MD8: Sheffield United 0-1 London City Lionesses
Late freekick seals the win for promotion-chasing London City on Izzy Goodwin's Bramall Lane return
Welcome to this week’s WOMEN OF STEEL. Firstly, a quick apology for the lack of newsletter last week – work and life (aka half-term) meant I wasn’t able to preview the weekend’s game with London City Lionesses. That game, though, is exactly what this week’s edition is about, so let’s jump right in.
It was another battling performance by United against a high-powered team, but – as with the previous home game against Birmingham City – one that ended in late defeat, as Georgia Brougham headed in Kosovare Asllani’s freekick in a 1-0 away win.
A brief primer on London City, for the uninitiated, and one that provides some context for the performance and result on Saturday: as of last season, they have been owned by wealthy businesswoman Michelle Kang, who also has a major stake in NWSL side Washington Spirit, and Olympique Lyonnais Feminin. Oh, and she found the time / cash to be part of the ownership group that bought MLB’s Baltimore Orioles for over $1bn earlier this year.
Kang seems like a person with impressively philanthropic / altruistic aims – this interview with her is a good read – although it has placed London City at the complete opposite end of the financial scale to Sheffield United’s women’s side.
It allowed them, this summer, to sign Asllani – 176 Sweden caps – and her compatriot Sofia Jakobsson – 144 caps – who I assume are on salaries that would absolutely dwarf those of United’s highest earners. They then brought in Jocelyn Prêcheur from Paris Saint-Germain as head coach.
Kang’s investment also, if you somehow missed it, allowed the Lionesses to spend a Championship-record fee on United’s top-scorer from last season, Isobel Goodwin. This game marked Goodwin’s first return to the Lane, with the former Blade already racking up five goals so far this season for her new club. Seeing her lining up in yellow this weekend was about as on-the-nose metaphor for the two clubs’ diverging off-field fortunes as you could get.
Both Asllani and Jakobsson have played at Bramall Lane before: both started against England in the Euro 2021 semi-final, with Asllani captaining her side in the 4-0 defeat to the other Lionesses. Unfortunately there was no repeat of those bad memories for them in this one, with Asllani at the heart of most of the visitors’ best moments.
In the first half it was the final piece of London City’s attacking four who caught the eye, as Chantelle Boye-Hlorkah was constantly getting on the ball in the Blades’ half and rarely losing it. Boye-Hlorkah is one of the few bits of continuity from last season’s London City lineup, and it was easy to see why she’s a player that they haven’t upgraded upon. She already has a couple of goals this season, including this Goal of the Month-winning stunner against Bristol City.
The Blades named an unchanged side for the third straight game, and played a strong first half that could well have set them up for a perfect smash-and-grab performance. Jacqui Hand, Maria Farrugia and Ellen Molloy all stepped up the press and London City obligingly turned the ball over multiple times in their own half, but United couldn’t pick the right pass to turn it into shots at goal.
The best opportunity for the Blades came when London City keeper Emily Orman inexplicably fired the ball straight to Molloy 40 yards out, but the Ireland international placed her long-range strike a foot wide of the post.
By that stage Boye-Hlorkah had clipped the top of the bar with a header from one of Asllani’s pinpoint corners. London City’s Swedes then combined to force Sian Rogers into an excellent near-post save, as Jakobsson danced past Abbie Lafayette down the Blades’ left and found Asllani to volley at goal from close range.
Broadly, though, United contained their opponents really well in the first half, and looked capable of snatching a goal or two themselves with quick breaks. The second period, though, was much more of a backs-to-the-wall job for the Blades who barely threatened an attack barring a couple Farrugia forays.
Again, United broadly defended solidly even as they were camped around their own box: the defensive shield of Ella Kinzett and Jade Bailey were once again clogging up spaces in front of the back three, with Eva Butler and Lafayette tucked in down the sides. London City’s main open-play chance came from a quick break as Asllani won the ball off Farrugia on halfway and set Goodwin running into the box, but the former Blade cracked her shot against the bar.
The visitors continued to threaten from set-pieces, and Boye-Hlorkah brought a brilliant reaction save out of Rogers as she got on the end of Asllani’s clever ball. United themselves broke out a couple of orchestrated corner routines, although the one that led to a half-chance had descended into unorganised chaos by the time Kinzett flicked a floating shot towards the far post that Orman pushed away.
United made a couple of late changes with Monique Robinson and Olivia Page replacing Farrugia and Butler, and almost conjured an opening immediately as Molloy powered into the box, but Robinson couldn’t sort her feet out to convert her pullback.
The visitors won a freekick wide on their right minutes later following a pull from Lafayette, and Asllani’s delivery was once again on the money as centre-back Brougham got in front of Annie Wilding to flick her header into the far corner on 84 minutes.
Page was booked for a frustrated-looking challenge and Rogers had to make two more good saves to keep it to 1-0, and United couldn’t muster up a meaningful attack in response. No shame in defeat to a side that now sit joint-top of the Women’s Championship, but there were still some devastated-looking players at full-time at how close they’d come to nabbing at least a point.
Portsmouth (A), Sunday 10th November, 14:00 kick-off
Next up, it’s the biggest match of the season so far. Portsmouth didn’t play this weekend, so have a game in hand on United, but occupy the Championship’s single relegation spot with 0 points from their opening seven games. Crucially, they’ve been shipping goals at a far higher rate than the Blades, with a -22 goal difference to United’s -9 – meaning that the three point gap between the two sides might as well be four as it stands.
I don’t feel I’m going overboard in saying that a win for United in this one could make the rest of the season a much more relaxing affair. With the top-heavy nature of the league, there are only a handful of truly “winnable” games for the lower-budget teams, so a six point gap would feel like a chasm.
And United should win this one. They have the third-worst attack by Expected Goals (via footystats), and by far the worst defence by the same metric – averaging 2.22 xGA per game. They are by far the lowest scorers in the league with just one goal from their opening seven games.
A note of caution is that, although United have certainly felt like they’ve improved in recent weeks, statistically they’re still very much the second-worst team in the league. The Blades have a lower xG per game, and have taken (by a distance) the lowest amount of shots per game in the league. But, I’m pretty confident that the XI that’s started the last few games should have enough to get the job done on Sunday.
Let’s hope that that afternoon brings a United men and women double. Thanks for reading, back next week.