The Guardian's Women's Football Weekly - Brighton stun City and Arsenal fight back at Leicester – Women’s Football Weekly

Episode Date: November 14, 2023

Faye Carruthers is joined by Suzanne Wrack, Emma Sanders and Chris Slegg to round up another chaotic weekend of WSL action – plus Megan Swanick takes us inside the dramatic NWSL season finale

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starting at $19 per month at zensurance.com. Be protected, be Zen. This is The Guardian. Hello, I'm Faye Carruthers and welcome to the Guardian Women's Football Weekly. What a goal fest of a weekend. Is this the most competitive WSL season we've seen yet? Brighton take points off Manchester City. United score five.

Arsenal come from behind to hit Leicester for six. While Chelsea show no signs of an Emma Hayes style hangover. We'll check in stateside after the NWSL final ended in tears for Rapinoe as Gotham took the title and FA Cup prize money. It's doubled, but is that good enough? We'll discuss all 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. A rather tired panel, I think, since you were mixing it with some Hall of Famers last night. Yeah, it was a lot of fun. It was really nice to see Anita Asante and Ellen White and Jill Scott,

who couldn't be there, recognised in a Hall of Fame. It's great that they have that as like, they kept saying the top level award in women's football that you can win domestically as an individual. It's nice that they've been able to have it in person and have an event for it because it was launched in COVID. So before now, the inductees haven't been able to have like a big event to celebrate them. So that was really cool.

They had both their little girls girls there which was adorable love that love that and Emma Sanders you were there you were partying while Susie Rack was living her life down the M6 slash M1 uh did you have fun yeah it was great fun as Susie said I spent most of the night with a non-alcoholic drink in one hand and I'll let you decide whether or not that's true. And then just baby cuddles, basically, on the other hand, because they were just adorable. I just couldn't stop cuddling the little babies. But yeah, it was really nice to have that celebration. As Susie says, I think it was really important. And yeah, to see some of the players there and kind of the friends and family there kind of getting a little bit emotional at some of the highlights videos was quite nice. So yeah, just a lovely evening all round. I need to just remind you that rum is alcoholic. So yes, you had rum in your other hand. Chris Legow, World Cup stat man back for the first appearance of the season. How are you?

Hi Faye, great to be here. World Cup feels a very long time ago now. Yeah, sadly, I wasn't able to be there last night, but it was great to see those three recognised for everything they've done to the game and really looking forward to many more inductees to that Hall of Fame over the coming years as well. Yeah, I wasn't able to be there either.

It's my birthday week and we had Monopoly Life-Sized booked in, which was great fun, but we were ducks, which I wasn't quite sure about. Surely it's just like Scotty Dog's irons, ships and stuff like that, but we were a duck, our team. Anyway, we won. Yay me. Let's get stuck into the weekend's action, shall we? Manchester City nil, Brighton one.

The shock at the Joy Stadium is where we're beginning. Lee Hyun-min's 81st-minute goal securing a 1-1. The shock at the Joy Stadium is where we're beginning. Lee Hyun-min's 81st minute goal securing a 1-0 victory for Brighton despite having 35 shots and hitting the woodwork twice. The hosts just weren't able to make the most of their dominance and were hit on the counter-attack late on unable to respond as well. You were on commentary duty for this one Chris. It didn't disappoint either did it? No, it really didn't. I mean, that's one of the shocks in WSL history because obviously it's so rare for anyone outside the Big Four to go and win away at one of those top four clubs, not just at the record that Brighton had against Man City in the WSL. Nine meetings, eight defeats and one

goal is draw. So the very best you imagine they might be able to get was a draw, but they just grew in confidence throughout that game. I mean, I was really surprised to see Gareth Taylor leave Lauren Hemp on the bench. He's done that once before this season against Leicester, and they laboured to a 1-0 win, Man City, in that game. But yeah, it was just chance after chance after chance, but most of them straight at Sophie Bagley.

I mean, she did have a great game, just as she'd had the week before against Manchester United but they really only forced her into one full stretch save and that was Lauren Hemp after she came on at half time and then you just saw that moment with 20 minutes ago where it kind of dawned on Brighton hey we can actually win this and the way that they took that goal I mean Paulina Bremer was quality throughout the match you know she was a Champions League finalist last year. They've got Vicky Lozada in midfield now. She brings so much experience herself, a Champions League winner against Chelsea for Barcelona back in 2021.

She came on in that match and they're just playing at another level. As many teams are, you know, we've just seen it with Tottenham. We'll come on to them later in the early weeks of this season, Leicester to an extent as well. Brighton are at a new level now. They are a team in transition. I think there is an exciting future ahead for them. And yeah, I mean, does it end City's title hopes already? No one's ever won the league after more than two defeats and they've already lost two games. Yeah, it's such a competitive league this season and it's been a cracking couple of weeks for

Brighton, Susie. Obviously, holding Manchester United to that two-all draw last week now this win over City it really feels as if Melissa Phillips is starting to make her mark yeah they just look like they've got an identity as a team which is really satisfying they're so organised and confident as a group as well it It's refreshing to see. And it's nice, as Chris said, to see a team reach a moment in a game where they think, hang on a second, we can get something from this, which against the biggest teams, not many believe. But also, if you do go for it,

you run the risk of opening yourself up at the back and allowing quite a dangerous counterattack from a really, really dangerous attacking team. But they kept the shape at the back whilst really going for it. I mean, we have a sucker punch that it's two former City players that combine to provide the goal in a sort of ironic way. But yeah, like massive resolve for Brighton, huge for Melissa Phillips. and I really enjoy watching her Brighton side at the moment I think it's really really there's a few managers doing really really good things in the league and she's one of them yeah it is exciting to see it finally clicking because I

think we were we were all willing this to happen when she joined and it felt like it had been a bit of a slow start but you know Brighton picked up just 16 points across the entirety of last season. They've already got seven after just six games this time round. So something is happening down there. It's now back-to-back defeats, though, for Gareth Taylor's side, Emma. Six points off the top of the table. Small matter of a Manchester derby next weekend as well.

How much pressure is on the City boss to get a result? Yeah, obviously it's probably the one game that they wouldn't have liked to have played next is obviously having to go to Old Trafford and play in that big fixture where there is pressure on them. And as Chris said, you know, you don't see teams dropping, well, basically having two defeats and then going on to win the title.

So, you know, Chelsea had two defeats all of last season one in the in the opening game obviously against Liverpool and and now City have had two in their first six games so it's a mountain to climb really I do think you know the league is more competitive now anyway and you know we say that every season so it is likely that teams are going to suffer more defeats on the way to a WSL title. I do expect whoever wins the title to probably lose more than two this season. I do think we are kind of at that stage now. But to be so far down, I guess, in the pecking order already is such a blow for Man City. And to have to play that big game. Yeah, it's just not ideal at all.

And obviously they had, you know, a couple of injuries, the likes of Alex Greenwood, obviously a massive one for them. But you look at a Man United team at the moment who are scoring goals and they're enjoying creating chances and they're starting to get some of their new signings. They're coming into the side and actually hitting the ground running. Obviously, Jay-Z got her first league goal on the weekend. We're now starting to see more of Miyazawa.

So I just think it's a bad time for City to be playing this Manchester United side. And yeah, certainly a lot of pressure on them. Well, as our resident Mancunian, let me ask you this. Why are Manchester City underperforming? Not my question, Jane's question. Yeah, well, you sort of mentioned that stat there, 13 shots on target in that game against Brighton. I think they had 11 corners, 35 shots I think it was in total.

That is a crazy amount to be creating and not converting. But as Chris said, you know, goalkeeper Sophie Bagley only really had one big save to make. So these chances, they're not clear-cut chances. And I do feel like there's a lot of repetition going on there, especially the fact, you know, they've got 11 corners. It's like, well, clearly they're not doing something right on these set pieces. Because if you've got 11 chances to put the ball in the box, either the delivery's not right, the movement's not right. So I think when you're a team like Man City, where you're controlling so much possession, and teams are dropping back and they're sitting in you've either got to find ways to draw them

out and be a bit more creative which I don't see enough of from Manchester City at the moment I do think it is too repetitive they rely on their their wingers a lot they rely on kind of those crosses into the box obviously they've got a phenomenal striker in Khadija Shaw but clearly they're not doing something right to convert these chances so that for me is a big issue you know at what point does Gareth Taylor look at the way that they play and think okay how can we adapt so that teams aren't just sitting back and basically heading away countless crosses because it does feel like that sometimes and I'm being very simplistic about the way Manchester City play they've obviously got far more quality than that but at times it is frustrating watching them you are thinking you've been doing the same thing for an hour at some point you have to try something

else so I just think teams have just worked out how to handle that if they can sustain that pressure and they can deal with those set pieces not make any individual errors stay organized at the back you then get to the point that Brighton got in the game where you're like okay we've now done this we've rode the wave now we can go for it and then suddenly City find themselves on the back foot you know they've got 20 minutes or so where the opposition are coming at them and that's when I think they then struggle because then the pressure is turned on them so for me it's just it's having a plan b you know it's finding something else and I think they need to find it quick I think we have to shout out Sophie Bagley as well because she was phenomenal again

and just like probably their most important signing and if I'm Serena Feigman I am calling her up as number two for Mary Earps at the moment based on like the current form of goalkeepers that are available for England because she was sublime again um it's very difficult to stop Bunny Shaw let alone the wingers and yeah to keep a clean sheet against that forward line is really impressive, it has been an impressive start to the season for her. Just the eight goals at the King Power Stadium. Arsenal fought back from two goals down to beat Leicester 6-2 in what was a remarkable second half turnaround for Jonas Eidevall's side.

Sam Tierney scored Leicester's first ever league goal against the Gunners in the 36th minute and just 54 seconds later, Janis Kamen doubled their lead. But it was a totally different story in the 36th minute and just 54 seconds later Janice came and doubled their lead but it was a totally different story in the second 45. Six different goal scorers for the Gunners as well they hit the woodwork three times too it was a crazy game Susie certainly not the start Arsenal would have wanted but some scoreline in the end. Yeah I mean a wild game is a completely fair description. I thought that first half, defensively, Arsenal were not great and just looked quite complacent. You know, there's some good defending in and around. I think I remember just before Tierney's goal, Lotta Wobbamoy made a fantastic tackle to stop a 1v1 moment.

Really, really strong. And then just for the goals, they almost sort of switch off entirely. The defending for the header, Caitlin Ford just lets Tierney sort of ghost behind her. It's not even man marking her. Lotta's on that far post and, you know, it's a little bit away from her and she just basically gets a free header. Disappointing, but the turnaround was incredible. I mean, I thought Caitlin Ford's goal in particular was a highlight from start to finish, a stunning movement, but it was Chloe Lacasse that really stood out for me. Obviously getting

the first goal and it took, you know took a little bit of fight to win the ball and then go for the shot. But then providing the assist for Rousseau, being involved in the forward goal, she was just... I've really enjoyed watching her as a player. You sort of looked at the players that Arsenal have got and the players that came in over the summer,

and I don't think the Canadian forwards who was playing in Portugal was necessarily the one that people thought was going to be the difference maker and the one that gets in the team regularly but she's just been so so good and she's so quick and she's so intelligent and yeah I thought she was the star of the show for me. Yeah she was great she has been all season, hasn't she? But, you know, much as we can heap praise on Arsenal, Chris, it was a total defensive collapse in the second half from Willie Kirk's side. And it's really weird, actually, because coming into this fixture,

they'd only conceded six home league goals in the whole of 2023. It felt like they just crumbled. But why was that? I think it was because of the quality of Arsenal, really. I mean, you know, Jonas Eidevold himself said that that is the Arsenal way. It's them at their fluid best. You know, six different scorers. They can hurt you in so many different ways.

You can look at it both ways with Leicester. In some ways, I'm quite pleased to see the way they took it to Arsenal in that first half. Again, I think it hints at a team that is ready to reach another level. When you think of the two seasons they've had in the WSL, fighting against relegation, they've lost their last three now against tough teams, but they won two and drew one of their opening three. And I think they're going to be just above that relegation battle this time

around. You saw Hannah Kane, quality performance for her, certainly in the first half, her pace causing even Kate McCabe real troubles. And they've added that experience to Janice Kamen as well, Belgium's most capped player, twice a Champions League winner with Lille, and a bit like we were just saying with Brighton, the experience that they've added into the squad. So I think, you know, to be 2-0 up against Arsenal at half-time,

it's kind of like almost like half a victory in a way. I know it's a terrible second half for them, but I think perversely there are some positives that Woody Kirk can take from that match somehow. I think if you can from the 6-2 defeat. Yeah, Arsenal need to take

some more positives as well because they've been accused of being wasteful this season, but they're now on a run of five straight wins in all competitions. They're three points behind Chelsea,

who are top of the table. It was a little bit more of what we're used to from Jonas Eidevall's side and some interesting off the field news from the Gunners as well. Jodie Taylor has made a return to the club as football services executive. She's going to work closely with the Arsenal boss, Jonas Eidevall, Claire Wheatley as well, the first team playing squad and technical staff to support the continued growth of Arsenal women. She said to the club, I love how well respected and supported our women's team is

and I'm excited to continue to drive the high performance culture within the club. It's always good to see ex-players getting back in the game, Emma, and passing on their wisdom and experience to the next generation. Yeah, I saw Jodie Taylor at the Hall of Fame event last night. It was nice to see her and obviously congratulated her on the new role. And she said, you know, she's kind of been around for the last week and she's really enjoying it. And it's nice to have, you know, the likes of her

and obviously Kelly Smith as well back at Arsenal. And, you know, when Jonas talks about it's the Arsenal way, it's important to have these ex-players who understand what that means and they can then pass that on to the next generation. So it's just really good that Arsenal are adding more staff constantly, actually. You know, we talk about the professionalisation of the game and they're a club that have obviously been breaking boundaries for decades, really, obviously leading the way in a lot of things in women's football. I think their marketing team's excellent. They're selling out huge, huge stadiums, you know, massive numbers. I think they've got over 35,000 again for the next London Derby.

So, yeah, they're just constantly breaking barriers and adding more expertise, more staff. It's just brilliant to see. Yep, certainly is uh onto the battle down at the bottom of the table a precious first three points of the season for Aston Villa who beat Bristol City by two goals to nil it took until an own goal in the 77th minute from Megan Connolly to break the deadlock that was from Ebony Salmon's shot and she sealed the result for Carla Ward's side in the 86th minute it was a much needed and ultimately deserved win, it felt, for Villa, Chris. Yeah, certainly much needed.

I mean, I've just been so surprised. I loved watching them last season, Aston Villa. I was so upbeat and optimistic about seeing this club almost on the fringes of the elite and thinking of the future ahead. And to see them coming into their sixth game, having lost the previous five, I mean this this was absolutely a must win against obviously a team that is likely to be fighting against relegation and great to see Ebony Salmon have an afternoon like that as well because she is a player of so much quality for for many reasons things haven't

worked out for her quite as they should have perhaps in past seasons but to come off the bench in the 65th minute and to really steal that game set up the first one causing the own goal from Megan Connolly and then scoring the second one herself just four minutes from the end of the match brilliant afternoon for her great for Carla Ward to finally get that that first win on the board I mean they have had really tough fixtures to start with as well but then you say that last year against the big teams they really took those games to the big teams. They stayed in those games. They even won some of them.

So it's been one of the surprises of the season to see them start so badly. And hopefully this is the start of a run of form now for Aston Villa. Yeah. Bit of love, by the way, to Kayla Marquise, the Bristol City goalkeeper. She collided with the post late on in the first half and had to be taken off.

Looked like quite a nasty one, that, so hopefully she's OK. Here's what Bristol City manager Lauren Smith said. It's an open league. I think what we're seeing this year is that the gap between the top and bottom teams is getting smaller. As Chris said, they were actually really in this game and had chances to take something from it, Susie. As Chris was saying about Aston Villa it is more competitive than ever this WSL this season oh yeah 100% and I think Emma was right when she said earlier when we're talking about City that I think we this will be the first time we see a team potentially win the league having lost more than two games like I think that

is likely to happen based on the season so far so it's definitely more competitive I think that is likely to happen based on the season so far. So it's definitely more competitive. I think there's a lot more confidence in the bottom teams, but I think it is managerial as well. I think managerial recruitment has been really shrewd. Carla Ward, Lauren Smith, Willie Kirk, Melissa Phillips, these are very, very good managers. Robert Villahelm, they're doing a brilliant job you know some of those were very scant resources and a lot of them are really

getting the best out of the players that they have at their disposal and playing to the strengths of those players and that is filling teams that don't necessarily have the biggest squads or the the most star-studded squads with a sense of belief that you don't get otherwise if you're not doing that if you're not playing to their strengths so yeah like I think that's definitely right I think uh she's you know 100% right to say that I thought it was also really nice to see Ebony Salmon sort of arrive in the WSL properly because you know obviously she she joined from the US with such uh pedigree and like promise having gone there with such pedigree and promise as well so yeah I mean I was really happy to see

that and you know not overly surprised at the result but I think Bristol aren't going to be the worst team in the league by a country mile in the way that a lot of people thought they might be yeah it's going to be so hard isn't it like I think last year we were all kind of nailed on about who was going to be in the relegation battle but although the points aren't necessarily coming for Bristol City at the minute the performances are certainly there and Lauren Smith has said herself that she doesn't think that the table as it stands right now is going to reflect the same at the end of the season it does ease the pressure on Carla Ward, though. They move off the bottom of the table, Aston Villa,

and they've got West Ham up next. So I'm sure they're going to back themselves to keep clawing their way back up the table after that horrific start for them. Up to Walton Hall Park we go, and the Emma Hayes farewell tour kicked off with a routine 3-0 win for Chelsea over Everton. Goals from Jesse Fleming, Sam Kerr,

a stunning third one of the season for super sub Aggie Beaver-Jones as well. It means the Blues stay top of the table. The hosts had their chances in the first half, but just couldn't find a way past Anne-Katrin Berger between the sticks. It was very comfortable in the end for the champions. It fell, Emma.

Yeah, very much so. And, you know, we're speaking about sort of Bristol City and Aston Villa sort of being down at the bottom there and having a bit of pressure Everton have only got four points they're only one point above Bristol and and Villa so I think that's kind of maybe gone under the radar I think it's one win in in seven games in all competitions now this season for Everton so perhaps Brian Sorensen is coming under a little bit of pressure actually, because yeah, they are struggling to put away their chances. And it felt like deja vu. I love the way that Brian sets up his team. I like the way that they want to play.

You know, they like to control possession and create chances, but they just haven't been anywhere near ruthless enough. And we saw this last season, they were very inconsistent last season as a result of that. And so far this season, it's kind of been, you know, the same way. And that concerns me. You know, they went out and obviously, you know, brought Martina Piemonte in the transfer window to try and shore that up. And so far, you know, and that's not on her on a personal level, but just so far, you know, they still haven't delivered the goals really that they need at the right moments in games as well so yeah definitely a bit of a concern for them I would say they need to start picking up some results and you know Bristol City next for them I think that's must win you know that's that's a massive game it's also a massive game for Bristol

City I think because if you want to avoid going down and beating those teams around you I think is really important but yeah I think Everton Everton need to avoid going down and beating those teams around you, I think is really important. But yeah, I think Everton need to win that next home game. And yeah, I just wanted to say a word for Aggie Beaver-Jones as well, because you mentioned her there. Three goals in her last three WSL games. She spent last season on loan at Everton and was really, really impressive there. And you could sort of see the promise that she had and you hoped that she was going to come back to Chelsea and not just kind of sit on the bench

and you hoped she would slot into the team and I think she's been absolutely terrific I saw her play for the England under-23s in Manchester a couple of weeks ago and spoke to her after that game and she was brimming with confidence and you could see the maturity in her and I think she's really evolved from that loan spell at Everton. And like I say, it's just great to see her then come back and have that same impact for Chelsea. So good on her. Yeah, good on her indeed. Did you ever doubt, Chris, that Chelsea wouldn't let the outside noise distract them,

given that Emma Hayes news that we had last week? I think it's one of the few clubs that wouldn't actually, because it feels like such a long time to know that your manager's leaving. And I think, you know, if that was happening in the men's Premier League almost, you'd think there's going to come a time when they might just have to leave sooner because of the media scrutiny, et cetera. But I think at Chelsea, certainly on the women's side of the club and on the men's side of the club too,

there's so much gratitude for what she has done, not just for Chelsea, but for the women's game. I think, if anything, it's just going to fire up all of those players to make sure it is the glorious ending

that, you know, many people would say she deserves, you know, could be another, a fifth consecutive WSL title. And probably the priority is going to be trying to land that Champions League to really allow it to bow out on an ultimate high.

So, yeah, I mean, they went there. You'd very much expect them to beat Everton. Everton have got a terrible record against Chelsea. I'm beginning to worry for them a bit now. I mean, they... It's a bit... I commentated on the Man U game and they started pretty well in that.

They were only 1-0 down at half-time and then they completely lost their way in the second half. They ended up losing 5-0. And it sounds like in this game, too, they really tailed off. They really faded in the second half. On the flip side, I saw them against Tottenham, and when Martina Piemonte came off the bench in that game, she really did change things up.

She really ruffled the Tottenham defence, and they ended up getting a point out of that game. But that was their only goal in that game, Aurora Galley's penalty. The only goal they've scored in the last four. Their top scorer of the season is centre-back and captain

Megan Finnegan with two, which have both come from corners. So they really lack that cutting edge. And I think Brian Sorensen, when you see him speak, he's a great manager, but he seems very downbeat at the moment. He seems very downcast,

partly because of the injuries he's had to deal with. Yeah, I was going to say, they've got injuries and illness, haven't they, as a kind of defence to Brian Sorensen, but something's not right, Susie. I mean, we've spoken previously on the podcast about the loss of Gabby George and Rika Saveke,

which I think has badly impacted their defence, which is almost non-existent at the moment. But I think we also spoke last season a little bit about, as Emma mentioned, Aggie Beaver-Jones was on loan there, so was Jess Park. And I remember us saying on the podcast last season that whilst they're brilliant as loan players coming in, that's a real short-term solution to a problem. And you need to be signing players on permanent contracts

or finding a way to keep them on to be able to maintain the level of the squad. Because, I mean, losing those two players is as bad as losing those players at the back as well. And yeah, maybe a little bit of short termism there has proved a little bit costly this season in terms of not bringing in players that are necessarily of the same quality as those two young, bright stars. Yeah, they've lost four of their opening six games. Defence is a real concern. And actually, we haven't even mentioned the 7-0 defeat by Manchester United

in the League Cup last midweek either. Work for Brian Sorensen to do. Special mention, though though to Sophie Ingle who equalled the all-time WSL appearance record moving level with Keris Harrop on 183. Congratulations to her.

That's it for part one. In part two we'll round up the rest of the WSL action, look ahead to a busy midweek in Europe, give some love to the championship and FA Cup and we'll head stateside

to wrap up the NWSL. Welcome back to part two of the Guardian Women's Football Weekly. Two more Barclays WSL ties for us to touch base with. An impressive statement from Manchester United as they continued their unbeaten start to the season with a 5-0 thrashing of West Ham with no less than five different goal scorers. Anything Arsenal can do, we can do better,

say Mark Skinner's side. It was a great performance from them, Emma. Some real attacking flair and quality on show. It feels as if they've maybe learned a few lessons from that frustrating draw with Brighton last weekend yeah they just look like they're really flowing in the goals now there's confidence in the team and we know the attacking quality they have I mean some of the names in in that squad is is ridiculous actually and Mark Skinner has spoken a lot he spoke a lot about this last season but he also did in sort of the early parts of this

season after the summer transfer window that he wanted to have players that provided different attacking qualities and different strengths and I do think he's got that and I think you know he maybe got a little bit of stick from his fan base last season in terms of the lack of rotation but we're already seeing this season that he's using those squad members effectively he knows how to bring players off the bench and bring in different strengths and you know we saw Nikita Paris rewarded with a start because of how impressive she was off the bench getting a hat trick against Everton in that 7-0 win in the league cup so you know it shows that if you're performing he is going to bring you in for the WSL games. And I thought Paris was excellent again.

I think she's really gone up another level this season. I actually asked Mark Skinner about her in his press conference last week. And I basically said, you know, what is it that she's doing? And he put it down to that extra competition in attacking places. It's almost lifted the level of everybody. And yeah, even Millie Turner getting in on the goals. You know, we know that she likes she loves a goal from centre-back but just really nice and free-flowing at the moment but my only concern

just to you know sort of play devil's advocate and maybe look at look at it from a slightly negative point of view is that obviously those those costly draws a few weeks ago might prove damaging if if you know throughout the rest of the season they pick up another one here or there but they are looking good at the moment so they need to build that momentum and obviously this weekend's game against Man City will be huge absolutely huge yeah and as you said they've already sold 36,000 tickets and counting for that Manchester derby at Old Trafford which is pretty pretty impressive. Another disappointing performance and result for Rhian Skinner's side though, Chris.

Four of their last six games they've lost in the league so far. She said afterwards, it's frustrating because we know what our players are capable of. We see it in training day in, day out, and you want them to step up and deliver at the weekend. I mean, they've got Aston Villa next weekend. That's going to be absolutely massive, isn't it? Yeah, really tricky start for West Ham and maybe a bit of a surprise too I really expected Rhian

Skinner to go in there and make an impact they've just got four points on the board so one above the drop zone one above Villa who they're hosting at the weekend and you'd imagine you'd put Villa as favourites there coming off the back of that win over Bristol City I mean really tough for Rhian Skinner though to lose Sunoka Hayashi after just 20 minutes to injury. And then Viviana Asai after just over half an hour to injury as well. When you're away to one of the toughest teams in the division and you've lost two key players

within just over the first half hour. But yeah, I'm beginning to worry for West Ham, Everton and Bristol City. They're all teams at the moment that don't look like they have quite enough about them. I mean, it's still early on in the season. Things can change. Form can come from somewhere. But yeah, the early signs from this West Ham side

are that they're going to be struggling throughout the season. I'm hoping I'm wrong on that. I'm hoping I'm wrong on all three of those. You want to see everyone do well. But yeah, it doesn't bode well at the start to this season. And just a massive fixture at the weekend at home to Aston Villa. Yeah. Lastly, Tottenham and Liverpool shared

the spoils in a hard-fought one-all draw at Brisbane Road. And it was all about Norway. A wonderful solo goal from Norwegian forward Celine Bizet put Spurs on course for a fourth win in five WSL games. But fellow countrywoman Sophie Roman-Howe brought the Reds level with a header on the 66th minute it ended all square on reflection

a fair result Susie? Yeah it was interesting because yeah I thought it was a fair result and I thought Robert Villan was very fair himself in also calling it a fair result when they dominated for much of the game i thought it was really strong particularly first half spurs performance and they they should have scored more um they should have been more up like he was so reflective at full time in saying that we're still a project you know we're still developing we're still finding our feet and in a game like this where you would hope you would get a result when you've dominated that much and you're a goal up he was very much like you know

that will come you know the signs are there we're creating chances we're still building so yeah completely fair result I actually thought Liverpool were better side and probably could have snatched all three points in the final sort of like five ten minutes of the game they really sort of sensed a little bit of blood I think and and really went for it but yeah I thought overall because of that it was definitely it was definitely fair that they they shared shared the spoils. Yeah it was great for the WSL that these two sides have been so competitive they sit fourth and fifth in the table they're right in the mix Just a point outside the top three. Right, let's turn our focus to the Champions League because it's back. Matchday one kicks off across Tuesday and Wednesday night. Some tasty ties as well. Group A sees Rosenberg play Eintracht Frankfurt and Barcelona face Benfica. In Group B, St. Poulton against Brands.

Slavia Prague against Lyon. C is Bayern Munich against Roma and Ajax PSG. And then Chelsea are in Group D. They face Real Madrid as their opener. Paris FC and Haken is the other fixture. Chelsea start their quest to deliver Emma Hayes that ultimate glory and ultimate farewell prize, if you like, in her final season in charge. It's such a big opportunity, isn't it, for them to start their campaign strongly in the Spanish capital, Emma?

Yeah, massive opportunity. And obviously you've teed it up there with the Emma Hayes fairy tale story. That's what they're hoping for, isn't it? You know, this is the trophy that she has craved to win with Chelsea. You know, she was asked about it in a press conference again this week. You know, when everyone's reflecting on her incredible career at Chelsea, it is that one that she's missed out on. So they will want to start off really, really strongly.

And obviously on paper, it's a fantastic game to get going on, I think. You know, obviously Real Madrid have got some quality in that side. It won't be easy. You look at the likes of, you know, Spain fullback, Olga Kamana, you know, I think is a really good player for them. But I think Chelsea will be pretty relieved that they don't have to face Caroline Weir. You know, obviously, sadly, she had that ACL injury in the international break playing for Scotland against England, you know, a few weeks back.

And I think that's such a massive blow for them in terms of their Champions League hopes because she is that match winner in that squad for me. So yeah, you'll look at that group and think there's some tough games in there for Chelsea, but I still think they'll come out on top. And I still think, you know, this could be a really exciting European campaign for them this season.

I expect them to go far. So yeah, I think if they want to do that, then they need to start off in the group stages with a win against Real Madrid because they should be beating that team. Who's heading out for a bit of winter sun tomorrow? Not me, unfortunately. Not me either. We've actually got Sophie Downey covering the game for us, albeit the other two Champions League away games, which is fun. I was going to say, that's the one everyone always looks at, isn't it? Oh, a little trip over to Madrid. Lovely jubbly.

Anyway, over to the States we go now, and we reach the climax of the NWSL season in dramatic fashion on Saturday night as Gotham FC were crowned champions following their 2-1 win over OL Reign. We touched base with reporter Megan Swanick a couple of weeks ago Saturday evening in San Diego, Gotham FC collected their first franchise championship victory as they overcame Owol Rain 2-1. The match itself was as entertaining as this entire season has been, a season that saw record parity in a league already known for that. Teams in the bottom half of the table took points from the top half of the table. Anybody could beat anybody on any given day. And at the end of the year, the team that was ranked dead last after the 2022 season are now the champions of NWSL.

That turnaround for Gotham is a tribute to lots of key players behind the scenes who've taken hold and reshaped that program. And credit is definitely due to Juan Carlos Amoros, the NWSL coach of the year, for his deft management of a well-constructed team. The final featured lots of redemption stories and comeback arcs, including but not limited to Gotham itself as a collective. Within their roster, we saw Allie Krieger lift a championship trophy on her final night as a professional, a U.S. Women's National Team beloved veteran who's had a long year in many ways, and with a public divorce unraveling in the background, it felt cosmically just somehow to watch her lift that trophy. Another major comeback story within Gotham's ranks includes that of Mana Shim and Sinead Farrelly. The pair are the whistleblowers who came forward

with their story of abuse in NWSL, igniting a years-long reckoning over the treatment that led them both to step away from the game. This past year, both of them returned to the game and both of them signed for Gotham. Sinead Farrelly, as many listeners may know, also played internationally this year, representing Ireland at the World Cup. To see them both together on the same team winning a championship in their return to football, clearly elated, embracing each other after the final whistle, was a really redemptive sight.

Unfortunately, tragically, not all redemption arcs curved in the intended direction A lot of people had been hoping Megan Rapinoe's final NWSL match Her final game as a professional would feature a comeback trophy Perhaps the only major trophy she's never won, the NWSL championship It would be something that could help put to rest for fans, if not for Rapinoe, the memories of a missed penalty against Sweden and a dismal last World Cup for the two-time winner on that stage. Horrifically, though, just a few minutes into the game, Megan went down with a non-contact injury, indicating she'd perhaps

done her Achilles, and that was that. In true Rapinoe character, though, she smiled as she was taken off, and even managed a few jokes to the media following. For Gotham, the pair of goals came from Lynn Williams, who marked her first championship with Gotham, but the fourth in her career, a record, the only player to have appeared and won in four finals. And the second came from Spain's World Cup champion, Esther Gonzalez, who moved to NWSL this fall after lifting the trophy in Australia. Both goals were beautifully set up by Midge Purse, who received MVP honors for her performance. O'Walrein's sole response came five minutes after Lynn gave Gotham the lead in the first half, placed perfectly past the keeper by the foot of Rose Lavelle, who reminded viewers once more how elite she is after being absent with injuries for club and country so much of this year.

It should be said as well that the match ended with a good bit of last minute NWSL chaos, as Gotham's keeper received a red card and a midfielder had to take the net to defend Gotham's lead in the final minutes. It was a tense few final seconds, but as we know, Gotham did pull it off and all the better for the added drama. Thanks so much to Megan. If you want to read more from her, make sure to check out her writing in The Guardian, ESPN

and the Philadelphia Inquirer. You can also find her on Substack where she writes about the US men's and women's teams at swandive.substack.com. Like Megan said there, Susie, it was a real devastating way for Megan Rapinoe to bow out. She handled it with such grace, but was in tears afterwards, as you would expect,

saying, it was a tough one. Definitely not how I envisaged this last one going. Thank you to everyone who's been on this journey for all this time. It's been amazing. Maybe besides this, I couldn't have written it any different yeah I mean it's a horrible way to go out but it doesn't like do anything to tarnish the incredible legacy she's got both on and off the pitch which is you know just gotta put this one behind you haven't you to a certain extent

it was nice to see Ali Krieger on the other side, bow out with a trophy as well. So, you know, there was always going to be a upset narratively, either way the game went. But yeah, to see her go off injured is particularly crushing, but also sort of like symbolic of her career that, you know, she's had three ACL injuries through it. It's been a career that has been stunted by injury and yet she's done all these incredible things including obviously her highlights at the 2019 world cup in particular like stand out so obviously not a nice way to go out not a nice way to finish like competitively as well with without taking the trophy but at the same time probably would not swap that uh for a few differences in her career. It's been incredible. Yes, it certainly has.

It feels like the longest drawn-out retirement ever. I feel like we might feel like that with Emma Hayes' departure from Chelsea as well. But yes, we wish Megan Rapinoe the best. And as she also said, it's definitely not the last we've seen from her. She's got so much to give, hasn't she, in the women's game. Let's move on to the Championship. Another dramatic weekend. It's such a cracking league this season.

Charlton sit top of the pile now on goals scored after their 2-0 win over Southampton. They took advantage as Sunderland suffered their first defeat of the season, beating 1-0 by Blackburn. We can't discount Crystal Palace though. They were 3-2 winners over bottom side Lewis on Sunday. They sit third, but they do have a game in hand. They've also got the league's top goalscorer in Elise Hughes in their ranks, who's already scored nine goals this season.

It's so tight, just four points separate the top five. Down at the bottom, Watford and Lewis are at risk of being cut adrift. They've both just won one game all season. And it looks like it could be a fight between those two to avoid relegation. This division, it feels, Emma, is the gift that keeps on giving. I absolutely love it. Yeah, fantastic. I wrote a piece on Sunderland and Durham the other week and just sort of that

that North East rivalry. And I think we're starting to see, you know, these big clubs go head to head and the matches just feel bigger and better now. And that is, you know, a credit to the league because the league is so competitive and it is so topsy-turvy. And I'm looking back at last weekend's results and you look at the likes of Birmingham City obviously getting another win and I think you know I think they started the season so slowly and everybody thought they were going to be right up there as as serious contenders to come back to the WSL they started so slowly and now they're on a terrific run of form and they're right back up there and it's just so exciting you can't take your eyes off it wonderful quality and you know the gap between the championship and

the WSL has always been a big concern hasn't it you know are those teams that are coming up just going to struggle and and not be able to compete with the WSL teams but actually by that league being so competitive they're just pushing each other on and on and and you hope that it's not all about finances and actually um the kind of the romanticism of football can help bridge that gap. And yeah, I'm just excited to see who comes up and what they can do in the WSL next season. You talk about the romanticism of football and it takes me nicely on to the magic of the FA Cup is the wonderful cliche always thrown out. But it was a great weekend of cup action the first round kicked off and take a bow salon andy hickman and her dulwich hamlet teammates knocking out the

london bees after a two nil win uh don't forget the bees are two tiers above them in the pyramid so really impressive i'm sure we'll hear all about that when Salon is back on the pod. Emphatic first round wins as well for third tier sides Wolves, Newcastle United and West Brom. The biggest victory of the day, though, went to fourth tier, Boldmere St. Michael's, who beat Wyburton Wildcats by 13 goals to nil. 13 in those capital letters as they get written on the viddy printer. Elsewhere, after reaching the fourth round of the competition last year, third tier, Hashtag United, were knocked out by Norwich. They lost by a goal to nil. Norwich play in the tier below them.

And don't forget, championship teams enter the FA Cup in the third round, while WSL teams enter in the fourth round. And that is vital to know for this reason, because we had some really big news last midweek when the FA announced new investment into the competition, which is going to see, oh dear, I see Susie Rack is readying herself here. She's prepping already. The total prize fund has doubled in size, increasing to £6 million. This is how it's broken down. The winners will earn £430,000, which is a fourfold increase up from £100,000 in the last season. The prize pot increasing

has been a long time coming, Chris. But the biggest problem I think that a lot of people have is that it doesn't kick in until the third round. And that's raised some eyebrows further down the pyramid. Yeah, obviously, the increase is welcome. It's great, but it's not been evenly distributed the third round and that's raised some eyebrows further down the pyramid yeah obviously the increase is welcome it's great but it's not been evenly distributed so the accusation that is being put against the FA is that the rich are getting richer and yeah the clubs involved at the moment they've not seen any increase on on last season it does feel almost like the FA is concentrating on trying to get that headline figure that the differentiation between men getting two million for winning the FA Cup, women now getting, I think, 430,000, isn't it, after this increase.

And they want to kind of take away the negative publicity from that winning end of the competition by getting more money there. But then they're forgetting about the grassroots clubs, which just seems a really silly decision to make, because obviously, as someone put on Twitter, a pyramid is only as strong as its base and we need to be supporting these clubs. I think 10 clubs this year at grassroots level

or lower down the pyramid have gone out. They're not businesses, but they've just folded. They've had to fold. They haven't got the support to keep themselves going. And that's really sad at a time when more and more women, young girls are wanting to play football to see their clubs disappear so it feels like they've missed a bit of a trick here i mean at the moment

the fa cup doesn't have a sponsor does it because vitality's three-year deal ended at the end of last season right now there's not a sponsor i would be amazed if there isn't a sponsor that comes on board in the third or fourth rounds when the championships clubs enter in the third round the wsl clubs in the fourth round and you'd like to think that any sponsor coming on board wow the publicity they could get if they found a way to just hugely uplift this prize fund even further I mean what it would say you know any any sponsor out there who's really serious about gender equality what they could do if they come on board in January when the WSL clubs start getting involved and say, here's X amount extra to really bridge that huge divide

that there still is between these competitions in the men's and women's games. So we'll have to see. I mean, it's got such a profile now, the FA Cup, because the FA have done some great things with this competition. Having the final at Wembley, getting crowds there of 50,000 plus now, millions watching it live on the BBC. So it's a competition that will surely draw a big sponsor and I just hope they have the foresight to see what they could do

if they manage to bridge that prize fund gap even further. A press release from the FA said that the funding increase aligns with when the championship clubs enter the competition. 28 teams from outside of the professional game also compete in the third round proper, meaning clubs from tier three and below will collectively access a minimum additional prize pot of £404,000 compared to if they'd made the same stage last season. So I get the FA's point there because, you know, there are really good people working behind the scenes at the FA that are trying to make this work as much as possible. And it's the second successive increase in

the prize fund so they increased it last year and that predominantly was weighted towards the earlier rounds of the competition so this is oh now they're gonna weight it heavily in favor of the top of the tree but what do we want it to look like right like so last season from the first qualifying round to the second round proper, the share of the prize pot was 62.4%. This season, it's 30.9%. Like, that is a massive drop. That is hugely weighting the spoils of this competition towards teams that have enough money to survive overwhelmingly and that don't necessarily need it. So the idea, oh, well we we did that last

year we're going to do this year no like that doesn't sit for me because we want to grow the pyramid and growing the pyramid and closing the gap means disproportionately investing in the bottom half of it like that is what you do so i don't know why they've changed tact on last year because that was a really really praised raise whether it's lobbying from the top clubs or linked to premier league clubs for for a bigger slice of the pie whether it's the need to increase the prize for winning the competition i don't care about any of it i just think it's outrageous that we are heading in the direction of the men's fa cup which is disproportionately weighted i think it's like around 67 percent of the money goes to the top of it in favor of the the teams at the top are not protecting the pyramid like

we've got a chance to do something different and they did something different last season and now they've completely reversed that that progress and that for me is really really concerning um if that is the ideology of where we're going, then it needs a really, really serious rethink. Yeah, I think it's a really complicated thing to do when you think about it. And when you're looking at a sponsor as well, you've also got to sit there and think, how do we attract them in? Unfortunately, at the moment, it's the WSL clubs that attract them in. So I kind of get that as well. But, you know, it's never been a perfect, I don't know if there's a perfect solution but maybe it needs looking at again um just to

reiterate we touched upon it at the start huge congratulations to Jill Scott Ellen White and Anita Asante inducted into the Women's Super League Hall of Fame on Monday night all absolute legends and uh delighted to say Anita is going to be with us on next week's pod so she can tell us all about it then. Emma Sanders, lovely to see you as always.

Catch up soon. Thanks for having me, guys. Always love it. Brilliant. Chris Slegg, always a pleasure. Always a pleasure likewise. Have a great week, everyone.

Enjoy the Champions League, Susie Rack. I'm not enjoy the Champions League Susie Rack I'm not enjoying the Champions League I'm like chilling at home on the sofa well I know I didn't want to make you

feel bad about not going to let's say enjoy the Champions League Sophie Downey have fun in Madrid repping us all we'll be back next week to round up all the action

including that mouth-watering Manchester derby and the battle down the bottom as West Ham and Aston Villa face off, as well as how Chelsea got on in the Champions League. Remember, you can join the conversation by emailing us at womensfootballweeklyattheguardian.com or tweeting us your questions. And you can subscribe to the Guardians Moving the Goalposts newsletter as well. I also really need to recommend you check out the incredibly moving piece by Nick Ames titled On the Road and Into a Bomb Shelter

mid-match with Mariupol women. It's as powerful as you can imagine and well worth your time. The Guardian Women's Football Weekly is produced by Lucy Oliver. Music composition was by Laura Iredale. Our executive producer is Salah Ahmad. Women's Football Weekly is supported by Google Pixel, the only phone engineered by Google

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