Conti Cup Preview

 


The group stage draw for this season's Conti Cup has now been made with Newcastle United Women, ball number 6 in the draw, coming out of the bag first. Group A consists of:

Newcastle United
Everton
Manchester United
Liverpool 

And, depending on how they do in the Champions League, there is still the possibility that Manchester City could be added to the group. 

Group B would seem to be a considerably less challenging group, made up entirely of Barclays Women's Championship teams - Durham, Sunderland, Blackburn Rovers & Sheffield United - but whilst on paper we appear to have a group of death on par with NUFC Men's 2023/23 Champions League group is that actually the case?

The Conti Cup adapted it's current format of North and South group stages in the 2018/19 season. The final of that first season's tournament saw Manchester City play out a 0-0 draw with Arsenal before winning 4-2 on penalties. Emma Hayes' Chelsea have featured in every final since, beating Arsenal 2-1 in 2019/20 and Bristol City, the only finalist since 2018/19 other than Manchester City, Chelsea or Arsenal, 6-0 in 2020/21 before losing 3-1 to Manchester City in 2021/22 and successive finals 3-1 and 1-0 to Arsenal, the tournaments most successful team, in 2022.23 and last season. 

Of the teams in our group, Manchester United have had the most success in the tournament since the current format was established. 

Three of the six seasons have seen Man U knocking on the door of the final, 2018/19 they beat West Ham 2-0 in the quarter final before losing 2-1 away to Arsenal. A season later a 2-1 defeat of Brighton & Hove Albion in the quarter finals preceded a 0-1 loss to eventual winners Chelsea and 2021/22 saw Man U beat Arsenal 0-1 before again being put out by Chelsea in the semi-final, this time 3-1. 

Last season they finished second in their group behind Manchester City and ahead of Leicester City, Liverpool and Everton but they did not progress to the quarter finals as they were the 3rd best of the second placed team. 

Since we played them in last seasons FA Cup, United appear to be a team in crisis - big name players leaving the club, difficulty attracting new signings, removed from the training ground and seemingly very low down the list of priorities for new Manchester United part owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe. Might the Conti Cup play a backseat to an attempt at repeating last season's FA Cup success? 

In the six tournaments since 2018/19, Liverpool have only got out of the group stage twice - a quarter final loss to Tottenham Hotspur in 2021/22 and again a quarter final loss the following season, this time to West Ham United. 

After a 4th place finish in last season's WSL and a quarter final place in last season's FA Cup, might Liverpool be more interested in pushing for a top 3 league finish or to go one or two rounds further in the FA Cup than advancing in the Conti Cup? Might the red sides of both Manchester and Merseyside not play full strength sides unless they get out of the group stage?

Everton are yet to get out of the group stage, the closest they have come is 2nd place in 2020/21 but as the 5th best 2nd place team they did not progress to the quarter finals. Last season, in a group with Manchester City, Manchester United, Leicester City and Liverpool, they finished bottom of the group losing all 4 matches within the 90 minutes. Yes, they have just beaten us 4-0 in a pre-season friendly but is the Conti Cup a priority and will they play as strong a team?

Lots of questions going into the tournament, potentially not as difficult a group as it may seem, will it be a priority for us or will we be more focussed on trying to secure promotion to the WSL at the first time of asking? However the Conti Cup plays out this season it'll be good experience for our players, getting a glimpse of what will be in store when we do reach the WSL, and hopefully at least one memorable night for the fans either at Kingston Park, or, possibly, St. James' Park? Revenge for last season's FA Cup result, I'd love it if we beat them, love it. 

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