Mayra are up front. Guru is on the bench having played 30 minutes in the away leg. The Garnet and Blue have the last 2 Ballon D’Or winners on the pitch. The core of the team is still Spanish but some of the pace on the wings come from elsewhere in the the shape of CGH and Rolfo. Are they wingers or whingers, we’ll see later. Last year there were loads of Barca shirts in the Shed. This time we are in the West Stand and the stewards were stopping away fans outside and sending them back to the ticket office. The sun is shining but we’re in the shade. Bet it’s toasty in the East Stand. We didn’t see Basil outside. He will make his presence known when the match starts. We have clackers so will be joining Basil in the percussion section today 🥁.

The Spanish champions are on it from the whistle with Aitana and Alexia getting early chances. The Blues pick themselves up a bit and it gets scrapy and broken up for a while. It’s Chelsea’s turn to get a couple of chances but Sandy misses and Sjoeke’s shot is saved. It’s 25 minutes played when Aitana picks the ball up in her own half. The Chelsea defence are out of shape and she runs clean through them to smash it past Hannah from inside the box. Knife through butter springs to mind. Or maybe it’s plant based spread these days. 0-1. Need to stop that happening again. The Chels need 4 goals to level it now. The Blues keep their heads up and get a flurry of corners and chances. It’s Sandy with the chances, forcing a block and a save. It’s soon all over for the Blues as Payor puts in a CGH cross from close range on 41. 0-2. Pina hits a long curling shot from wide. Hannah looks like she leaves it but it curls into the top corner. Hannah’s third touch of the ball is to pick it out of the net again. There is another bunch of chances to extend the lead with shots from Pina (saved) and Batlle (blocked). Chelsea are trying to press but are far too sloppy in possession. They really need to be clinical with every chance but that’s not happened yet. First half is over. 7-1. Playing for pride in the 2nd half.

Sonia makes two changes at the break. Aggie replaces Mayra up front. Ashley Lawrence replaces Naomi and slots in at left back with Niamh moving across to centre back. It’s scrappy for a while but neither side able to control the ball for long. Chelsea get a couple of chances. Sandy comes very close but it’s just wide and Sjoeke blazes over. Not clinical enough at all. Sonia makes some more changes on the hour mark. Nothing to lose now. Kaptein replaces Baltimore and Kat Merario replaces Erin Cuthbert. Not sure who is playing where now. Barca make some changes too. CGH goes off (hooray) to be replaced by Paralluelo (oops). Also leaving the pitch are Parades and Pina and coming on are Fernandez and Brughts. The changes seem to disrupt the Spaniards and Chelsea get the upper hand for a while. Kat misses (again) and JRK’s shot is blocked. A couple of corners result in a good header for Nusken but it’s saved. Can’t afford to not take these chances. It now slows down with neither team able to do anything with the ball. Hermano replaces JRK who hasn’t been at her best. At 75 minutes it all goes a bit mad. Alexia starts it with a miss. Nushen has a shot saved then Lucy misses. It’s Parallelo up next but somehow Hannah manages to make the save. It’s still end to end as Lopez has her shot blocked just after she comes on for Pajor. Hermano takes her turn but shoots over. Selma Paralluelo sees another great shot scrambled away by Hannah. The chances come for Chelsea again as Aggie gets her head on a corner but it misses the target. Lucy’s shot is saved. Millie’s is blocked and Kat misses a sitter🤦🏼‍♀️. Not her first. She needs to find her shooting boots quickly 👢. The clock hits 90 as Paralluelo finally gets her goal. It was coming, she‘s been a real handful. The consolation finally comes on 90+1 as Kaptein puts it past Cata Coll into the top corner ⚽. We celebrate like it’s a winner. All over. 8-2 on aggregate.

Well that was awful. A carbon copy of the away leg. Barcelona are good but Chelsea didn't even step up until the very end. Not sure why the same tactics were supposed to work today when they failed so badly last weekend. Emma tried to out Barca Barca with a high pressing game and it worked a treat in the first leg. Barca figured it out, changed tactics and won the home leg and the tie. Barca adapted to the Chelsea press by playing long before and it worked again today. It’s made worse by the fact that Arsenal overcame their home leg deficit to beat Lyon away. A Barca v Arsenal final will sting the Blues even more. We aren’t going though, so good luck to the Gunners, hope you can get it done in Lisbon. Enough moaning about the game, it’s always nice to be at the Bridge even though we didn’t see Basil. That’s our Champions League fun over for this season. We’re already looking forward to some group games on freezing nights in North and West London.

POTM: is difficult due to the totally lacklustre performance in which no-one really did themselves proud. It goes to the person who created one of the standout moments. It was a Milliedozer sliding tackle. Nothing like a bit of petulant thuggery to get a cheer from the crowd. Thanks Millie.

The following may contain moaning👇🏼

Ref: Refs always seem to be frightened of the reputation of Barca and so are afraid of giving controversial decisions against them. Hence they get away with everything. It’s the opposite for Chelsea who are not allowed to touch the Barca players at all. The same effect happens is the WSL when ‘lower’ teams play Chelsea. No ref wants to stick their head above the parapet and be the one who ends the 20 game unbeaten run. Also inconsistent with the rules when she stopped the match for a head injury while Chelsea were in possession, then she gave the drop ball to Barca. QED.

Basil watch: No sign of him, before, during or after the game. Very sensible but hope he is OK.

The Scan’O’meter had a day off but will be pleased to hear that all bottles and top were allowed in.

Love Tranmerekat 🐾

Nice day for it

Back at the Bridge

A different bridge

Deja Vu

97 Tears

Brighton & Hove Albion Women face Chelsea Women in the WSL at the Peoples Pension Stadium

It’s the Seagulls 3rd game in the big playground this season. Today, Liverpool are the opponents in the penultimate home game. It’s a six pointer as the Albion are 5th in the WSL with the Reds just a point behind. Man City are 13 points clear in 4th so this is the battle to be the best of the rest. Since we last saw them play, Maddie has been injured against Man City and will miss the rest of the season. Big loss that. And during the international break, our Michelle became a national hero scoring a worldie for the Senior Lionesses against Belgium in Belgium. It was her first senior goal after just 53 seconds on the pitch. She was with the U19 squad when she got a very late call up to replace the injured Russo for the trip to Belgium. The rest is history, literally. She gets a rare start today. Also starting from the Lionesses squad are Fran and Nikita. Maisie starts after her first senior Lioness call up too although she didn’t get to play. At least her talent has been recognised👀. The Liverpool news is that Matt Beard 🧔 was surprisingly sacked 💰 in February. Acting in his place is Amber Whiteley. She took them to the FA Cup semi-finals last week but they lost to Chelsea. They took the lead in that match through an Olivia Smith goal with her trademark fast break and diagonal rocket into the net. Hope we don’t see that today but she is lethal. We were a bit surprised to see her today as she went off injured last week. We have yet to see the Albion win at the AMEX but we are hoping to break that duck 🦆 today. We lost to Everton here at the AMEX a year ago today. Hopefully we’re not completing the Merseyside double today. It’s a very sunny ☀ April 🌧 day and it’s toasty 😎 in the front row of the East Stand. There has been a bit of a wheelie bin malfunction and some have been taken away. The remaining display is a bit half-hearted. It’s time for “Sussex by the Sea” and then we’re off.

It’s a horrible start. Olivia Smith is straight down the wing and smashing it in from an angle. Identical to the goal at Chelsea last week 😡. A week to prepare for that exact danger and we’re behind in a minute. Mustn't swear, we are in the Family Stand 😶. Drat, Damn and Whops. It restarts and we make some noise to get behind the team. They can’t keep the ball though. It’s all Liverpool with misses from Fisk, Kiernan and Fisk again. The Seagulls manage to get a shot in but Nadine misses her chance. There is an impromptu drinks break as Olivia receives treatment on 31. Rinse and repeat on 39 except the play doesn't stop this time so she is left rolling around on her own. The Seagulls get caught playing out from the back and Kiernan makes it 2-0 to the visitors on 43. Long way back now. A goal before the break would be nice. Olivia Smith, having needed treatment twice, is flying down the wing. This time Poppy keeps up and absolutely flattens her 🥊. Well in, Popps. More treatment is required and after wasting loads more time, she is replaced by Kapocs on 45+6. Poppy is booked which is fair enough. The half ends after 8 added minutes, mostly due to Olivia Smith sitting down. The is a brief relief from the heat as we get a lovely cooling spray at the halftime sprinklers.

Brighton need something now. Dario makes 3 changes. Rachel, Poppy and Nadine are replaced by Dejana, Kiko and Marisa. Maisie drops into the left centre back roll vacated by Poppy. It is better! There is more aggression in the midfield and the ball is moving forward. We start to get chances.  Nikita gets caught offside. Michelle puts Kiko’s cross in the net on 48⚽. 1-2. A good start. We can’t get any momentum built and it is scrappy for a while. Fran misses from another Kiko cross. Nikita is booked for a late tackle. Michelle is injured and there is another drinks break while she gets treatment. It's now Frans turn to get booked. Michelle takes a shot from the corner of the box, it’s well high and wide as it curls into the stand but Rachel Laws was still injured in the action 🤷. More work for the physios who are earning their money 💰 today. Liverpool get a corner and Bonner is injured in the action. On come the physios again. The clock is ticking down as Bruna replaces Jelena on 81 to big cheers. She is back from Barcelona after treatment for an injury. Melina makes a good save from Holland. Bruna misses down the other end. It’s all Brighton now. Laws is booked for time wasting. Albion get a string of corners but no goals. Auee is replaced by Charlize on 90+7 as play restarts. It finishes on 90+10 with a 1-2 loss.

Not a good day for the Seagulls. Another goal for Michelle. Shame we couldn’t get more. Albion had a week off to train while Liverpool played an big FA Cup game yet it was the opposition who looked well organised and full of energy. Not having a plan for Olivia Smith and being caught out in the first minute is unbelievable. Disappointed that we underperformed when it mattered and now Liverpool have moved above us in the table as we swapped 5th and 6th places. West Ham drew so at least we didn't drop any lower but need to buck our ideas up or we will be dropping rapidly down the table. Three games to go including Arsenal at Crawley. Enough moaning.  It was a nice day out and we got to test out the new fan zone which is very much a work in progress. We did get excellent value today as we got an extra 15 minutes for the same price although Liverpool players were sitting down for most of it. They are a bit fragile on the wrong side of the Mersey. We do wonder if Smith was fit having gone off injured last week and the needed treatment 3 times today before being subbed. Maybe she is just being massively over dramatic. Who knows? They were a bit of a one player team without her. Full marks to Poppy for putting her out of her misery today. 

POTM: Is awarded to Melina for some great saves and trying to distribute the ball quickly even if no-one wanted it.

The ref got played by the Reds today with all their falling over and rolling around. She got a few names for her collection as well.

The Scran’O’meter tested out “The Terrace”, the new fan zone. The Ultra Cheese Melt toastie was nice getting 8/10. The ordering system needs sorting out though. The catering on the concourse was very slow at half time. Not Arsenal slow but bad enough. And the AMEX stewards and staff are the last remaining outpost for removing bottle tops 🍾.

See you on Monday if it's not too foggy on the Tye.

Love Tranmerekat 🐾

In the AMEX with Sally

Smokey in here

Checking out the new fan zone