The Guardian's Women's Football Weekly - Aston Villa progress despite fielding ineligible player – Women’s Football Weekly podcast

Episode Date: January 30, 2024

Faye Carruthers, Suzanne Wrack, Ceylon Andi Hickman and Marva Kreel recap the WSL, Conti Cup and Champions League

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it's not just clothing and shoes. You can get cash back from over 750 stores on electronics, holiday travel, home decor, and more. It's super easy. And before you buy anything, always go to Rakuten first. Join free at rakuten.ca. Start shopping and get your cash back sent to you by check or PayPal. Get the Rakuten app or join at rakuten.ca. R-A-K-U-T-E-N dot C-A. This is The Guardian. weekly controversy in the Conti Cup as if it wasn't confusing enough. Aston Villa progressed to the quarterfinals despite fielding an ineligible player. Watch out WSL. Miedema says she may be even better than before

after scoring for the first time since her ACL injury. Arsenal and Manchester City win but so did Chelsea to maintain their lead at the top while West Ham get the better of Bristol City in the battle at the bottom. And get your wellies out

for Boreham Wood, Kings Meadow or King Power Stadium for a women's football Glastonbury vibe. We'll discuss all of that plus we'll take your questions and that's today's

Guardian Women's Football Weekly. Women's Football Weekly is supported by Google Pixel, the only phone engineered by Google and official mobile phone of Arsenal Football Club, Liverpool Football Club and the England teams. Google Pixel is helping fans get closer to the game they love with access to fresh content and never-before-seen footage of their favourite players

and teams. The new Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro are fast and secure with the most advanced pixel cameras yet and Google AI powers amazing features for photos and video so you can get even closer to the game. Search Google Store to find out more. What a panel we have today. Susie Rack, bonjour mon ami. Bonjour. How is Paris? Oh yeah, fine.

Grey. I'm looking out on a motorway, so you know. Nice. I'm not exactly seeing the sights. No, bit of a dead rubber for you tonight but always a pleasure to watch Emma Hayes's Chelsea side in Champions League action so little Andy Hickman I don't feel like I've seen you for years and years and years we have missed you how are you oh I've missed you guys too I'm well thanks yeah I'm really happy to be back give us a potted history of Salon in the last six months.

Oh God, I don't think you want that. It'll take up the whole show. It's always drama. But no, I'm all good. I'm all good. I'm happy to be back with you both because I've missed your faces. And Marva, when she gets here. Listen, Marva may or may not be here. I just think she's hiding from the fact that it's been another terrible weekend for Everton. Men and women this time round and at the hands of the mighty Luton Town.

So I reckon she's running scared. Anyway, right, let's begin with that huge relegation battle between Bristol City and West Ham in the WSL. The bottom two sides met at Ashton Gate. They were level on points at the start of the day, but it was the Hammers who came out on top in a 2-1 win. It was a really topsy-turvy game. Hanako Hayashi put Rhian Skinner's side ahead in the first half.

West Ham had two goals disallowed from Vivian Assayi and debutante Shalina Zdorsky. Bristol City took advantage of that. Amelie Thestrup equalising shortly after the break, but Asahi scored the eventual winner seven minutes later, her fourth goal of the season, sealing all three points. My goodness, West Ham needed that, Susie. Oh, yeah, desperately.

And I think they'll be pretty pleased because it was some really poor Bristol defending for both goals, in my mind. The first in particular, where the clearance just falls to Hayashi on the edge of the D, you know, there's not a player within sort of five yards of her, 10 yards of her.

Like she's completely open. Like it's not like you can't see that that's where you're placing that clearance, you know, sort of facing that direction. You could easily get a bit more power behind it. I just think that's a really, really poor clearance and obviously beautifully struck back in and then for sa's goal it came from a bristol city possession they had a throw in and then moments later she's racing through one-on-one and able to nutmeg the keeper and put it in and i just think bristol city would be so

frustrated with the manner of conceding those goals obviously you know two disallowed goals that West Ham had shows that they were creating a lot of chances and I mean should be doing better at keeping players on side like if we're being frank but they'll take whatever right like to move three points clear of Bristol at the bottom of the table is the most important thing and they did that but yeah I think Bristol City will be really kicking themselves because they gave them a really good game. Yeah you can't underestimate the psychological impact that that will give to Rhian Skinner's side but you know Bristol City Salon showing that they can mix it in the top

flight as we've been saying on this pod since the start of the season. It's just those really fine margins that Susie said there and the tiny little bit of extra quality. What's your gut telling you now, relegation-wise, which is hard at the end of January, I know, but what's the Salon Andy Hickman gut saying? Don't ask me. I said Leicester were going down, so I'll be completely wrong. No, I'm really gutted for Bristol City I think and you also look at those two teams right in a relegation scrap and you

think about it is a bit of a David versus Goliath situation with the resources that West Ham have versus what Bristol City have there is an argument to say that West Ham shouldn't shouldn't really be knocking about down at the bottom of the table when you can bring in you know one of the best midfielders from the World Cup in Katrina Gore gory and christy muis the experience that they have you can just bring those in to come and help you fight the relegation battle no offense to lisa evans but that's the biggest signing bristol city have probably ever made and is a defensive reinforcement for a slightly older player so i think bristol to hang on and if they'd have got those three points yesterday I'd be probably in a very different mood about about that game because

as Susie said it was gutting that it was just two sort of defensive errors that really let them down and for that second goal it is really frustrating when your team are in possession and as a centre-back you're set for staying in possession and then suddenly you lose it. And what happened there was both CBs had committed and then there was just so much space and no cover for Asahi to get through. And it's little things like that that show we maybe don't have the maturity or we don't have the adaptability or resilience in that moment to defend those bits and we don't have that quality.

And also if you actually look at how Bristol City scored, it was a brilliant run from Morgan, taking on the entire team of West Ham, getting into the box and just squaring it for a tap-in. And they are moments of brilliance, but you can't consistently get three points through one of your defenders running through the entire team. No, a little bit of naivety, I think, that you would think they'd have ironed out by now,

bearing in mind there's only 10 games left to play. So West Ham, as we said, three points above Bristol coming into the second half of the season. City travel to Aston Villa on Saturday afternoon. West Ham have a hard one, though. They host Arsenal on Sunday. So that closes the gap between West Ham and Brighton. They're now just three points behind Brighton

after their 3-0 defeat to Chelsea at Broadfield Stadium. Lauren James doing Lauren James things yet again, scoring twice either side of a Frank Kirby header. Jo asks that age-old question, Messi, Ronaldo or Lauren James, Susie? Nowadays, Lauren James. I'll take her over either of them in current form and age. But, you know, what Lauren James looks like at her peak remains to be seen.

So, like, yeah, this isn't her peak yet. That's what's exciting, right? Like, that's what's mad. She's still really young. This is what her real sort of first full season of properly being integrated into the squad and you know playing week in week out and even then she's being rested if they've got midweek matches she's been given an extra day off and that kind of stuff she's being eased in gently and yet we get this like brilliant show every time she steps on a pitch I mean what more could

you want she's a genius yep she absolutely is and Emma Hayes put it perfectly what she has not one of us can teach her that gift we're just kind of running out of superlatives really aren't we on this pod for what she's doing this season um it was a really positive start from Brighton they hit the crossbar as well in the second half, Salon, but there felt like there was quite a golfing class between these two. Yeah, which was a little bit surprising. So I do think Brighton away is quite a difficult game for a team to go to. But yeah, they did really well in that first half.

They were really compact. They didn't let Chelsea break them down. I think they were also a bit fortunate that Guru Wrighton didn't have her shoe and boots on because there were three very good chances and no goals for her. But yeah, those moments of quality, like you could argue that you need to get tighter to Lauren James, you should not be leaving her unmarked in the penalty area like that. For both goals, actually, they were kind of, yeah, Lauren James, brilliant bits of quality, but also you could argue that you need to get a little bit tighter to her to even prevent her from being able to think that she can pull those things off she'll still think it she'll still think it the thing is is how do you get close to her as

well when she's taking first touch like that too like you just it is absurd like it's everything she touches turns to gold at the moment and that is the marker of like you can't teach that and you can't defend against it but I feel like for Chelsea keeping her fit and playing is probably the most important thing that they have I can imagine like you go into the training ground there's like a big board around like how are we keeping Lauren James fit this week and everyone's got to think about that question because for the Champions League and the league you see that because Guru Wrighton couldn't finish yesterday. Frank Herbie scored a header, which obviously is quite rare.

You've brought in Ramirez for some reinforcements, but Lauren James is the secret weapon that you have to win as much as you want to win this year. So that is the most important thing you can do. Yeah, let's talk add-ons last week. I mean I'm so excited I thought she was absolutely superb and she's also eligible for the Champions League knockouts as well. Solon are you excited? I have a confession about this I sat in the stands and became a bit of a Columbia fan in Australia. I've got a shirt. More of a fan than me. All right one-upmanship. What I'm about to say is an indicator that maybe I'm not a big Columbia fan because I watch and I'm gonna probably regret saying this and I didn't rate her and I don't know why I was watching and I was like wow football's so subjective because then I was going on Twitter and I'm going to probably regret saying this. And I didn't rate her.

And I don't know why. I was watching and I was like, wow, football's so subjective. Because then I was going on Twitter and I was seeing like Ian Wright and all these other strikers being like, what an incredible player. And when she signed for Chelsea, I was like, looking at this reaction. And I'm like, she's a conventional tall, big number nine who will bring the ball down, set people off. And like, that's her role, right? I didn't see much else from her at the World Cup and now I think I'm probably going to regret that towards

the end of the season and expose myself as sort of just with a terrible football brain but if it does play out that she's not that good and she wastes a lot of opportunities and she's a bit Darwin Nunes-y sorry to make a men's game he's turned things around at the moment yeah it's true I'll be really smug but I'm also willing to be proven wrong you're also one of the OGs of this pod and you know that our predictions are absolutely terrible so all you're doing is just following fine form as always

it was announced on Sunday as well Aggie Beaver-Jones has signed a new contract. She's Chelsea through and through, isn't she? Her granddad was a season ticket holder at Stamford Bridge. That new deal running through to the summer of 2026. Here's what she had to say. It's amazing. I haven't stopped smiling, to be honest.

This is my childhood club. And to continue my journey here is a really exciting time. OK, next up, Liverpool 0, Arsenal 2. Prenton Park, joy for Vivian Miedema and Arsenal. She scored her first goals. really exciting time. OK, next up, Liverpool 0, Arsenal 2. Prenton Park, joy for Vivian Miedemaer and Arsenal. She scored her first goal since returning from that lengthy ACL injury layoff in Jonas Eidevall's 100th game in charge of the Gunners. Out of action, Susie.

310 days it was in total, but back in the goals and Arsenal really needed that. It was a pretty underwhelming first half performance from your side, wasn't it? Yeah, underwhelming, but Liverpool are really good. I think that, you know, we can underestimate or understate just how organised they've become under Matt Beards. Like they're a really, really well drilled team. They get numbers back. They defend.

They press really well defensively they're very compact at the back and it can be quite difficult to break through and I think I think Emily Fox was the difference um sort of carving out the space and stretching the Liverpool defence providing the assist for Viv and then you know being pretty instrumental in the build-up to Caitlin Ford's goal as well. So that was, like, super impressive for me, the way how easily she slotted into the side. Obviously brilliant to see Miriam on Scorsese and, you know, it took a bit of time to get going. But I think that's purely down to Liverpool being very, very good defensively, rather than necessarily Arsenal struggling significantly to create

because they can do that. But it was just very, very well, well drilled Liverpool defending. It was brilliant as well to see Leah Williamson coming on in Arsenal's 7-0 win at Reading in the Conte Cup last week's salon. She wasn't involved from the bench in the WSL this weekend, but will no doubt be back in full contention soon. And friend of the pod Tim Stillman did an exclusive interview with her after that game just brilliant to have her back

really is yeah and obviously we're not seeing a we're not seeing it like a cold night at Printon Park for a WSL return like it's got to have more fanfare than that it's got to be a big one at the Emirates everyone's there there. Leah Williamson's signs coming out your ears. It's got to be one of those. It's not, it can't just wheel her out for like 10 minutes at the end against Liverpool and a very cold night in Merseyside. So I think it's Jonas doing a bit of showmanship so that we get the Leah Williamson WSL return that we all want. Yes, I feel that. I feel that. Marva Creel is back with us. Marva, good morning.

I'm back. Good morning. How's everyone? We're all right, thank you. We were wondering whether you might have been slightly late this morning because you were actually running scared of any Everton chat, having had a terrible weekend for the men's and women's team. And I might have suggested it could have been something to do with Luton Town. I've had 28 years of bad Everton weekend, so I definitely wouldn't run away from one of those. Well, you can wax lyrical about the fact that the red side of Merseyside were also beaten this weekend as well.

What did you make of the game? Yeah, I think obviously Liverpool made a lot of changes given what happened to them before. And that really showed and you can understand the thinking I think it's important to not let morale slip too much and have another battering against a team who are capable of it but I think it more just came down to Arsenal's just willingness and ability to to cut open and do what they need to do while Liverpool were very good for a large portion of it,

if you look at the chances that Arsenal had towards the end, particularly Stina Bakstinias, it could have possibly been about 5 or 6-0 towards the end. I think Blakstinias, she's such a great player, she gets in all the best positions and then it's just that finish at the end that lets her down. I think she needs four chances before she nets and if maybe she was on for another five minutes,

she would have then gotten about two more. So yeah, I think Liverpool can be proud of what they did for that first half. Maybe if it hadn't been sort of eight changes and had kind of been like seven and still had someone like Misubo Kearns on or someone that could have done something a little bit more on the break then I think they could have got something more. But I think at the end of the day, Arsenal were a very solid team.

Yeah, as were Manchester City. Tottenham 0, City 2, keeping pace with Arsenal after Amy Turner's own goal. Another goal from Bunny Shaw. Surprise, surprise. Their 13th of the season. I suppose they had plenty of chances themselves. Martha Thomas had a goal ruled out for offside as well. City weren't necessarily, though, at their free-flowing best, Susie,

but another professional result and performance for Gareth Taylor's side. Yeah, and I mean, again, like, I've been really impressed with Tottenham this season. So I feel like they deserve a little bit of credit for like limiting this scoreline their own goal is unfortunate but when you're under pressure from money sure like that it's difficult to do much else but yeah I like I think Spurs gave a better a better showing of themselves in this result than than City did I think obviously the the loss of Jill Roard to an ACL is a massive, massive blow for City, particularly after they've just let Kasane Osco as well. So what they do to fill that gap is going to be interesting as we tick to the end of January.

City were sort of lacking Jill Ward's drive from the middle and Spurs did very, very well to sort of contain them within those two goals. So, yeah, like on balance, I think it's City finding their feet a little bit without Jill and a decent Spurs side doing decent-ish things. Not quite enough. Yeah, I see what you mean. And, you know, that news on Jill Ward, Marva, was terrible. She picked up that injury in the midweek League Cup victory over Manchester United. And it just feels like here we go again. We're just getting two fantastic WSL players back in Leah Williamson and Vivian Miedemaar. And then we lose another really exciting one. yeah exactly she started the season so so well she's been such a standout player for Man City and just in terms of the balance in midfield you know obviously they didn't sign too many players at the beginning of the season and Joel Ward was the player that they did sign that was like this is the impact signing you know that we can make in it and it worked very very well we kind of

all discussed before the season like can they get away with only making a signing like that and they could until now it's just so sad to see she's you know you don't want to see it for anyone it doesn't matter about talent but obviously she has that in abundance and I just really feel for that that city team to be honest yeah absolutely feel for your team as well because that's who we're talking about next your favourite part of the show Marva you finished everton nil lester won at walton hall park courtesy of a lovely second half strike from janice cayman the size are there already not much consolation for the toffees fan in the room hey uh third straight league defeat

and just to remind you as if you didn't know you've still not won at home in the wsl this season well my favorite stat is which is the most Everton stat I've ever heard in my life is that Leicester hadn't won a league game in the WSL since October when they beat Everton like they literally had gone through so many other fixtures came back to us and we're like oh there we go we'll do this one and beat us you know 5-1 midweek in the Conti Cup albeit we had had a very, you know, weakened team. But it's just a game I've seen so many times this season. It was pretty much identical, actually, to the Leicester away game,

except Leicester were a bit better this game. I think they were the better team in the second half for sure. But in the first half, we had so many chances. We hit the bar. There was a one-on-one that was called offside, which was marginal, which was the same as... Offside is offside, Marva. Well, I don't know if it was.

I don't know if it was. I think especially without VAR to call something that... I don't think VAR would be able to draw the lines on that one. And yeah, just so many chances that we just can't score. We're the worst performing team in terms of XG for scoring. We're the worst performing team in terms of scoring talent that maybe is not good enough but you look at this January transfer and you can clearly see he's got nothing to work with and he's come out and said I've got nothing to work with and not only can we not bring in players we're selling players you know we've sold three of our back five over the last two transfer windows so I do feel for him because you know what kind of can you do when you've got teams like

West Ham and Spurs and Villa who are investing so much in their women's team and buying great players and obviously we're just kind of marred with a load of club issues and takeover issues and financial issues that are clearly leading to this which is it's quite sad because obviously Everton have got such a rich history in the women's game but he's doing what he can and hopefully if we just start scoring some of those chances then maybe none of that matters but we'll have to see. Yeah it was a precious three points for Leicester though they'd been on a rotten run themselves they've gone without a win in nine which is quite incredible but because of their strong start to the season they They're up to seventh, so they're eight points clear of the relegation place.

Final game of the weekend for us to talk about. Nikita Paris scoring a first-half brace as Manchester United beat Aston Villa by two goals to one at Lee Valley Sports Village. Rachel Daly converted a penalty on the hour mark, but United managed to hang on for all three points. It's a win that actually, Salon, eases the pressure a bit on United boss Mark Skinner. Do you feel like there were maybe signs of improvement

from the hosts after the defeats we saw by Chelsea in the league last Sunday and City in the Conte Cup midweek? Signs of improvement is maybe a bit of a stretch because I do think they were gifted some of those goals by Villa. For that first goal, Mayling does really, really well to retrieve the ball from Garcia and get it away from under her feet and then passes it directly into the feet of Hannah Blundell, who first time crosses it into the box for Paris to slot home.

And the second one, I think, I think Garcia hits the bar and it rebounds perfectly for Paris and the defender is nowhere near it for Villa. So, and yeah yeah whilst they were you know I'm happy for Niki at Paris they weren't goals that Manchester United had to work particularly hard for and I think they did have a few big chances that they weren't able

to put away so it was the Elatun one that went over the bar but and Villa always struggle on the road to United don't they so I think it's a bit of a perfect storm for Mark Skinner to kind of claim some improvements. But I would say it's probably quite superficial at this point. Well, a stat for you on that.

Carla Ward's side have now lost all four of their WSL away games against United by an aggregate score of 15-1. Brutal. One was the penalty. Yeah, thanks for rubbing the salt into Villa fans' wounds there, Ceylon. Sorry. They pushed in this one though, Susie, didn't they? They could have come away from the game with something on any other day.

And Carla Ward kind of said they showed United too much respect in the first half, which I think it's fair to say. Yeah, I mean, they actually edged possession statistically. And, you know, eight shots, three shots on target. Obviously, that's dwarfed by what United have, but you have to be making those moments count. And I just, I mean, Villa just lacking a bit of luck this season as well. You know, they've had some games where they've come really, really close.

And this was another one where I thought they could have grabbed a point towards the end but they just don't that things just aren't falling quite right for them and i sort of feel for carl i mean like in a way you know it's it's great that they sort of pulled themselves away from the bottom enough for it to not be too much of a worry at the moment but like i just i hope it's enough for her to stay and for villa to keep investing in the side and seeing the value in her as a manager because she's very good manager and i don't know what's quite gone wrong for them this season but things just haven't clicked the way they they were and i know they had a little bit of turnover and stuff but things just aren't quite right but I feel like they're fixable things and I feel like a couple of results tipping the other way by the narrowest of margins that they've maybe missed out on like it'd be a very very different picture that we're looking at so I just sort of hope that there's a little bit of

positivity around the fact that they are looking a little bit better now. Yes, they've got this huge gap with United, but this was only one goal for a change. So there are some positives to take from it. Yeah, not some positives to take for something else that went on with Aston Villa earlier on in the week. But before we chat about that, by the way, on Salon's point on Nikita Paris, it's now six WSL goals for her this season.

She's United's top goal scorer. And Mark Skinner reiterated afterwards, interestingly, what a key member of his team she is and said the reality is whenever Nikita's not a regular, it's only because of a tactical situation. It's nothing to do with her. OK, interesting. Right, we're returning to Villa and Manchester United in a moment because that's it for part one.

In part two, we'll discuss Conte Cup controversy, championship chaos, and we'll talk Glastonbury. Welcome back to part two of the Guardian Women's Football Weekly. So let's deal with the midweek debacle that was Aston Villa, shall we? Because it was confirmed on Monday that they will remain in the League Cup despite fielding an ineligible player in their 7-0 victory over Sunderland. Defender Noelle Moritz had already played three times for Arsenal in the Conte Cup prior to her January transfer to Villa and came on as a half-time substitute, a move which Carla Ward admitted was a horrible mistake. This is what

an FA statement read. Aston Villa admitted the charge and acknowledged the breach had occurred. The Independent Tribunal ordered that the points deducted from Aston Villa be awarded to their opponents Sunderland while the 7-0 scoreline is to be expunged from the record as a result Sunderland will finish as group A winners with Aston Villa progressing to the quarterfinals as one of the two best place runners up alongside Tottenham Hotspur this has further consequences though because it means that Manchester United miss out on a quarterfinal place. They had been one of the best second place sides but they're now out because their goal difference is worse than Villa's. Important to add into that that that 7-0 scoreline was expunged so already their goal difference was

better regardless but this is what the statement from from United said we're very disappointed with the outcome and do not understand its rationale we feel it undermines the integrity of the competition and of the women's game I mean it's just a bit of a shocker all round Susie isn't it I mean yeah absolute chaos I mean firstly it's not like Kyle Awards not got form for this, had a similar incident at Birmingham in the league, fielding a player that wasn't registered yet. So just to make that kind of mistake is pretty poor. I mean, I know that, you know, she's not necessarily responsible

for staying on top of those kind of things. But, I mean, if you're Noelle Moritz right you know you've played in this competition surely she must know she's cup tied I just the whole thing was ridiculous and I think it's right that they've been punished I think it's right that it's a three-point deduction and the result has been handed to Sunderland, Man United are the unfortunate casualty of it. But you can't talk about the potential repercussions elsewhere. You have to look at the facts of that result. And that's the reality. That's what you have to do. So whilst I think Man United can feel a little bit of grief, they also haven't got a leg to stand on

because if they'd done the job in their group then it wouldn't be a problem yeah there's a question here from graham and manchester united right to be looking at an appeal for the villa conti cup player fiasco it's hard for man united to take i guess but if villa had been disqualified manchester united will still have missed out proving it to have been a deliberate act by villa seems pretty tricky and the short answer to that graham, is no, they won't. And they can't be appealing. And they changed their statement, Salon, didn't they? Afterwards to take out, we'll be looking into all avenues of where we can go.

They're in a cul-de-sac. They can't go anywhere. Yeah, of which there are none. We had a very quick look around and there's nothing we could actually do. So we should probably take that line out of the statement. It's so, I mean, it's so united, isn't it? It's so Mark Skinner. It's like, but also like no one wants to win by default. So why are you trying to win by default?

You're not, just give up. Like you can't do anything about it. It's happened in a different group. It's the luck of the draw. It's a cup competition. Why don't you just be better? Just be better. And then you don't have to be in these positions where you're fighting it on default like it's it's silly but also on the on the maritz point suzy i would like to defend the player slightly not a job to be fair it's not a job but also like i mean i'm making a big comparison and

leap here but we play in about four or five different cups. I've got no idea what cup I'm playing in. I'll step out and I'm like, is this the Isthmian? Is it the Capital? Is it the League Cup? We just started calling them like the Champions League on a Wednesday because we're just like, we've got no idea what match we're playing in. So I think I'd defend her and say someone in Villa's team knew exactly what they were doing.

So much so that they actually reported in the statement, it was an administrative error but what else was it what else was it if that's all you can say then you knew you knew what you could I just say about the do better point though I do have to like I feel like I'm fighting our group's corner here in the fact that when you look at those groups in the Conte Cup I think nothing quite says Conti Cup like this decision because if you compare Villa compared to United Villa were in a group with only championship teams Man United were in a group with only WSL teams against like Liverpool City Everton Leicester and then Villa break the rules and then United still go out I just think that's it's just the most Conti Cup thing ever like how do you even how do you even predict that it is a draw though isn't it

that's the thing it is what can you do you know it's a draw to decide I mean obviously it's split regionally into north and south but still those teams could have been spread across those groups evenly but the draw fell unkindly I feel like Everton and Man United have been in the same Conte Cup group for like five years. We always get the same group. Are you saying it's a fix, Martha? Are you accusing a fix? Listen, I'm not accusing anything, but it's just funny.

It's not a fix. It's a draw, just to confirm. But it is just a bonkers competition that drives me nuts every single year, if I'm honest. I just find it, I find it just clumsy. It's clumsy, isn't it, the Conti Cup? Anyway, after the other draw was done last night in terms of the quarterfinals, and by the way, friend of the show, Rachel Brown-Finn brown finnis conducted the draw wonderfully here are the fixtures we have london city lionesses arsenal brighton will face aston villa tottenham will play manchester city and chelsea will play sunderland so the big three have been kept apart marva which should set us up for a tasty semi semi-final i've become american

should set us up for a tasty semi-final if the ties go to form yeah and I guess that is the the magic of the Quantico structure finally working

out for itself when you see Chelsea get back in and then they get Sunderland but no it's exciting you want to see

the best teams play each other in the later stages don't you so it will be a good matchup unless you know we might see an upset you never know we might see a London City Sunderland semi-final or something

has the phrase the magic of the Conte Cup ever been uttered no I don't think so there's no magic wand however the magic of the championship I do feel should become a new saying because it's as bonkers as ever I absolutely love this league it's as bonkers as ever. I absolutely love this league. It's as you were at the top of the table, though. Charlton Sunderland and Southampton all won at the weekend. So they sit on 29, 28 and 27 points, respectively. Birmingham continued their ascendancy

with a 1-0 win over London City Lionesses. They're now fourth after leapfrogging Crystal Palace. So they sit on 26 points. It was their seventh straight league win as well, by the way. Certainly the team to watch in the run-in, you'd think. It was also a massive result down the wrong end of the table. Bottom side Watford recording a 2-0 win at Durham, meaning that Damon Lathrop's side are now level on points with Lewis,

who themselves picked up a point in a two-all draw with Reading. So that means both sides sit on nine points, with London City Lionesses in their sights just above the dotted line on 12 points, along with the Royals. Nag asks Salon, noting how tight the championship is at both ends, is it a more entertaining league than the WSL? If so, should more coverage be given to it? Did they not watch West Ham versus Bristol City?

I think it's a really fair point. And obviously, the answer is, should any part of women's football get more coverage? The answer is always yes. It's a wicked league. And so exciting for whoever is coming up as well, because we really don't know at this point. So it could be one of any of those top teams

and that will be wicked for them to be in the WSL. Yeah, it certainly would. Just a little bit of Championship news for you as well. News reached us on Thursday that the FA's launched its own investigation into the circumstances leading up to the death of Sheffield United's Maddy Cusack. You'll remember in December, an external investigation carried out by an independent third party found no evidence of wrongdoing by the club. No timeline has actually been placed yet on how long the FA's investigation is expected to take. Let's look at the Champions League

midweek because as we've said, Susie is in Paris for Chelsea's final group game it is the last matchday in the UEFA Women's Champions League and it all went Chelsea's way last week sealing top spot in Group D after that 2-1 win over Real Madrid at Stamford Bridge and the goalless draw between Paris FC and Haken

on Wednesday night so Emma Hayes' side out in the French capital this evening. As we record on Tuesday morning, Susie, do we expect heavy rotation with an eye on Sunday's visit of Everton? I mean, I think you have to. I mean, obviously, no offence to Marva, but I don't think Everton are offering the biggest test.

So I don't think they have to worry too much. It's not like they're coming up against a big WSL title rival, but almost both games give them an opportunity to rest players I feel really mean like I'm kicking a puppy and yeah but I like there's a balance isn't there between maintaining momentum and like fielding a whole load of young players but I think Emma Hayes has made it very clear this season that she wants to prepare this team for whoever comes in to replace her at the end of the season and so this is like a real real guilt-edged opportunity for her to give Champions League minutes to a load of players that haven't got many and to blood them and test them in a game against a really tough team a team that knocked out Arsenal and Wolfsburg and, you know, have done really well in this group to have been in contention for so long and fighting for

the second place in the group. So I expect it to be a really tough game, actually. But I do expect a lot of changes, just because I think Emma wants to experiment more than anything. Yeah, I think that makes sense as well. Barcelona and Benfica in Group A, Bran and Lyon in Group B and Chelsea in Group D are all through to the quarterfinals with a game to spare. So that means that three places

are still up for grabs in the knockouts and Group C going down to the wire is no surprise to anyone. All four teams still in with a possibility of progressing. Ajax face Roma and Bayern Munich host PSG Tuesday night and it's advantage hacken

in terms of sealing second spot in Group D as well. They'll be through to the quarterfinals if they beat Madrid or if Paris fail to beat Chelsea later. Now then, if our WhatsApp group is anything to go by, we've got 10 minutes to dissect Glastonbury. If you don't know what I mean when I say that, let me just explain. A little bit of furore caused on social media when Newco's CEO, Nicky Doucette, compared the environment around women's football

as like Glastonbury in some ways. Now, first of all, we need to dissect the fact that she was put up in front of the media last week. Susie and I sat down for a roundtable discussion with her, with a number of other journalists as well. But let's do Glastonbury first, shall we? Thoughts, Solon? As both a Glastonbury fan and a women's football fan, I quite enjoyed the comparison. And I saw the uproar on Twitter and thought, all I saw that clip I've done some reading afterwards but I wasn't

in the room with her I don't know the rest of what was said but for that moment where she said there's an atmosphere that's like Glastonbury I'm addicted to Glastonbury and I'm also addicted to going to like women's football tournaments and games that that is a beautiful comparison there is a definitely a different energy about going to women's football that you don't get in men's football it is safe it is inclusive everyone is nicer to each other in women's football we cannot conflate this comment with the annoying sentiment that we get around women's football that it is just family friendly and it's not competitive I think you can hold both the idea that you can create a wicked inclusive fun brilliant nurturing environment fans, as well as we really care about this and we really want our teams to win. And we will show that and demonstrate that.

And I think that's where women's football has this brilliant, unique sweet spot of women being like, we're super competitive and we really want to win our team on. But we're going to be safe to other people as we do it my win is not at the expense of me being an awful person to you because you support this other team which is the vitriol all you have to do is look at the men's game this weekend and what happened in the black country game and how disgusting and awful and vile that was and say that like of course we have a game that that's never going to happen in because we have a culture to protect that's really important to us I can still hate my rival club I can still come and feel really passionate but I can also be safe to people whilst I'm doing it and I think that's what she was trying to say is that there is this different energy around it I don't think that she was saying

let's just give up on the league let's give up on the on the competitiveness because that's where the profit and the revenue comes from that That's what makes it an exciting product. But let's add this other layer of, let's make sure that we keep this game inclusive. Let's make sure that we keep it like a festival vibe when you go to watch it. And we're nice to each other when we do that. So I interpreted it like sort of similarly,

not as necessarily negative, but like as a, so I think of like major tournaments, the World Cup, the Euros, they are very much festival vibe. Like you want to be there. You want to be a part of it. necessarily negative but like as a so i think of like major tournaments the world cup the euros they are very much festival vibe like you want to be there you want to be a part of it i interpreted more like that as like her saying make it something that that people feel like they're missing out on and it's like things that they're never going to see again and that this is their chance to see it and that they need to be going like i felt like it was that kind of vibe and i feel like you know obviously she's quite new to women's football in the uk and the league and not necessarily aware of the history of how it's been promoted and the

connotations around sort of the marketing of it as a family friendly game and the frustration that causes amongst fans so I think like when you know when she's saying that that she's not necessarily making that comparison or realizing that it's going to get that kind of backlash because she wouldn't have equated it that way that's my view is I like sort of give her a little bit of credit for a bit of naivety there because yeah like she's not going to have known that just playing devil's advocate I don't think if you've been named as the CEO of a new co to run women's football that you can afford not to know what the actual vibe and the history is and things and she's an intelligent woman and I would expect

her and the people around her to have educated her on that so if if that naivety is the case then that makes me feel ever so slightly uncomfortable because I feel like she has to know what the actual vibe is around women's football that's my two penneth playing devil's advocate on that Marva yeah I'm trying to agree with you more fairly I think um it's more just the fact that it seems like a PR line they're using like a marketing line they're using but they haven't actually thought what it means or clarified what it means, which means it's completely open to interpretation and why we will have different interpretations. And we're going, that's terrible. And other people are going, that's great, because we're just interpreting what we think.

I think maybe if it's not even the family day out thing, but I do think there is a bit of a kind of dichotomy with women's football fans of those who sort of want it to become something that is a bit more entertaining and it's the kind of whole culture around it and the sort of fun culture and there are others that want the more football culture I think that is something that is the bigger it gets the more we're sort of seeing that those two sort of sides come together a little bit more and kind of butt heads a little bit not in a big way but I do think we get moments like this where people are saying no it should be more like this and no, it should be more like that. And it is going to be hard to sort of please everyone, especially when you're doing something that's never really been done in terms of you're creating football for almost a new market, but then you also got the old market as well. And it's quite hard to balance both. But what I would say as someone

who works in the music industry and the football industry and seeing many of my artists go to Glastonbury I hope no football players replicate what I've seen some of my artists do and I hope no football players replicate what some of my artists do but I presume they won't and I presume it's just a case of let's go and have a nice time. That's gonna drive the gate that that is the thing that's gonna drive attendances if she wants to really pump some money into this game I think think, Marva, you've just come up with a solution. You see, I do understand the concept of wanting to make sure that it's a ticket that everybody wants. And, you know, the phone lines are jammed, et cetera, et cetera. But, you know, I understand your point, Solon, about a kind of vibe that you get at Glastonbury.

But my experiences of Glastonbury haven't always been like that. I think it kind of depends what pockets you end up in. that you get at Glastonbury. But my experiences of Glastonbury haven't always been like that. I think it kind of depends what pockets you end up in. I don't know, it felt very marketing speak to me because she literally said it to every outlet that she spoke to. Clever comms, because actually what it does is completely make everybody focus on that one line, rather than focus on what many of the journalists in the room picked up on, that there was absolutely zero meat and flesh on the bones of what exactly the intention of the NUCO is, Susie? Yeah, it's hugely frustrating. I mean, maybe, like, benefit of the doubt, there probably is a lot of meat on the bones, but they're just not telling us.

Or able to tell us, legally. Yeah, they are doing all the legal documentation at the moment. So there is that caveat. But I feel like there should be a hint at things. And we couldn't even get out whether the makeup of the board has fan representation included as a principle or play representation, what the club representation is going to look like, what the FA's golden share looks like, where the funding is coming from.

All of these like very very basic questions about what will define how this league looks go like going forward we weren't able to get any information on so that's quite frustrating when you're only you know four months away from the end of the season eight months before the new campaign begins i feel like we're being denied a say in these conversations because we're not being told what decisions are being made until they're made, which I think is a little bit of a problem. Like I want to know the intentions. There were good things like she said that they love every recommendation in the Karen Carney review of football, which is very, very, very, very comprehensive review.

But again, like lacks the detail maybe of you know how you actually implement some of those things in practice and that's sort of what we need now I feel like we're starting to need detail of what this is going to look like and yes we know that the league's going to look very very similar next season that there's not going to be much structural change to them for the first season that they take over and that most of that work is being done sort of to build Nuko into whatever it's going to be called which we don't even know that yet and then they'll start like actually molding what they want the league to be and look like but it just worries me that we have so little detail because we can't like give an opinion on Nuko

and this process and whether it's a good thing without knowing anything about it beyond like we want the Glastonbury vibe which is the kind of like hyperbole and talk we're getting without much flesh on those bones as Faye was saying yeah and she was asked actually about you know the the pyramids promotion and relegation system. And Kelly Simmons, friend of the pod, and obviously FA superwoman, who was director of the professional game for so long, put something out on Twitter saying, probably worth noting, Newco doesn't actually have control

over Pyramid movement and promotion and relegation. Pyramid regulations, which set this out, sit with the FA and they hold a right of veto to protect the whole game. So that's quite interesting to note as well looking forward to there being more flesh on the bones because I know that they're working really hard behind the scenes to make this transition as smooth as possible and protect people etc but I just want to hear a little bit more and I think many people feel the same right

that's it we're done Salon it's so lovely to have you back. It's been lovely to be back. Thank you so much, guys. See you in a field near us at some point soon. Wellies on. Or the Molyneux. Or the Molyneux. Or the Molyneux. Final with flares and banners and flags and we don't need anything else. That's all we need for the vibe. Oh God, could you imagine if we were allowed to bring in the great big flags that you can see at Glastonbury?

That's never going to happen. Marva, lovely to see you as always. I'm really sorry about this weekend. Not. Yeah, that's okay. I've got another one coming up next week against Chelsea, so that's going to be fun. Oh, dear.

Okay, brilliant stuff. Susie, enjoy Paris tonight. Yeah. I mean, there's not much happening is there like it's done, so I feel like I can relax and not write a huge amount it's going to be great Now you've just jinxed it, something huge is going to happen and you've set yourself up for a horrible evening

Right, we'll be back next week to round up all the action including Liverpool against Tottenham and Manchester City, Leicester and let you know who's booked their place in the Champions League quarterfinals remember you can email us at womensfootballweekly at theguardian.com or tweet us your questions and also make sure that you sign up for our free women's football newsletter it's now bi-weekly today's moving the goalpost is on Gotham FC and their attempts to build a super team the New York based club signed four US women's national team players

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