Football Daily - Women's Football Weekly: Girma to Chelsea & Spurs with Robert Vilahamn

Episode Date: January 28, 2025

Ellen White, Jen Beattie and Ben Haines talk the record signing of US defender Naomi Girma who has joined Chelsea from San Diego Wave for £900,000. Is there any stopping Chelsea who go seven points clear at the top of the table and what does this mean for the rest of the WSL. Ben caught up with Spurs boss Robert Vilahamn who gave an insight into recruitment and how he would like to see more female coaches coming through. Plus the team talk strikers and Vivianne Miedema on firing form once again. 00:20 Intro 02:00 Was it a penalty for Chelsea? 04:00 McCabe red card 08:30 Naomi Girma signing 15:15 The gap 18:00 Chloe Kelly & Transfers 20:15 Robert Vilahamn 34:30 Strikers BBC Sounds / 5 Live European commentaries this week: Wednesday 29th January CHAMPIONS LEAGUE: Manchester City v Club Brugge 2000 KO – 5 Live CHAMPIONS LEAGUE: Aston Villa v Celtic 2000 KO – Sports Extra Thursday 30th January EUROPA LEAGUE: FCSB v Manchester United 2000 KO – 5 Live Saturday 1st February PREMIER LEAGUE: Bournemouth v Liverpool 1500 KO – 5 Live PREMIER LEAGUE: Wolves v Aston Villa 1730 KO – Starts on Sports Extra and moves to 5 Live for Second Half Sunday 2ND February WOMEN'S SUPER LEAGUE: Manchester City v Arsenal 1200 KO – Sports Extra PREMIER LEAGUE: Manchester United v Crystal Palace 1400 KO – 5 Live PREMIER LEAGUE: Brentford v Spurs 1400 KO – Sports Extra PREMIER LEAGUE: Arsenal v Man City 1630 KO – 5 Live WOMEN'S SUPER LEAGUE: Tottenham v Manchester United 1845 KO – Sports Extra

A big weekend in the WSL on a world record transfer. Lots to get into in this week's Women's Football Weekly in the company as always of Ellen White and Jen Beattie. Elle, it was a bit of a treat for you this weekend. Lots of fantastic strikers on show. I know, it was a bit of a treat for you this weekend. Lots of fantastic strikers on show. I know, it's nice to talk about strikers, isn't it? Never get a chance to do it on here. Anyway, how are you guys? You good?

Yeah, good. How are you, Jen? First week as a retired professional footballer. I know, yeah, I know. It feels good. I'm all good, thank you. Happy to be back on the pod. Have you done any of the things you said you were going to do? Have you done yoga? Have you done hot yoga? Or what is the other one that you said you were going to be in on i'm all in on the pilates front it's unbelievable i i'm genuinely it's i'd wish i'd done it while i

was still playing but i'm obsessed yeah no i've been in the gym and but my pilates has my heart at the minute i just love it amazing i love that you have the time to do it now as well. It's a really, really nice thing. Let's run you through what's coming up. A massive signing for Chelsea and a record fee for US defender Naomi Gurmer. As the transfer deadline approaches, we're going to get into some of the big headlines

from this window. We're also going to hear from Spurs boss Robert Villaham on bridging the gap and what he feels is the role of male coaches within the women's game. And we're going to make sure that we get into the striking talent currently on show in the WSL, as we mentioned earlier, Ron,

but we're going to begin with the game of the weekend. Chelsea edging over the line to beat Arsenal, a single goal from Goua Wrighton, enough to do it. And that came after Kim Little brought Lauren James down in the box. Now, straight away, I think it's important to ask, Els, would you reckon penalty or not? No pen.

Never a pen. Yeah, watched it so many times, straight away thought not penalty and still don't think it was. Even in real time, I was like, great tackle. You watch the direction of the ball and it goes backwards because Kim gets a touch. But even on the replays, as a defender, if I'm getting any of the ball, for me, that's not a penalty.

It's ball first, catches Lauren's foot as well. But if I'm getting the ball, not a penalty. You know, if you make a decision to go to ground in the box, you have to make it. And Kim's an experienced player. She's not going to do that. When do you ever see Kim committing in that sense if she doesn't think she's going to get it?

Like, I don't think I've ever seen Kim give away a penalty. Can you remember any other time in Kim Little's career that she would have made a... She's so experienced, like you said, Jenny. Have you ever had any other time when she's made a challenge like that in the box where she's not made it? Exactly. Unbelievable decision maker, so physical.

And I spoke to her after. I was just like, Kim, I watched it back. It's not a penalty. Like, it wasn't so that's that's hard it's hard when the big games are decided from a decision that I don't think was right I think what doesn't help her is the poor defending from Caldente so then it just leaves then Kim like one-on-one with Lauren James and she she's kind of forced to make that kind of tackle because obviously she's so close to the goal because you know Lauren James is just going to absolutely kind of smash the ball so I think you know she's she's gone to forced to make that kind of tackle because obviously she's so close to the goal because you know Lauren James is just going to absolutely kind of smash the ball so I think you know she's she's gone to ground to make that that tackle and and she has connected with I don't think

she's even really connected with Lauren James I think she's kind of made a bit of a meal out of it but then I think once you go to ground you've made that kind of decision for the ref a little bit there's obviously no VAR so I do feel absolutely kind of gutted for her and Arsenal as well because they had that that momentum as well and then it kind of all escalated from that didn't it with obviously Katie McCabe then getting sent off it felt as though Arsenal at that point in the game had just started to really wrestle control and look like they were in the ascendancy and they're almost hit with then a double blow, Ellen, in terms of not just going behind, but it felt like that put a hard stop on any momentum with Kate McCabe getting sent off.

I saw the punditry, actually, of Rachel Brown's finish, and she made a good point, was the sense that they did have that momentum, and you don't know necessarily that Guru Raitan's going to score that penalty. So with 11 players still on the pitch, you could still potentially make something of the game, whether they score or they don't score. So you've got 11 players on the field.

But then obviously Katie McKay happens what happens. Poor decision-making. I think emotions have obviously got too much. And I think, you know, it's stupidity at the end of the day. You've kind of put your team in a bad situation where they're down to 10, whereas with 11, they could have got back in the game. So I think it's frustrating for Arsenal to have then gone down to 10

and it made it really hard work for them to then try and get something else out of the game. Jen, just in terms of those games, when you're playing on the line, as Katie McCabe does, like she leaves everything out there on the pitch, is it almost difficult to park the emotional side of your game? I think that's a hard one for me to answer because I always found it really easy to park the emotion.

I don't think I ever really found my emotions get the better of me in that sense. I remember controlled aggression always being taught to me as a kid. Aggression's great and you need to be amped up and ready to go and ready for every aspect of the game, whether it's the physical battle or the technical detail or the tactical concentration for 90 minutes. But I get it as a one-off when a player goes a bit too much at a ref, but it's just when players do it quite a lot

and are having bans most seasons, I think that's a little bit different. But ultimately, when it's not even a bad tackle, it's for a descent. I've never seen a straight red come for a descent also, I think. Was that the case? And that's what happened. But I don't know. I never struggled to... I understand that everyone has different attributes going into a game, but I don't think it at the end of the day getting sent off you you you do let your team down in that sense and that's

what's hard you know if your team have just got back into the game and you're a huge part of that as well going down to 10 players against a team like Chelsea you don't stand a chance that's easy to say controlled aggression was always a thing that I remember being taught as a kid and I understand it over boilsils in some elements, but you can't get sent off against Chelsea. You're just, there's no chance. And in that point where the momentum's with you, like what we're talking about,

Arsenal again, to creep into the game, because those games are always like that. Momentum's always going to shift in the top teams, in the top table clashes. I believe it's an automatic two-game ban for offensive language and the gesturing as well. We understand Arsenal are not going to appeal the red card for Katie McCabe, which means she'll miss Bristol midweek in the FA Cup

and then a huge game against Man City at the weekend too. It looks as though in that moment there is almost steam coming out of her ears, right? And she's in a bubble for 30 seconds where she reacts and then suddenly the action's taken place and it's too late to take anything back and then Arsenal will of course miss her for a couple of games now it also made things more difficult for Renee Slager's Ellen because she's saying it's now a mountain to climb in terms of the gap to Chelsea but it's also worth mentioning the Champions League places it's crucial for Arsenal to be in those Champions League spots and as we've seen in the past as well it's not just a case of being in the Champions League

spots it's about trying to move yourself out of the position where there's any jeopardy around qualification well you have to win the title to be straight into the Champions League and not have to go through any qualifying rounds. And Arsenal have obviously been through both where they've come second and also where they've come third and had to go through those qualifying rounds. So it's a really tricky one. And they had amazing momentum, didn't they? You know, she was unbeaten as interim and now she's obviously the manager now. So I think it is really disappointing for her that that kind of action has then kind of happened

and then they've obviously lost the game. But I think, you know, they can take some real kind of positives from the game. They created a lot of chances. I think, you know, it needs to be a little bit more clinical in front of goal and then obviously to lose the game in the manner that they did with the penalty

that wasn't quite a penalty. So it is frustrating, but I think, yeah, they've got to focus on getting into the Champions League spots now. And obviously they've got Man City and Manchester United now ahead of them to kind of chase. Their draw for the Champions League is the 7th of Feb. So it'd be exciting to see kind of what happens with that one as well.

Tough afternoon for Arsenal indeed, but a perfect afternoon really for Chelsea, Jen. A new signing unveiled in front of a packed-out Stanford Bridge. And last season we saw Chelsea slip a couple of times. There is no sign of that happening at the moment, is there? No, and we've talked a lot about Chelsea so far this season, and it seems like, again,

it was the perfect weekend for them, right? They almost had 34,000 people at the game, and to beat Arsenal and to continue that run for not just Chelsea, but Bonpastor as well, that sort of unbeaten run. And then to go and announce on the same day that you've just signed, you know, the best centre-back in the world right now, it's kind of like a, I can't swear on a podcast, but it just felt like we are unstoppable right now. And it was just, you was just a huge day for the club.

But she's just unbelievable, isn't she? I had a bit of experience out here in the NWSL. And the way people speak about her as well, not just as a player, but as a person, the most humble person fully deserves it, doesn't even know how good she is. For Chelsea to go and sign and break a record on the same day they've beaten on it just felt like a huge momentous day for the club and it felt like

you know we're doing unbelievably at the minute and we're going to go and win absolutely everything that's that's what we want to do that was a huge day for the club sort of bringing in Naomi and kind of a huge standpoint just of what the club wants to do they don't want to be stopped right now they're going to go on and achieve absolutely everything it feels strange to say that it might be a sliding doors moment for a side that were already looking very very dominant but to sign up a player like Naomi Germer for for 900,000 pounds Ellen feels like not only a huge statement as Jen said but also something with one eye very much on the future of where this team could go as well firstly pretty cool that it's a defender with that amount of money that's that's

pretty exciting isn't it um because we always talk about strikers but yeah it's amazing that the defender has broke that record so that's amazing um I just feel like Chelsea they never stand still they never stand still and be like we've've won. We've won this, we've won that. We've got what we've got and that's how we'll move forward. They're constantly on this train that's just constantly moving and constantly evolving, whether that be recruitment, backroom staff, obviously a different manager coming in. They're constantly evolving.

And I feel like they are unstoppable. But what they're doing behind the scenes, everyone should be looking at it, being like, what are they doing unstoppable but what they're doing behind the scenes everyone should be looking at it being like what are they doing how are they doing it they're years in front of everyone it feels like they're constantly thinking right how can we improve how can we develop how can we continue to win things obviously they want to win the champions league they want to be the best in the world at everything and obviously signing Naomi Germer is is phenomenal she's she is an incredible defender

she seems like she's an unbelievable person as well which is the environment that obviously Sonny Bombastor want to create as well um so I just I just feel like everyone every team in the WSL needs to kind of take stock and be like do we want to be on this train or not because otherwise Chelsea are just going to be running away with this for years you never really know I think what goes down and in negotiations and in that sense obviously I have no doubt that every top team in Europe would have been after Naomi Girma right every every Champions League team that's trying to compete to win it so she would have had at her caliber at her quality she would have had the pick of the bunch right and that's a kind of you know privilege that not many players have but I honestly think environment comes first I think if you're a player that's looking at you know going and want to achieve things you have to have all the tools around

you to go and achieve that right and I think bomb past art you look at your manager and you look at your environment I think when you're picking a team to go to of course finances come into that if I look back when you know teams have team to go to. Of course, finances come into that. If I look back when, you know, teams have had success for the first time, whether it be at Man City, for me, that was always environment. I think environment breeds down a culture. It breeds down a winning mentality.

It brings down, you know, the club is bigger than you. You're here to play for this team. And that, for me, comes environment. So I think environment comes first if it comes to breeding success. But I don't know, I think it's credit to Chelsea and what they've done this season so far

and that winning mentality and, you know, steamrolled over teams so far. And I think it, you know, Alex was funny with the jokes she made live on air and it just goes to show that teams are in the other running for it. But Chelsea have edged out for so many reasons and Girma obviously wants to go

and achieve huge things in Champions League. I think it's always at the forefront. I think the narrative over here for US national team players is they go to Europe to win the Champions League. That's what they go to do. So she'll want to be willing to do that with Chelsea. It's really interesting having listened to Sonia as we did on the pod last week.

And she said she'd picked targets. She'd made it very clear the type of player that she needed. Now, I don't think you need to be a genius level scout to say that Naomi Gurma is a great signing for your club. Having said that, Ellen, can you just take us into a little bit about her as a player, why she is so good and what she'll bring to Chelsea? First of all, she's 24 years old, which is absolutely mental. Let me just go through a few things.

She was the first pick for the NWSL draft in 2022, made a full international debut in 2022, rookie of the year in the NWSL in her first season, defender of the year in 2022-23 in the NWSL, USA female player of the year in 2023. She won the Olympics. And I think her attributes are unbelievable. I think with American American players we always say

they're athletic but I think she's technically very gifted with both feet she's got great defensive intelligence great passer of the ball her speed is phenomenal um I remember watching her when England played USA at Wembley and you think oh we've got got away from her there but no in a flash she's there she stays on her feet a lot as well which is not it's quite unheard of with with um defender she's really kind of smart I think she'll really fit into that Chelsea team alongside Millie Bright because she can use both feet which is really hard for a defender because if they've got a weak foot that's the foot you show them too so that's going to be really tricky but she can play in a back three

she can play in a four she can play in a five so i think that's really exciting for chelsea and i think you know pace is a big one for me she's just so quick she's able to kind of read the game very well basically she's really awful actually i'll just so i think she's just a really exciting player to have in in the wsl and I'm sure kind of Chelsea are really excited to to have her in her team what does this do to the chase impact then Jen this is such a statement signing it's a huge amount of money but also she's a player that is coming into her prime and comfortably one of the best in her position in the world does that do anything to the league in terms of the gap between the teams makes the gap bigger for sure I think it's there's there's no denying that I think as much as

you know we've talked a lot about it becoming more competitive and you know the gaps are getting closer and closer but I think with Chelsea and the season they've had so far I think the narrative might have to change a little bit in that sense. If you're 10 points clear at the top now and you're signing the best defender in the world and breaking a record financially, the gap's getting bigger.

There's no denying that. I think it's too obvious a day for Chelsea to have beaten Arsenal and then announce that on the same day at Stamford Bridge when you've almost sold out. So I think it is going to become a little bit more difficult. I think as much as we could have said before that the gaps was closing, I think the gap's even getting bigger at the top.

Maybe it's a bit of a wake-up call for other teams now. Spin it on a positive that seasons like this, hopefully it only happens for one season and it doesn't continue, continue for years to come and other teams do catch up. But I think for this season, there's for sure a gap. The other teams in and around can't sit there and go, oh God, why have they signed kind of, you know,

are you thinking who's going to progress your team? Are you thinking of recruitment? Are you thinking two years in advance? Are you looking at players around the world thinking, is that a youngster? Are they going to be great? You know, know are you developing players are you getting players in and sending them on loan to get better and I think you know it's a wake-up call for the the team behind the team to be like do we want to be on this bandwagon of women's football that's growing

so rapidly do we want to invest do we want a women's team that is going to be the best because we need to invest right now and we need to really help those teams and i think it it's i personally think it's really exciting that we've got our league in england in the wsl have broke the record for the biggest transfer fee we've got the best defender in the world now in our league and everyone needs to be like right this is the best league and we need to jump on it and we need to compete now throughout the whole league and it's not it's not just about money it's about investing in everything for women's football creating your own revenue sponsorship all the facilities you know putting women at the forefront that equality and I think that's you know everyone needs to kind of jump on

board with that yeah Chelsea very much leading the way at the moment on the pitch. And it looks like they're doing a very good job off the pitch as well. They play against Aston Villa this Sunday. You can watch that game from 2.15 on BBC2. First game in charge for the new Villa boss, former Real Sociedad manager, Natalia Arroyo. As this is the last pod before the transfer window closes we're just going to

have a quick look at the headlines there as well and I suppose the biggest one Ellen would be Chloe Kelly we spoke about

her back end I think it was October November time and we were saying we expected there potentially to be conversations throughout January

but we're reaching the back end of the month now and I thought maybe we might have heard a little earlier perhaps where she saw her future line yeah no I agree obviously disappointing for her if she has But we're reaching the back end of the month now. And I thought maybe we might have heard a little earlier,

perhaps, where she saw her future line. Yeah, no, I agree. Obviously disappointing for her if she has got this ankle injury that's keeping her out. Because she needs minutes. Chloe Kelly is very, very talented. For me, it was like a joy when I was at Man City to have Lauren Hemp and Chloe Kelly on either side just whipping in balls.

And I was like, thank you very much. This is amazing. She needs to play football. And she needs to play in the euros that's her priority and to do that she needs to be playing football so and i don't know if she is guaranteed to to be able to get into that starting 11 because that hasn't happened this season got some very very good um players that are playing in those wide areas at the moment for man city so you know does she go on on loan somewhere i don't know i think i think if she does go on loan, it gives her a great opportunity

to go to the Euros this summer. One to check back in on next week for sure. Elsewhere, Arsenal reportedly want Jenna Nyswonger from Gotham FC, who also won gold at the Olympics. And Spurs have signed Sweden defender Josefin Reibrink on a permanent deal until the end of the season. Speaking of Spurs have signed Sweden defender Josefin Reibrink on a permanent deal until the end of the season.

Speaking of Spurs, we'll hear my conversation next with manager Robert Villahan. That's after this. The 72 Plus. On the Football Daily. I'm Aaron Paul. And I'm Joby Mackinac. And on Wednesdays on the Football Daily, we bring you 72 Plus, the home of the EFL from five lives. As we'll get stuck into the latest from the Football League and beyond.

We're punching well above our weight already. We're a part-time team in a full-time league. Hopefully we can stay in the league and that is the aim. We're in a great position at the moment and long may that continue. That's 72 Plus, the EFL podcast only on the Football Daily. Listen on BBC Sounds. On the Football Daily, the Women's Football Weekly. Listen on BBC Sounds. Spurs up to sixth in the league after their win against Crystal Palace at the weekend.

And that means they've taken 10 points from a possible 12 available over the last few weeks. But with a tough run ahead, I caught up with Spurs boss Robert Villaham and started by asking what his take on the season so far has been. We had a first good year and then you kind of raised the expectation for the second year. And I still think second year is a tough year because first year you're coming with good energy and then you're going to make sure you take it from there. But we lost Celine, we lost Grace Clinton

and players and new staff coming in and then you need to rebuild a little bit. And then we had that run with a lot of games against the top teams and we didn't nail it. We were placing good football in the first games but when the end of the game was there we lost quite big and that's tough. We are on a journey where we can play a good football but we cannot really nail it and especially if we don't have the best day and the best self-confidence then I understand that it's actually a bigger gap than I expected.

When you say you didn't nail it, what comes to mind? We focus a lot on the way we play, our identity, we want to play our style so we don't really go to Manchester United away and try to just defend. What we don't nail is controlling the game in those moments where these stronger teams actually hurt us. Chelsea was the same. We are basically losing the presence in how we play just because of the actions that the opponent are strong in some moments, especially individually. Some of the players in these teams individually score goals, not that they play us out, but they score a goal or two and then we lose the way we want to play or the way to compete

in the games. And I think people expect Tottenham to be Tottenham, which they should be, but Tottenham is still a very young women's team and it's still a big gap. So sometimes you just reflect on Tottenham as a name that they should compete with the top four teams. And it's a strength in one way, but it's also a journey we need to do that basically teach people that we are a young women's team that try to compete, but we're not there yet and we need to invest in everything we can to make sure we close that gap. As a coach do you when you're in those games do you feel that gap more intensely when you're going through a run

like that? I think I feel it after the game because in the game I actually feel like we're competing most of the minutes the main thing is when you close that game and you lost 3-0 then you realise those moments in the game when they were better than us was the moments not the complete game. So it's often moments, it's often at specific points in the games where it's just can you take that chance and the very best players are taking those moments. I mean if you look at our game against Chelsea away which they ran, and they won everything this first part of the season and if you look at Johanna Riton-Connery that game and what she did for that game, if you remove her from that game obviously someone

else would play but her actions in that game is something extra and we need to do that as well or we need to make sure as a team that we can create stuff and do it so yes I would say that but obviously they also have a strength because they have the the big squads with a lot of national players and we are trying to build something for the long run with like a more of a organic perspective where we're going to develop Lena, Jessica and us to get there and it takes time while those teams just buy a new one when they get an injury. It is a tough world right now, but it's also a really good potential in Tottenham. That's why I really want to be here because it feels like we're going

to find a way to beat them. How do you bridge that gap? I mean, you've spoken about that. Chelsea, for example, have an enormous squad and a lot of international players. How do you go about bridging that gap without taking that approach? What we want to do is to find these young talented players that are not the most expensive players in the world but still of course we need to pay for them. To bring them on and they're going to play the identity we have, we're going to play with the fans and make sure we take the players and us to that stand.

So I think by doing that you need to find the right characters for this club and I think to take the next step we need to be even better in the recruitment to find those players before they are so good so someone else just pay up the money. At the time of recording there's been wide reporting that Spurs are on the hunt for a technical director. What does that potentially do? Would that role be focused on finding hunt for a technical director. What does that potentially do? Would that role be focused on finding those areas for recruitment, for example? Yeah, if you look at the men's team and Johan Lange coming in for the men's team and working

with finding the right players, if I'm going to find that kind of player as a manager, I need to put a lot of hours into recruitment, right? And breathe it and leave it. But I cannot do that because I'm running the technical team, I'm running the squad, I'm running the building here. I'm focusing on how we're gonna play and play better. You need somebody who's breathing this kind of what the players do we need, and then can provide us with the technical team

that these are the best players, which one do you want of these and so on. So that's what we do in the men's team. This is what we do in the women's team as well. So we wanna make sure we can basically sign the perfect players for this project yr hyn rydych chi eisiau o'r rhain ac ati. Felly dyna beth rydyn ni'n ei wneud yn y tîm menyw, dyna beth rydyn ni'n ei wneud yn y tîm femyw hefyd. Rydyn ni eisiau sicrhau ein bod yn gallu ymgyrchu'r chwaraewyr perffaith ar gyfer y prosiect hon a sicrhau ein bod yn gallu tyfu gyda'r cwbl. Ar y sioe, yn aml, rydyn ni'n siarad am ddim o'r cyd-dysg rhwng y tîm menyw a'r tîm femyw mewn llawer o fath o glwbiau. Ac yn aml, byddwn ni'n cael sgyrsiau o ran pa fath o glwbiau nad ydynt yn gwneud cymaint i'w gwneud yn teimlo fel bod yna ddysg. Mae'n swnio o'r hyn rydych chi'n ei ddweud, will have conversations around which clubs are not doing enough to make it feel like there is an alignment. It sounds from what you're saying like

there is quite a lot of alignment in terms of playing style or the way that you would like to approach the game. Yeah I think the main thing is that when I sit and speak to you on about how they scout and use data to find the best men's players that's great knowledge to bring to the women's game and how we can of course have a different approach but still using that info and the way we collaborate with recruitment of new analysts or new staff members whatever we're using you know we use in the club not the women's side and that collaboration is amazing and me and Ash meets basically every month to speak

about football and we don't play exactly the same style but we play with a certain identity and we play with a certain style of bravery and attacking mis i siarad am ffotbol. Nid ydym yn chwarae'r un stil ond rydym yn chwarae gyda unrhyw ddyniaeth ac unrhyw stil o brafod a'r stil o atgoffa. Ac pan wyt ti'n gwneud hynny mae'n dda i chi teimlo fel os ydych chi'n rhan o beth byw na'ch tîm. Ac rwy'n credu bod Tottenham yn dda iawn gyda hynny ac maen nhw eisiau cael y dull hwnnw. Mae'n ffant iawn bod yma. Roeddwn i eisiau siarad gyda chi am ymdrech a beth mae hynny'n ei olygu yn y gêm i'r dynion. makes it really fun to be here. I wanted to talk to you a little bit about allyship and what that means within the women's game and I wanted to start by asking you what does being a good ally

look like to you? I think you know when you work in a women's game you kind of realize even more that what gender equity is and how it is to be I'm sometimes saying that how it is to be a woman in the world because you need to fight so much for you to get you know the right stuff and to get what you deserve somewhere and sometimes you actually get the opposite and for me why I'm doing that is one is personally because I have twins one son and one daughter and it's like I just feel like my daughter deserve the same you know chance in life like my daughter deserve the same you know chance in life like my son but the main thing is then I actually have a big role in a big club on a big

stage so I can actually use my role to make sure I do a difference and you know purpose in life is something you want to have and I have it and I can actually do something about it so it's quite cool. Do you feel a responsibility to ensure that you're bringing female coaches alongside you through as well I mean we've seen recently that you've made a new appointment as well but you seem to have always had female coaches within your your backroom stuff yeah I mean it's you can ask me like why are you working in women's shouldn't you give the chance for a women's coach to be a head coach and I hope this becomes more and more head coaches as well I think that's great and I hope this becomes women coaches in the men's game as well more and more

but my way of doing it is to make sure I'm a good ally for gender equity for gender equity and to have different age groups of coaches around me and especially female coaches so you can say what you have whatever you want to me but I choose a female over a male if I can do it because I feel like somebody needs to do that as well because it's so much on the opposite way and when you do that you just realize that are so competent people so three couples coming now Vicky Jepsen been in the team for a while it's like their knowledge is amazing and you don't find that if you don't try to dare to do that so and for me as well I'm working with female athletes if I'm thinking that I'm going to know

about females you know I think wrong I need that expertise around me to be a good leader as well and the best groups of staff groups or whatever it's those who have different ages and different gender and you get so much better environment around it. I wonder if we could talk a little Mae'n y bobl sydd â gwahanol oedau a gwahanol oedau. Mae'n ymddangos i'r amgylchedd yn well. A allwn ni siarad ychydig am... ...y ffordd mae'r gêm i'r gwirfoddol yn adeiladu ymwneud â'r fomentwm? Roeddech chi'n cael profiad o arwain y llinell... ...n ystod y gwrtau olaf ystod y gwrtau olaf o'r gwrtau o'r gwrtau o'r gwrtau o'r Gwemble. Roeddech chi hefyd wedi chwarae ystod y gwrtau o'r Stadion Hotspur.

Roedd gennych ddiweddau da iawn yno yn y semifinal energetic environment and one minute perhaps you're playing in front of 90,000 and perhaps the next not so many supporters. It's obviously a very big big change of games and everything changes. The players are more nervous, how you can communicate the pitch is normally bigger and it's louder. I think the way we do it now, we are in a transformation where we're getting more and more games but we still get the majority of the games on the smaller stadiums. So when you play against the teams that have more games on those stadiums, they have a little bit of a benefit, I would say, because they are getting more and more used to it.

Just very finally, Robert, I wondered if we could ask you about life away from football. You mentioned being a father. You also do some amazing charity work as well. Could you tell us a little bit about that in Uganda? Yeah, I think it was, I mean, I'm a teacher from the beginning. So when I'm geography teacher, we were in Uganda with the uni for three weeks learning about development countries and countries. And then I just, you know, I met so many kids trying to play football, they didn't have any equipment and you work so hard and you work so hard at home and you you're in this rush all the time and then you realize you have so much stuff you know equipment and then

I was like they need that equipment so now I just okay let's start an academy over there I just brought a lot of stuff down there create an academy and you might think that it takes a lot of time and effort but it's actually just giving you happiness it's like you know doing something for someone else it's much better than getting something from someone else. It's my happy place. I go there once a year, bring stuff, meet the people, play football with the kids. Robert, it's been such a pleasure. Thank you so much and good luck for the rest of the season. Thank you.

It's lovely to listen to Robert Villaham there, covering so many different topics, not just within football, but within life as well. I wanted to pick up on something that you said, Ellen, because it really relates back to the conversation that we were having earlier on, because we spoke a lot about the teams in that top group and what they have to do to get after Chelsea. What does it look like for the teams like Brighton, Spurs, Liverpool, West Ham, Aston Villa perhaps that occupy that next bracket down. Yeah I think he said about being like smarter didn't he saying finding those those

younger players that maybe aren't quite the world-class players that they may turn out to be and kind of picking them up when they haven't got that huge price tag and then being able to develop them so I think it's just being really smart in the recruitment process but then also being able to develop them. So I think it's just being really smart in the recruitment process, but then also being able to have that recruitment behind you. Because it takes a lot of work if that's you as a manager having to go out and look for those players, as well as kind of running your team. It's a lot of work. So I think it is about being smart.

And sometimes it's not about paying the biggest bucks. It's not about paying the most money. It's not about paying the most money. It's about bringing in the players that fit the profile of the system that you want to create and the philosophy that you want to create and the environment that we spoke about as well, that Jen spoke about. So I think it is just about being very clever in the way in which you bring players in, into your environment, and then creating a system that fits those players Tottenham they're a huge club they do attract players and then it's obviously working together

and having that system that 11 plus everyone else that you've obviously got 20 24 players um that are able to kind of thrive in um and you're working day in day out in the training field and then putting that to fruition come games. I do think it's really interesting him talking about moments, Jen, about how when you are in those games against the likes of, say, Chelsea, City, United, Arsenal. I mean, Spurs had the FA Cup final against Man United and he mentioned there that United dealt better with the occasion.

But in the league, certainly, he pointed out the fact that the top top players in the key moments have that extra one percent was your experience when you were in those big matches that it was gonna take absolutely everything concentration wise but then someone in your side to just have that tiny bit more to get you over the line for sure on both sides of that whether you've you know been on the side of okay a teammate's had that edge and had that bit of quality whether it's been the likes of a Miedema or a Kim Little but I've for sure been on the receiving end of that when you're playing against a Chelsea or a Man City or if I was at Arsenal playing against them and a million percent you can be concentrating

for 90 minutes one slip mistake if you give one player that one metre of space in a box that can just edge away from you get a shot away

and it's a goal you know how many times have you come away from a game Ellen you'll probably agree where like you've played a team

and you're like you know they weren't that great but they beat us like so many times I've come away from a game from that

whether it's been a small margin of a 1-0 and 90% of the time it's been because that player's brought that bit of quality at that time so a million percent

but that's why you see the numbers in the game that's why you see the fees being played for that calibre of player because that's what they can bring but I can totally see

from his standpoint from a Spurs standpoint you can get you can get a game tactically so right for a large majority but if a player of a certain calibre gets a bit of space in a box or like a Lauren James at the weekend that can attract a tackle like that in a box and win a penalty for your team, even coming back from injury and not being played that much and still have a match-winning moment like get to get your team a penalty or a free kick in a really good area then that is what's hard for teams that maybe necessarily don't have match winners I always used

to think if you've got you always had someone in your team that could win you a game whether it was or on the flip side Ellen how many times have you played a game where it's like we didn't play that well but we won? That happens a lot as well if you've got a match winner like a Kim, like a Miedema, like anyone of that sort of level. Just one other thing from the interview, Ellen, that I wanted to pick up on. It was really fascinating listening to him talk about allyship and occupying a role in the WSL with a big club as a male coach

and feeling naturally that that draws questions, naturally wanting to be a good ally, but also at the same time knowing that you occupy a position that a female coach might want. What did you make of the way that he spoke about bringing female coaches through? Did that give you sort of cause for optimism there? Yeah, I thought it was really refreshing him being very honest in in the space that he occupies at the moment and being really excited by female coaches but then also what female coaches bring to his

environment and how he leans on them and how he needs them to help within his team and his environment and to help with the female athletes because females are very different to men. And I think it is important to build those relationships. So I thought it was really kind of interesting and refreshing and amazing to have like an ally who speaks up and has a voice and wants to be the change and wants that equality and wants to help female coaches come into the game

and wants to positively feel like he's helping that empowerment. One player thriving at the moment, Bethany England, who became a history maker at the weekend, becoming the first player to have scored against every single WSL team. And I wondered, Ellen, if I could put your brains very quickly on this, because at the moment it feels like we've got a really rich vein of strikers in the WSL, a number of players that are just brilliant to watch week in, week out. Who are you enjoying watching the most right now?

Great question. Well, obviously me, Demar, at the moment. She's absolutely flying. Can we just talk about that goal she scored against Aston Villa, please? The arc of it is ludicrous. Nobody in world football is saving that. Just that little kind of scan, that little spin. But did you see the way that the ball slightly bounced up

and then she... It was just... Chef's kiss. Wow. And fair play to her because she's had it tough. She really has. Obviously, coming back from an ACL, then she's come back and then she's obviously had another surgery and had to come back from that again. So it's a lot of time in rehab. repetition repetition on the training field creates amazing habits and she shows that that has come to fruition for her and i think it was just really lovely for her to kind of have that interview afterwards and just saying that she's playing with a smile on her face because

you'll know jen that for me to be thriving she needs to be happy and a smile on her face no nothing else in her mind and uh that's that was just really lovely to see because she's just a phenomenal talent absolutely unbelievable when a player says that in an interview you really know that they're they're enjoying their football right nobody's gonna say that unless it's the truth and I think for her to like what you said Ellen to have come through what she has done injury wise and then leaving a club that she loved for so long and that being really difficult and and moving away from her home and you know somewhere she was so familiar with to go on and and have the sort of

setback she did at Man City and and at the start of the season to then come back and almost look even better than than what you kind of remember from her scoring ability. I can't speak any higher from Viv's natural technical ability. The way that she could do things in training that you didn't even see, let alone try and execute. For her to come back so quickly and score straight away, but not even score straight away,

score an unbelievable goal that we're all talking about as if you know keeper's never gonna save that unbelievable strike to do that straight off the back of an injury as a striker that's so hard to do and yet she's doing it straight away so no it it's as a mate it's it's unbelievable to kind of see her happy and enjoying football and back fit and at her best already, honestly. She's not even got a run of games yet. She's just getting into it.

She's a bit of a neutral stream as well, isn't she? It doesn't matter who you support. If you're watching a game of football that she's a part of, you just find your eyes drawn to her and just what she's doing. She's just so classy, ridiculous talent. And that is where we're going to leave it this week on the Women's Football Weekly. Thank you so much to Jen and to Ellen. On the next episode of the Football Daily, Kelly Cates previews what's set to be an exciting final day of the Champions League League phase.