Football Daily - Women's Football Weekly: Lionesses squad & the relegation battle

Episode Date: March 25, 2025

Ellen White, Jen Beattie and Ben Haines react to England manager Sarina Wiegman’s latest squad to face Belgium in their Nations League double header. Fran Kirby returns while Brighton’s Maisie Symonds gets her first senior call-up. Ellen gives an insight into how you need to take your opportunity when you get the England call and Jen also shares what it’s like when you aren’t playing as much for your country. The team talk Chelsea and Manchester City as the two sides head into their fourth and final meeting with Chelsea taking a last minute victory at the weekend. The bottom of the table is tightening up with Aston Villa and Crystal Palace battling it out to stay in the WSL. Jen and Ellen give their opinion on who they think will stay up. 00:20 Intro 01:45 England squad & Sarina Wiegman 06:20 Maisie Symonds call up 08:10 Jen & Ellen experiences being dropped 11:11 Nikita Parris 20:30 Champions League 29:25 RelegationBBC Sounds / 5 Live commentaries this week: Wed 2000 Arsenal v Real Madrid in UEFA Women’s Champions League Thu 2000 Chelsea v Man City in UEFA Women’s Champions League PROMO CLIPS

BBC Sounds music radio podcasts. On the Football Daily, the Women's Football Weekly with Ben Haynes, Ellen White and Jen Beattie. Hello and welcome to the Women's Football Weekly. If it's your first time listening, welcome aboard with me as always every week, two absolute legends of the game, Ellen White and Jen Beattie. Elz, how are you? I'm very well, how are you? Yeah, excellent. Really, really Jen Beatty. Elz, how are you? I'm very well, how are you?

Yeah excellent, really really good. Jen Beatty, how are you in Glasgow today? I'm great and the sun's shining in Glasgow so I've had an amazing couple of days, yeah. Home with mum and dad so it's been great fun. How have you managed to align that on the Venn diagram back in the country and the sun shining at the same time? That shaded area is like tiny. Yeah, I know it never really happens but honestly when Glasgow and the sun's out it same time. That shaded area is like tiny. Yeah, I know it never really happens, but honestly, when Glasgow and the sun's out, it's one of the best cities.

Like I've honestly had so much fun. It's been so nice. Went for a little run this morning with one of my best mates from school. So that was great to be home. Yeah, this is kind of like informal run club. El's, you had a little run this weekend as well? Friday and I still hurt, so yeah.

Good, woo! Go El's. We'll check in next week and see how we're all doing fitness-wise, what aches and pains we've got. Lots to get into today. Serena Vigman's announced her squad to face Belgium in that double header that's coming up for the Lionesses. We've got parts two and three of the Chelsea Quad to get into as well with Sonja Bompester tasting defeat for the first time with Chelsea. We'll talk about the title race and we'll also get into the relegation battle as well because that's really starting to hot up at the moment. Lots to chat about there. But we will begin with all things Lionesses. Serena has announced her squad to face Belgium in that double header and we can hear from her now.

She's been speaking to Emma Sanders and started on the news that Fran Kirby's back in the squad. Of course good to see that she's fit, she's playing and she brings a lot of experience and of course great vision in the game. Yeah it's good to have her back. And Maisie Simon's getting a first call up, how much fun was it delivering that news? She must have been absolutely like... Yeah, yeah, yeah, it was really funny when I called her. So she asked twice, okay, okay, so yes, I'll see you next week. But no, yes, you're surprised, but she's done, you know, she's done well with the under-23s at Brighton. And of course, we do have injuries in midfield, but that gives opportunities for other players. So it's really good to see her in our environment, to see how she relates to our other midfielders,

how she can step up to the next level. I'm excited to see that. Obviously Fran and Maisie, the two Brighton players, you've got Nikita as well in the squad. Is that proof of the good work that Brighton as a club have done particularly this season around some of the England players? Yeah, I think so. They play recognisable, of course there's a little bit of a hard result, but you can see what they want to do, how they want to play. What we saw with Nikita too is that she brings, we saw it against Spain, she knows when to slow down again, when to keep the ball and that was really necessary

and Nikita's been in good form. Yeah and I suppose you mentioned there the injuries in midfield, Georgia we know is a big miss, obviously Amis Greenwood's still out, Lauren Hemp as well, in defensive and forward roles as well. Is that just part and parcel of being an international manager, that you've got to deal with these big injuries quite regularly? Yeah, I think so. But the clubs have to deal with it too, of course. I think that's part of playing at the highest level. Of course, you want to diminish the injuries as much as possible, but we are also a physical game.

And with the growth of the game, of course the demands of the game has grown too. So things like this happen and you just have to be ready to watch next and what's next and think in scenarios. Because you can't do anything when some players are not available. Are you getting a little bit nervous that we're getting closer to the Euros and you're still without a lot of these key players? Nervous is a big word I think. Of course I'm always pretty positive. I hope they'll be back and they'll be back with performing really well. I am a little worried about the gap.

We've talked about that gap a lot in relation to play release. Well, that's sorted. But you hope these players who have had proper injuries, had been out for pretty well, that they have time to play football again because you can do lots of rehab and things, but you need to play football because that's about decision-making, it's about connections with your teammates, that's what you hope for. In that period after the May-June window and even before the May-June window you don't

know how many game minutes there will still be. Another interesting selection is Lucy Parker, we know she's such a talented player, but she's obviously part of an Aston Villa squad that are really struggling at the moment, obviously fighting against relegation. Have you had many conversations with her about that psychological sort of challenge that she's in at the moment? No, I was at Aston Villa, just a little jet watch training. I think they're working really hard there. They're doing their very, very best to change this. We'll definitely have a conversation next week, of course, because when we're in, you can tell that she's really working hard and hopefully she can turn that around in also the quality that's necessary. So lots of headlines to get stuck into there from that interview with Serena Vigman by

Emma Sanders, Frank Kirby back in, Nikita Paris in again, Maisie Simons getting her first call up, Kiara Keating back in squad, no Jess Nas, there is room for Chloe Kelly and Beth Mead. Where do you want to start Ellen? What's caught your eye? I think it's really lovely to see Maisie Simons in there. Obviously it shows the communication and proof that if you work hard in under-23s and your club, Serena Vigman is watching. She's having those conversations and I think that's really exciting for some young players coming through that there is a pathway for youngsters to come into the seniors.

So I'm really excited to see how she adapts to that environment. Obviously it's a big step going into senior international football, but that's really exciting. I'm pleased for Nikita Paras as well, remaining in, because I thought she'd done really well. Serena said in her interview that she really, she just showed that experience Against Spain getting those fouls just that intensity and that energy and I feel like that's what you need

Someone like that in your squad Yeah I think it's huge especially when you're out of the national team set up for a number of Months and I think it was a while before she'd been back in but I also think it's credit to Brighton You know seeing these pairs Kirby, Paris, Simon, all sat out from Brighton on what they're doing week in, week out as a team. But no, I think she obviously got back in the squad and clearly impressed her. And for her to come up in Vigman's press conference there and be so complimentary,

and I think, Ellen, spot on, I think those moments in big games are so key, the way that you manage that. Obviously from, I really remember that from 2019 World Cup with Scotland, we didn't have enough experience to manage certain elements of a game. So for players that have had that experience on the international stage, you know, more consistently than others, that is massive, especially going into a major tournament. And I think it's talked about a lot in football, this balance between new young talent like Simon's coming in with the experience of Paris and Kirby and Bethmead, all of these players that really creates this mix to go

on and be successful. But no, I think she clearly impressed coming in at the last camp and deserved their call up again massively. Did either of you ever have a period with your national teams where maybe you weren't necessarily dropped from the squad but you fell out of favour with a manager? Maybe you felt like you were just going to slide out of the team for a little while? Did either of you have that? Because at the moment it just sounds like you're both flexing and sitting there very humbly silent. No, never had that at all actually.

No, definitely not. That didn't happen for silent. No, never had that at all actually, my first names on a team sheet. No, definitely not, that didn't happen for me. Yeah, I did have that when Mark Sampson came in. I was dropped from the She Believes squad based on I wasn't performing well enough. Did you feel that you were performing well enough? No, I think he probably was right. And then I was in the stands for quite a lot of games or on the bench which is challenging but I think it

really kind of built that fire in my belly that I wanted to prove him wrong essentially that you know I was I was an international footballer I should be playing for England and I do absolutely everything for the team so there is those challenges in football sometimes you're not selected sometimes you're not in the starting eleven. Sometimes you're on the bench. Sometimes you're in the stands. It is challenging. It's up and down. It's it's meant mentally really hard sometimes, but it's just about getting your head down in training, working as hard as you possibly can on every single detail. Those one percent as your recovery, your nutrition, everything, and trying to prove people wrong or right

if they have selected you. I definitely had it. I had it over a couple of spells actually with Scotland. I remember being 22. I'd just moved to Montpellier and I kind of lost myself. I was finding it really hard even in that league, finding it really, really tough. And I remember getting called up for Scotland again,

but I wasn't starting. And I remember that thinking, well, this is tough. I was a regular starter, so I remember that moment really, really well and having conversations with Anna Signol about what I exactly had to do to step up and be better. But I wasn't playing very well at Montpellier, I was finding the style really hard or adapting to sort of French living. Wasn't ultimately happy, you know, dealing with some mental health stuff and finding that really hard to translate onto performance.

And then towards the end of my career with Scotland, I just, I was starting to fall out of favour and again, I found that really hard, you know, that element of being past your best and past your peak, you know, as older and learning to adapt and that was really hard. I found that really hard towards the end of my career. So 100% I've never, I've had a couple of spells for club and country with Scotland for sure about being a squad player and learning your differences and roles of what you can bring to that team because you can still bring things whether you're starting or being on the bench and that was a big learning curve when you understand that it's a completely squad game, it's not about who's starting 11, it's a perfect mix of the conversations that are happening on the bench or in and around training or there's so many

different ways to bring experience whether you're in the starting 11 or not. That's a really interesting point because I think maybe you guys don't necessarily do this but I certainly do. I look at Nikita Paras and she's got such wonderful energy that she's one of those players I think of as maybe 23, 24, always. You know, she's never getting older. She's 31 now, so she probably, Jen, is having that experience almost that you're describing there and seeing players come through and thinking, I'm going to have to really work to ensure that I stay with it.

Yeah and Keats for me, you know I've actually, lucky enough, had two spells at club level with her, with Man City and Arsenal and she's always been really vocal. Whether you're in team meetings or on the pitch, she does not shy away from giving her opinion and speaking up and that's so valuable when you're coming to a team and you've got youngsters around you and I've no doubt that she'll be bringing that to England but no I couldn't agree more. I think there's so many different roles and responsibility that you can bring to especially international level which is so much harder than playing domestic stuff week in week out. I want to get into this quote that has cropped up a few times in different press conferences but in today's press conference,

I think Serena Vigman said it maybe four or five times with reference to multiple different players. She was talking, Ellen, about in our environment. How will this play a fair in our environment? What is she talking about when she uses that phrase? Well, firstly, it's a demanding environment to be in, it's very competitive, it's international football, you get very little time together, so it's the demands that she will put on the squad in meetings, in training sessions and in games and then it's also building that togetherness and the culture that we've known so well. You know they'll have a psychologist on camp with them to build that culture and continually build that culture and

continually build that culture and for her to embed the philosophy she wants. So when new payers are coming in, it's just how quickly can you bed into that environment, build connections with teammates, how well you can understand tactically and technically and the philosophy that she wants to bring. Because it is a lot. it's a lot to go into an international environment and you've got to be built the right way to be able to deal with that mentally. And I think, you know, I loved it.

I thrived on it. I just loved that you just have to raise your game like 10, 15, 20, 30%. It's just, you're in with the best of the best of your country. You're playing against the best people in the world. Some people thrive on it. Some people find it a little bit more challenging

and maybe need a little bit of time in that environment. It's less than a hundred days for Euros. We don't have a lot of time now. So it's very quickly, how can you adapt to that environment? And I totally agree what Jen's saying. Those relationships with players, with staff, you have a lot of staff who are away with you and you build a family. So it's how you all

interact together because it's a long time away and yes people get very on your nerves. I was quite happy when the year rose was over because I was like oh I have to see you again but like do you know what I mean like you have to be able to deal with being each other's pockets 24 7 so it's how you deal with that and I think she'll be watching she'll be seeing how do you develop, what are those conversations having? You know, are you, yeah, I think are you eating the right stuff? Are you going to physio? Are you having those conversations?

What are you doing in the gym? I just, everything comes together and it's just so much more heightened and you don't get a lot of time. So you've got to make very quick snap decisions of do you want to be on that train or you're not going to be at the Euros. So would you ever go into a camp and think I'm just keeping my head down in this one? Like I'm just going to have a bit of a quiet camp where I get on with my job and I don't sort of ruffle any feathers or anything, no? You don't, I feel like you just have, you turn a switch. As soon as you get out of that car

and you walk in, you have to be on it, I think. Yes, everyone has their bad, their up and down days, but you have to be on it. You have to be talking, you have to communicate. I know everybody has different personalities, but I feel like if you're the person that you are or you bring your traits, then you have to be that person all the time. You have to bring that energy, you have to bring who you are. And I think that's so important for environments like Gensokley. There is different characters and everyone kind of slots in. You have to figure that out and how that fits and how that moulds into that team because

that's what you need going into a tournament. Those different characters are what make a team incredible and I think that's what makes it so exciting and that's what builds a winning culture as well. There's a few other bits to get into here. I mean, no new news on Alex Green with Georgia Stanway, Lauren Hemp. I think reading between the lines from Serena's quotes both in her press conference and with her interview there with Em, you can see she's desperate to get those players back and fit, but also on top of that in a position where they can get game time under their belt and be hopefully

ready to go. No, that will make her decision a little bit easier. Go on Jen. What was that Ben? No, no, no. No, no, no. I thought it was like the Kelsey podcast. I had a little giggle. I had a little internal laugh there. I could see the size of your mouth going up and down. I thought what have I done? And elsewhere in the squad, no Jess Nas. Now this is really interesting because she was used at the last camp, she

came on as a sub and she came on as a sub over the top of someone like Aggie Beaver-Jones and yet Jess Nas drops out the side and I wondered how much that is down to a stylistic thing, whether she's a type of player that Serena chooses, or whether it is just straight up at the moment that her form is not there. I think her form isn't there, and I think she was given an opportunity that she didn't quite take, if I'm being perfectly honest. I don't think she gave enough to what Serena potentially wanted in those games, and I think, yeah, she's obviously having a challenging season with Spurs as well. For me, I think Agibiva Jones takes her position.

She's been following very well with Chelsea. She's very good forward. She's athletic. She's got energy. She's scoring goals. And I think, unfortunately for Jess now, she just drops out this time. I just don't think she grasped that opportunity that she was given. You know, I think she's been given an opportunity. She's also been given playing time. I think I think that's the big difference.

If she'd come into the squad and not necessarily had playing time, you'd kind of be thinking that's a bit harsh. But looking at the likes of Beth Mead being back in and Nikita Paras keeping that that position in the squad I think if I'm honest they've performed better and Jess Nazz just maybe didn't necessarily do enough to keep her place in the team but with that said she's been given the opportunity and I know that's a harsh reality but there's still camps to go and she might be back in but at this point I think the ones that have been called up deserve it. Just before we move on to the WSL there's one final thing that I thought is important to get into because Serena Vigman has brought this up multiple times as well and that is the gap after

the season. She seems to have a little bit of a worry there, or maybe worry is too strong a word, but it's just a little asterisk in the back of our mind about how long there is after the season ends and making sure that players have still got their form. I would be assuming, and you can tell me if I'm completely wide in the market, but I'd be assuming that having that time would be crucial for players to recover. Or does it mean that you drop out of form and drop out of sharpness? It's a very tight line you kind of tread because yes, you want to give players a little bit of time off, have a little bit of rest, a little bit of a mental break, but you need to be ticking over and you need to still be fit and ready and raring to go and still playing

football at the same time. So I'm assuming they'll be putting camps on. I don't know whether she's also referring to that gap of Stanway, Greenwood and hemp. Them not being able to get minutes will be quite challenging so if they're not back by the end of the season where are they going to get those minutes because I don't think there's a lot of games in then the lead up to obviously the Euros so it is a quite a hard kind of gap to kind of understand like how you manage it. But they'll be having conversations with obviously the medical staff at the club and obviously England of what they want. Especially for the euros, say for the euros that you know in 2022, we were given like a week break so you could go away, rest, recover, have a bit of a mental break and then you start building yourself back up and go back into camp and have the weekend off. So you'd be in for four or five days and then have the weekend

off, which worked quite well. Those fixtures then coming up on the horizon for the Lionesses on the 4th of April at home, England against Belgium and the reverse of that fixture, Belgium against England, that one is on Tuesday the 8th of April. get stuck into the latest from the Football League and beyond. I can't put a finger on why we weren't as energetic as we usually are. What they've got there is genuinely good people that really care about that football club and the fans have been huge in terms of the backing that they've given to this group. 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 with Ben Haynes, Ellen White

and Jen Beatty. Let's go on to the WSL. We're past the halfway stage of the Chelsea-Man City quad that we've all been looking forward to so much. Chelsea have won two of those but Sonja Bompastouris had her first taste of defeat as

a Chelsea manager over the course of these last couple of games. So let's get stuck into that then. Man City won the Champions League first leg. There was a wonderful press conference afterwards where, of course, everyone was desperate to know what Sonia Bompastouris was going to say after the defeat. And we can get stuck into that shortly. We of course had the league cup as well that Chelsea found a way in. And then again in the league, Chelsea found a way there. Now Jen, I suppose the first question is, was it always gonna be impossible

to get a clean sweep and win all four? I don't think it was impossible, but I think it shows, I think a lot of people doubted Man City though, I will say. I think a lot of people might have expected Chelsea to get all four but I think honestly I've been fascinated watching these games and the difference in such a short space of time that I think Nick has made.

I think the one thing that City stepped up to was their physicality. We all know their performances and what they can do with the ball and their style of play and methodology but I genuinely think they've played with a little bit more freedom and matched physicality and that's why they got the Chamois League win without a doubt. I think Chelsea just weren't at the races that night, their press was a little bit slower than the normal and not as intense. I think Lucy came out and said that in the press there like, okay, our press wasn't there. But no I don't ever think it was impossible but I do think people doubted City but the watching them and especially in the midweek game Champions League was I thought they completely outplayed

Chelsea and that was refreshing to see. Obviously it was Chelsea's first loss of the entire season so we haven't seen that Chelsea side. So everyone was questioning what's wrong, what's wrong. I honestly think City just played really well, played better on the ball and matched the physicality. It was pretty cool in that game, the Man City 2-0 win over Chelsea in the quarter final, first leg of the Champions League.

It was pretty cool, I'm watching Viv Meadermire just go into that mode. I think she must've been angry as well that she wasn't starting because she just had that bit between her teeth, didn't she? And she's so good at finishing, isn't she? She's just really calm, isn't it? Just chill.

Yeah, she is just so chilled, so laid back. But she can just switch it on so unbelievably well. And yeah, she was in a position. Obviously, she played that nine role as well and I think that suits her better being in those positions being closer to goal and just her quality of finish is just unbelievable but then it also meant that you know Man City needs to put the ball in those areas for her to score and Carolyn obviously performed very well that second half of the Champions League and obviously she did well in the first half in the WSL. So it's interesting to see different players getting opportunities

as well because they need the whole squad in these games coming up as well. That's what I wanted to say actually, Carolyn, the chat about her and I know full well having been in the NWSL, the hype around her coming to Man City was absolutely massive because knowing what she'd done over there and the quality that she can bring hadn't really shown much for Man City just yet but I think that Chamwe's lead game, getting a start in a whole game, I thought she was brilliant. She really raised the intensity and I was really happy for her seeing how well she played and I thought again at the weekend, her first half against Chelsea was brilliant. Obviously Chelsea completely dominated the second half in the league game at the weekend but

I think she's really stepped up and because we've talked a lot about Fugino right and going into that those fixtures there were some injuries but I thought Miedema and Carolyn were game changers for Man City over this past week. Should we get stuck into the weekends game then? Chelsea winning it 2-1 thanks to Erin Cuthbert's 91st minute winner. We'll come on to Erin in a second, Jen, but I am interested to know first, any sympathy for Jess Park, who, well, I say scored, had a magnificent goal disallowed because the referee had just blown a whistle for a foul? You'd be fuming there wouldn't you? You know what I was watching it thinking, no that can't have just happened. I was

watching thinking, right okay you're early whistle blow, surely you have to play the advantage and even watching it back, unbelievable finish and I know Hannah Hampton might have heard the whistle so doesn't necessarily go to save it properly, like she made some big saves in that game as well, and you know, what a performance from her herself, but I'm thinking you have to play advantage. And there was another moment in the first half for Man City that was really, really similar. They were breaking and I think they were 3v3

on the counter attack for Man City against Chelsea. Counter attack, 3v3 and the ref pulled it back. And that's just play, play the advantage you have to but no I've just scored a few of those goals in the past couple of seasons so I'm like there's no uh brainer that it was going top bins but I think Man City would have been absolutely fuming at that and they were and rightly so because the more I watch it back I'm thinking you have to play the advantage whether Hannah Hampton saves it or not she I honestly think she stopped but you have to play the advantage. Whether Hannah Hampton saves it or not, I honestly think she stopped but you have to play the advantage.

I feel like the ref kind of anticipated Millie challenging, so she's already kind of anticipating what's going to happen, not kind of thinking right one two kind of steps ahead and not kind of assessing everyone around, where's the ball gonna drop? Can I let it flow? And obviously blows the whistle very early. So yeah, I do feel for Man City because they would have gone in at two nil. I think that would have been very hard for obviously Chelsea to come out

and obviously score two goals, but they didn't go in at two nil. They went in at one nil, but they still had obviously 45 minutes to obviously change it. I've been in games where that's happened It's super frustrating. You know, you're being at half time just being like, oh my god, what is happening? Why is this happening? She's doing it number of times

I'm sure they spoke I think Nick Cushing said he spoke to the fourth official and said I will communicate that to the referee But wow what a team thought that must have been by Sonia Pompastor, wowza. And those substitutions she made Yeah, the depth of their squad is just unreal. The intensity, the energy. Oh wow. We've seen now that Chelsea can score two goals. So that makes it quite tasty, obviously Thursday night, just, you know, for everybody, just to make it more interesting. Yeah, for the narrative, 100%. Should we talk a little bit about the Erin Cuthbert sub? because she is just desperate to be involved in games like this gen. She would have hated the fact that she's not playing a bigger part but she comes on

and she was just at it. Yeah and that's something that we are used to seeing from Erin Cuthbert, right? As much as I've played against her multiple times in the league and but for me she's such a grafter and she would have hated being on the bench that day She would have been desperate to get on and I think that shows the mentality. I think she really suits the Chelsea mentality She's a winner. She's so competitive I think what she's brought to that Chelsea side and the way she's developed over so many seasons Kind of saw it first hand even when she was a kid to be honest. She always had this Unbelievable work rate and ability to get your tackle in, recoveries of the ball, all the work that not a lot of millfielders want to do, sort

of breaking up the play, I think she reads it so well. And then as a leader, I feel like talking about Nikita Paras, Erin Cuthbert is the exact same, she was always speaking up early in meetings with Scotland and wanting to take the lead and wanting to be vocal and I think that's just gone above and beyond now for this Chelsea team so I think she would have been absolutely gutted to be on the bench and especially see your team lose or losing shall I say the frustrations of seeing your team one nil down and wanting to go on and make a difference and I haven't seen her score many headers I will say that so she'll be even more buzzing to pop up

back post and get a winner for her team but yeah seeing her celebrate with the Chelsea fans was massive for her especially away from home at the Etihad then she'll have wanted to win all these all four games so the fact that they're 2-1 up in amongst the four is huge for her. We've got the final game of that Chelsea against City quad Thursday the 27th. That one is an 8 o'clock kick off City 2-0 up on aggregate. Fascinating game to watch to see how that one plays out. Just before we go on to talk a little bit about the relegation battle in the WSL, on the topic of Chelsea in England, some of you may have seen Lucy Brown spoke exclusively to

BBC Sport last week telling Alex Scott about her autism and ADHD diagnosis and how it affects her life on and off the pitch. Really candid and courageous and a fascinating insight from Lucy so you'll be able to listen to that chat in full on a special edition of the Footwear Daily podcast this Saturday, so make sure to look out for that one, on BBC Sounds. Right, the relegation battle. Five matches to go in the WSL and that relegation battle now very much looks like a straight shootout between Aston Villa, who currently sit in 11th, and Crystal Palace, who sit in 12th. There was a massive win for Leicester that's pretty much dragged them out of that conversation at the moment. They've got a five-point buffer

between them and Aston Villa. The thing that I'm finding fascinating at the moment, Ellen, is that you feel when you look at Aston Villa's squad that every week you're kind of just waiting for them to drag themselves out of it. You just think at some point they're going to find a way to nick a result, but it's five defeats on the spin, haven't picked up any points in the WSL in five games. It's got to stop some point if they want to survive this season. Yeah, it has to stop. When you look at that squad, the experience that they've got in that squad. And I remember thinking a couple of seasons ago that they come forth and I was thinking, wow, they're going to really push on now. They signed obviously Nunes in

the summer, 300,000. You're thinking, oh, they're putting a push on now. They signed obviously Nunes in the summer 300,000 you're thinking oh they're putting a good squad together here obviously Karl Award leaves Robert DePauw comes in and you're thinking right you know they look like they're on a good track here but it just hasn't worked out for them I don't know what it is they've had four managers in under a year so is is it a culture thing? Is it the players need to look at themselves? I don't know. I don't know if it's... it can't be just continually changing the manager because that doesn't seem to be working. So I'm not sure. They're conceding too many goals. I wrote it down here. They've conceded 16 goals in six matches, which is ridiculous. And then they've only scored four.

So it's just a really tricky one for them. And they just, it just looks like they're in a really messy place where I don't know what formation works for the players that they've got either. They seem to be quite disjointed when they played Man United and I just, yeah, I'm just not sure. I don't know how they're going to get out of it. The players just, you've got to work hard. I haven't been in a relegation about it. I don't know. It's just mentally, it must be really challenging situation to be in.

Well, and also, Ellen, you were going to make the point, sorry to steal this one off you, but you were going to make the point that for the teams that are not in the FA Cup semi-final, there's suddenly going to be this huge break and then I don't know whether that's a good thing for sides that are in a real rut at the moment or whether actually you just need to be playing games to sort of play your way into form. Yeah, I don't know. Yeah, I think if once they've played this weekend, there's about just under three weeks until they play another game. So I don't know whether training for that amount of time you need some games in there to break it up because it would just get too monotonous if I get it right and just being I don't know maybe they need a little bit of break maybe they need to have some team building, maybe they need some togetherness,

maybe they need some culture training, I don't know, it's just, it's a really horrible situation for them to be in. When I look at that squad I just think you should be up in that table but it doesn't work like that always, football's very challenging, it's very difficult and I just think it's just a very weird place for them to be in I feel like when I look at that squad. The break will do them good if I'm honest, I think if you're if you're off the back of multiple losses else I'm not sure I think you will agree with me on this but scoring goals is Harder than not conceding You can practice shape and structure and sit in a block and you can be drilled in with shape and structure

The hardest thing to do is go out the other end score But I think this break will allow they they need the reset. If they're going to stay up, this reset time together could be absolutely invaluable for them. They're not a club that needs to drop down. Everyone was spot on. Finishing fourth a couple of seasons ago to then being relegated doesn't make sense but this this moment in time now, to go and work on shape and structure and not conceding, 16 goals is far too many for a club with that amount of experience to be conceding over X amount of games. And I think that's the first thing that they should be looking at is shape and structure and trying to keep more clean sheets and I think that will what keeps them up.

I'm more worried for Crystal Palace based on who they're about to play. They're about to play the top teams higher up whereas Aston Villa, I think they can get more out of their results coming up. Looking at, I honestly think Aston Villa have better games where they can pick up more points from teams around them whereas I do. Who do you think they could pick up points? Because they've got Liverpool, Spurs, Arsenal, West Ham, Brighton. Who do you think they'll pick up points from? Just to throw you onto the bus. Spurs, Arsenal, West Ham, Brighton. Who do you think they'll pick up points from? Just to throw you onto the bus. Liverpool. Liverpool, Spurs, Arsenal, West Ham, Brighton for Villa. And then Pannis have got Arsenal, Chelsea, West Ham, Leicester and Man City. With the form they're in right now though. It's also about the timing of when you put

the points on the board. Because I guess Pannis are about to play Arsenal and Chelsea and if Villa were to nick something against Liverpool and Spurs, suddenly that gap might feel absolutely massive when you're chasing if you're Crystal Palace. Villa can pick up points from Spurs, points from West Ham, points from Brighton, potentially. If they're looking at that thinking, yes we can do that, it's doable. You're looking at Palace thinking Arsenal, probably not, Chelsea probably not, Man City probably not, Leicester changed their games the way that they play teams around them. I think that's much harder from Palace. Villa are thinking right there's teams only Arsenal in the sort of top

four. If I'm in a Villa dressing room and think I'm gonna be emphasizing we can pick up points against these teams. Now I did ask as well when we were putting the script together for today, I did put a note in the script to ask permission from Ellen to start the official Goal Difference Watch, not on the top of the table this time, but at the bottom. And I was met with a resounding not yet. Not yet. In Villa concede a lot more goals because there's eight in it. Villa have got eight goals better than Palace. Not quite yet. I just think that at the moment it's a concentration thing.

It's mentality. It's fight. I don't even think it's about performance at the moment. It's about who wants to stay in the league the most. And I totally agree with what Jen's saying. You can't concede now. The goal that Palace conceded from that, was it a corner or a cross where there was just two players on the line and they just booted in the back of the

net, I was just like, oh, there was no one around them. I was just thinking it's just concentration there. And it's, it's, it's so hard when you, you're mentally fatigued, but I think it is just about, you have to be switched on for over 90 minutes now. In WSL games, you have to be, on for over 90 minutes now in WSL games, you have to be. And you just can't concede goals before half time, after half time, in the 90th minute, you just can't. So I think this is going to be really amazing to watch. You don't want to see anybody get relegated, but this is just going to be phenomenal to watch these

last five games. So a tough afternoon for Crystal Palace, they go down 3-0 to Everton. But just before we finish up, we should say a massive congratulations to Rieken Madsen, who was proposed to on the pitch after the game, which is absolutely lovely. Jen, Ellen, how would that go down with you, obviously, if you were proposed to on the pitch after again? Absolutely not. Bye bye. Would you be saying no, Ellen? He knows me too well, Callum knows me too well,

but that never happened. How did you get proposed to? I can't remember. Just in our house, with nobody around, thankfully. I know no one to see it. No, it was really lovely, it was very sweet. And no, huge congratulations to them both, and obviously we've got a beautiful baby as well.

She's done a phenomenal job to get back to playing football. Baby's five months old, that's amazing. Incredible. But yeah, I just couldn't after a game, no, in front of everyone. Yeah, well I think that was the whole thing, right? It was her first game back from having a baby and that's why you wanted to do it and like, lovely, so happy for them. But I would want it to be much more private with nobody around, not a camera in sight, happy for them, a huge moment.

Yeah, huge. I'll give you a tiny, very quick story from mine. I'm exactly the same as you guys, wanted something incredibly quiet and out of the way, so I found this spot that was absolutely secluded, and then as me and my partner got down to that spot, a group of like 100 teenagers had decided to have an impromptu rave there. No. The panic. I'll bore you with it on another day, but it was not not a quiet proposal, that one. That is where we're going to leave it for today.

On the next episode of the Football Daily, Kelly Cates brings you that season when Blackburn won the Premier League. Myself, Helen and Jennery back next week. Loads of great stuff to look forward to on that, because we're on the Premier League. Myself, Ellen and Jen will be back next week. Loads of great stuff to look forward to on that because we're on the road again. Ells and I are off to St. George's Park and Jen will be catching up with the Scotland Camp. Can't wait to see you all next week.