What Happened: Technology, fears for Spurs and United's second-half syndrome
Flo Lloyd-Hughes takes a look at what went down in the WSL over the weekend and highlights the latest pieces to read on The Cutback.
Welcome to another edition of The Cutback’s weekly newsletter What Happened. This newsletter will always be free to read and it will be sent out to your inbox every Monday.
Don’t forget we are hosting our first live event on 3 November in Haggerston, east London. We’re teaming up with the great crew at Baller FC for a special WSL watch party. It’s going to be a ‘Soccer Saturday’ sort of day. Our writers will be there chatting about Manchester United-Arsenal and then we will go ‘around the grounds’ to talk about the other fixtures of the day. Expect analysis, darts and lots of fun. Tickets are free so don’t miss out.
What Happened is a weekly newsletter that has some of my thoughts on the weekend’s games and also some snippets from our amazing writers. If you haven’t yet subscribed to The Cutback then do that now, what are you waiting for?
In today’s issue: Goal-line technology, Spurs spills and United’s second half woes.
Do we need goal-line technology in the WSL?
It’s a simple answer, yes. The beauty of goal-line technology is it’s probably the only objective thing we can enjoy in football. It’s simple tech. The referee wears a watch which buzzes when the ball crosses the goal line, and a goal is then awarded.
Goal-line technology is currently used in the Premier League and Championship but not in the WSL.
Last night, under the lights at Kingsmeadow and live on Sky Sports, Spurs were awarded a goal when Amanda Nilden’s cross was fumbled by Chelsea goalkeeper Hannah Hampton and the linesman thought the ball had crossed the line and flagged for referee Emily Heaslip to award the goal. The issue was that the linesman wasn’t in line with the ball and from that angle it would be pretty hard to see if the ball had crossed the line. It was still impossible to be sure from the TV camera angles and having watched it multiple times I’m still 99% sure the whole ball didn’t cross the line. But if we had goal-line technology we wouldn’t even need to ask the question. In the end, Chelsea won 5-2 so the official’s call became the second story of the night.
It’s not the first time we’ve had conversations about it in the league and having the technology would be the most effective way to be rid of any doubt or pressure on the officials.
As more WSL teams play games in the main club stadiums where the technology is already in use, it should become a no brainer that it is introduced into the league. If clubs continue to play at grounds such as Kingsmeadow then the technology should be installed at these smaller grounds. Chop chop.
Worrying times for Spurs
It was another tough night for Tottenham who made it three defeats in a row and four games without a win. The 4-0 thumping of Palace on the opening day feels like a long time ago.
It hasn’t been an easy run of games for Spurs and Robert Vilahamn will be relieved that these fixtures against Manchester United and Chelsea are out the way….but there’s no time to rest as games against Manchester City and Arsenal await after the international break.
Rachel Cohen had a look at whether Spurs fans should be worried about this recent slide and some concerning patterns that have emerged in this opening run of games.
United’s second half set back
It was a frustrating Saturday for Manchester United who failed to build on a strong first half showing against Brighton and ended up leaving with a point in a 1-1 draw. It’s the first time United have dropped points or conceded a goal this season.
United looked as if they were going to cruise to victory after Grace Clinton bagged an early goal for them at the Amex but they never really put their foot down and that gave Brighton just enough to make some second half changes and find a way back into the game.
Michelle Ageymang was the difference maker for Brighton, her introduction in the second half exposed the weakness of United having Celin Bizet, a winger, at right back. It was former United player Nikita Parris who eventually made them pay. She enjoyed the equaliser, sprinting the length of the pitch to celebrate right in front of the United bench. Spicy.
Conner Roberts dug deeper into what happened in Saturday’s game, including Marc Skinner’s slow substitutions and the bigger tests on the horizon for Manchester United.
Elsewhere on The Cutback:
Raphael Adelugba on the unstoppable Lauren Hemp
That’s it from me today. See you same time next week.
the WSL is growing for sure and I cannot understand why goal line tech is not installed as a must in all top leagues by now ... did I read it takes £20k to manage each game ... why so much?
It is electronic surely that beeps in the earpiece of the ref once it has been installed and paid for ... or am I missing something here?
As for VAR most fans do not trust the people running it let alone the downtime but as there are so many bad calls even now in the WSL by poor "over eager I am the one in charge refs" or newly developing FA ones, something needs to be done to undo the seriously bad calls. Just look at the management of our recent Liverpool game - it was a disgrace as if she was already their 12th person on the pitch.
As for the ghost goal - is Chelsea not happy enough with 5-2 that they have to complain so much.
Lets be honest here the picture is taken when HH touched the ball to push back out not when it was spinning back over the line. It was a goal and they should get over it.