Another indication is Flaherty played 90 minutes at left back.
Pond came at CB, I thought she was a left back.
I think Flaherty will be first choice at LB this season.

When does the transfer window close? A little birdie tells me we have two more departures to look forward to and another new arrival? Is there still time for this? The same birdie was right when they told me about Sanderson and Asante x

Maybe Danielle Bird could be the new player.

From the senior player list who could go :

Scott I'd be surprised to see her leave
Tracy that would not be a bad news as she did not perfrom well last season
Ludlow won't go
White that would not be bad news as she did not perfrom well last season
Grant won't go
Smith I'd be surprised to see her leave
Fleeting I'd be surprised to see her leave
Yankey maybe if Bird comes in
Carney maybe
Chapman she was there yesterday , i don't think she would go

Any info on season tickets yet?

Nope you can ring 01727747452 and ask them about it
I have emailed them already too much this season

Stalking so early in the season Shlj


Arsenal really can't afford to lose anymore top players if they want to do well this season.

On the website :


Arsenal Ladies season tickets 2008/09

Season ticket Prices:

Adults £20
U16’s/OAP’s £10

All you need to do is make your cheque payable to Arsenal Ladies FC and send it to:

ALFC Season Ticket Offer
Media & Education Centre
Bell Lane
London Colney AL2 1DR

Your season ticket will allow free entry into all ALFC home games (excl UEFA Cup matches — however, season ticket holders will get a discounted rate). Should we reach the European Final again entry price will have to be confirmed. (Without the season ticket next year, match entry will be £3 for adults, £1.50 for OAP’s / U16s)

The season ticket will not include a match day programme, you can purchase a programme at the gate for £1.

If you are interested in purchasing an Arsenal Ladies season tickets we will need the following details along with the cheque. We cannot do orders over the phone as we do not have credit card facilities, and tickets can only be purchased by sending a cheque to the above address.

HOW MANY SEASON TICKETS DO YOU WANT? ADULTS / CONCESSIONS

FULL NAME: so we can print it on the ticket.

ADDRESS

CONTACT NUMBER

EMAIL ADDRESS: so we can email you if any of our home games have been cancelled.

A 5-0 victory with 1-0 at half time.

Starting eleven was
Byrne
Scott Fahey Tracy Flaherty
Ludlow Grant
Carney Smith Yankey
Davison

Half time swaps:
Becky Spencer in for Emma Byrne
Laura Basset for Niamh Fahey
Eartha Pond for Yvonne Tracy
Danielle Bird for Karen Carney
Nathalie Ross for Jayne Ludlow

Later during the game
Lauren Walker for Rachel Yankey
Naomi Cole for Alex Scott
Faye Marsh for Gilly Flaherty with Pond going at left back and Basset at left center back
Laura Coombs for Gemma Davison
Abbie Prosser for Ciara Grant
Jaddine Madden for Kim Little

For those who know me, I ran the line in that game because the referee had no assistants.
Quite hard keeping up with Carney and Davison...

After those 2 friendlies I have attended I think I have a rough idea of the starting 11 on Thursday for the Community Shield.

GK : Emma Byrne
RB : Alex Scott
CB : Faye White or Niamh Fahey
CB : Laura Basset
LB: Gilly Flaherty
CM : Jayne Ludlow
CM : Ciara Grant or Kim Little
AM : Kelly Smith / Kim Little
RW : Karen Carney
CF : Julie Fleeting or Gemma Davison

Your birdie was right, we just signed Danii Bird from Birmingham.
Let's say Ms S and Ms S may leave but I guess we will know when the WPS draft is done by end of September beginning of October

An interesting game to see what needs to be worked on and what is already right.
A game of two halves really with Everton being the better team in the first and Arsenal winning the second. Everton would have won it had they put one or two away in the first half.

A new back four meant the automatism were not in place at all and it showed in the first half.
Basset looked to be able to stamp her autority. I would have liked to see Fahey gievn a chance during the game as well. The positionning of the defending 6 was really uncertain at time and the defensive team recovery of the ball was not up to scratch. That kind of game shows how much Chapman is missed because no ones anchor the midfield like her. Maybe Kayleigh Hines could do a job for us?

What is also obvious is having lost Sanderson, the team game has had to evolve but the maturity needed for that kind of game was missing. Last Saturday at the Emirates Stadium, Real Madrid did show how football should be played and hopefully the girls can replicate that kind of football.

I went to see our reserves in a friendly against Braintree town
They won 10-1 and could have scored a few more as they hit the post couple of times and loads of shots went wide.
Theamsheet goalie had no number actually
1. Spencer
16 ? 5 Marsh 6? Cole maybe 3 Rowell
4 Prosser 8 Williams
7 Hines 10 Coombs 11 Walker
9 Madden
Subs 16 Quantrill 22 Osborne Ricketts

Goals
Hines 25 Walker 27 29 39 Coombs 40 Hines 71 Coombs 75 Walker 80 Williams 83 Hines 87

As with every reserve game it's easy to see who is ready to step up for the challenge for the first team and who is not ready yet.

Coombs Walker and Marsh are definitely ready IMO.
Rowell is technically and tactically very good but a bit small. For me she is the best left back in term of understanding of the position we have in the whole first and reserve squad, but she would struggle in the physical impact against someone like Jill Scott for example.

Yankey not taking part and doing massages
Pond still training with us, don't know if she will sign though.
And the reserve team captain and vice captain are Laura Coombs and Faye Marsh

Who were the team parading around at half time?x

It was the England disability team I think they only communicate by sign.

Took the bronze medal in the Deaf World Cup recently...the England team...watched them play in the recent Umbro tournament where they reached a final and lost on penalties. The coaches and payers communicate exclusively in sign language. Some of them play in hearing teams and there are a few exclusively deaf teams who play in the lower leagues.

i heard the Everton manager ....saying they are not that far away from Arsenal in terms of ability ....this season he said they will give us a real challenge for the title and it could be Evertons year ..

i guess the first few games of the season will see if we can cope without the firepower of Sanderson ...our goals for total may suffer a bit this season ..hopefully our goals against tally will not be that much worse

To be honest it could be also Chelsea or Leeds year as well.
It is likely to be a 4 horses race this season which will make it very exciting.

Julie Fleeting being out for another 4 weeks means Gemma Davison will have time to settle in the striker's role. Scoring goals will be an issue because not having Sanderson or Fleeting deprives the team from the up in the air ball option. It is the same issue when Adebayor plays does not play for the men, his physical presence is missed.

Basically there are 3 ways to beat a defense :
- go round it
- go through it
- go above it

Option 3 does not exist with Gemma as a CF, so we depend more on balls down the channels and through ball in the middle that are difficult to do. In exchange we have an extra flexibility in the front 3 in term of position interchange.

My main worries is defense was a shamble at times on Thursday in the shield, change in personnel haven't solved the problems.

well i hope to be at the first game on Sunday ...was it against Blackburn .