The Guardian's Women's Football Weekly - Controversy at the Emirates and Villa stun Manchester United – Women’s Football Weekly

Episode Date: November 11, 2025

Faye Carruthers is joined by Marva Kreel and Tim Stillman to dissect a dramatic WSL weekend and look ahead to the Women’s Champions League

This is The Guardian. Hello, I'm Faker others and welcome to the Guardian Women's Football Weekly. Well, what a game at the Emirates. The football didn't disappoint, but Arsenal's won all draw with Chelsea caused a fair bit of controversy with the officials drawing plenty of criticism. Is it time to give them more support? support and bring in VAR. Rene Slager certainly thinks so.

Will the real Aston Villa please stand up? Manchester United's title push stumbles at home. And that all means that Manchester City at top of the table for the first time this season after a 2-1 win over Everton. A busy WSL weekend to dissect in some tasty Champions League games to look forward to as well. We'll discuss all that, plus we'll take your questions. And that's today's Guardian Women's Football Weekly. Well, listen, before I introduce the panel, I have to say a huge thank you because the Guardian Women's Football Weekly has been nominated for a Football Supporters Association Award.

Really grateful for that. Thank you so much. There are some brilliant podcasts and media out there and we're nominated amongst them. So thank you very much. We are up for the women's football media of the year. And by the way, the Guardian Football Weekly is also up. For podcast of the year, you need to help them out because they lost it for the first time in goodness knows how many years last year. It was stolen out of their grasp. So you need to vote for us and you need to vote for the Guardian Football Weekly as well. You just need to go to the FSA's website. Please vote. It would be really lovely if we could win. But to be honest, we are chuffedibits to be nominated. And what a panel we have today, Susie Rack is on

way to Munich as we speak, but Tim Stillman is with us. How are you? Yeah, not too bad. Thank you. Great to be back on. It's lovely to see you. I have a feeling that you might have a fair few things to say today. Probably, yeah. Marva Creel, we've done it again, haven't we? An Everton defeat and you're on. But I have to say, please tell everybody the incredible photograph that you sent me in the WhatsApp group earlier on. I just love it. Well, for context, rather than me, just for those who listened to when I was on last, we were saying that, you know, we don't know when there's going to be a next Everton win

and that I should start growing my hair out like that, my United guy. But then Susie dubbed it Marijuana Falani hairstyle. So I've just photoshopped my face onto Marijuana Filanis's hair. So I reckon that that will keep growing. Yeah, I'll have to keep Photoshop. Oh, my God. I absolutely love it. And I mean, the guy doing that, it's so weird.

There's so much more I wish I could tell you on that. It's very odd. But yeah, please, please don't do what he's done. And actually, I think, you know, you've got a wing coming, don't you worry. But we're not going to start there. We're going to start at the Emirates because we've pretty much got used to fireworks, different kinds it feels every single time. Arsenal and Chelsea come head to head.

We love the rivalry, but this weekend's game at the Emirates was very dramatic, didn't disappoint again. It finished in a one-all draw. Alessia Russo's late goal cancelled out and Lisa Thompson's early opener, but there was far more to it than that, wasn't there? We'll come to the football shortly,

but obviously the biggest headline, frustratingly, was the officiating series of controversial decisions that perhaps impacted the course of the game. Two disallowed goals, a potential red card, hint of offside as well for Rousseau's equaliser. Tim, you were there on Sunday.

Talk us through the main points of contention. Well, let's take them one at a time, shall we? Now, I'll preface this by saying, I think most of the decisions are borderline and understandable from the officials. So, Freedom Ornum's goal that's disallowed for offside, I still don't know whether that's offside or not. Alessi Rousseau, we're talking a toenail.

I think Victoria Polova probably should have been sent off as well, but maybe the officials didn't see that clearly. I also think some of those decisions were informed by what actually was the egregiously bad decision to disallow Steina Blacksthenius' goal, which hits her on the thigh. I mean, in fairness, her arms do kind of come up when she controls the ball. The ball doesn't go anywhere near, but from where the referee's standing, I think that's what she thinks she sees.

but that is just a really poor call particularly when you've got an official on the other side no one's protested about it I think you get a feel for these things in a stadium so for example when the goals scored the actual goal scored Russo's goals scored when Frida Mornham goes through one and one I immediately look at the assistant referee

because in my mind I'm thinking that looked borderline and when Victoria Pallova made that challenge I immediately looked at my monitor to see it again because I thought oh that looked but the Steina-Black-Stanius goal, I don't think anyone does that. And so to conjure that decision out of thin air felt quite egregious. And I think that informed the other decisions as well.

So I think maybe with the Russo goal, there's even a subconscious feeling from the officials. We've kind of taken a goal away from Arsenal. They probably recognise at that point they've made a mistake. So it's kind of like, well, maybe we'll just leave the flag down for this one and even it up. So the other ones, the officials have my sympathy. I think that's Steina Black's Denius' goal. That's the real controversy, I think.

Yeah, that was a really difficult one. And her arms go back and up, don't they? So I can understand why the referee would see that movement and think that. But that's why you've got support. And I know that they will be frustrated with themselves for not having got that right. But I'm not sure I entirely agree that they would then level it up. I know it might subconsciously be like that.

but that's certainly not, you know, what they would purposely do. Did the decisions, Marva, fundamentally change the result in the end, though, do you think? Should Arsenal have actually taken away more than a point? It's hard to say in that sense because I do think it definitely fuelled the stadium and it definitely fuelled the players and how much they sort of upped their ante. And I think you could also say on the balance of the game, especially the first half, Arsenal were lucky to go in at 1-0. So I think when you consider everything together, 1-1 kind of seems fair,

but at the same time seems unfair because it so easily could have been 2-1 to Arsenal in the end. Just a comment about those decisions. I thought what was really weird for me particularly, because I know there'll be a lot of conversations about VAR that we might get into, but I think what was weird particularly about that Blake Stoenius decision was that that felt like a VAR decision. And the kind of calls for some of the off-sides and stuff, those feel like VAR decisions where you're going,

It reminds me of, I mean, I'm too young to say back in my day, but it was sort of back in my day, I remember you would get those sort of very close offside decisions and the benefit would just sort of be given to the attacker. And those are actually the kind of goals I want to see. I haven't fully, fully seen it with lines drawn. I've seen the kind of screenshots essentially, and I don't think you can actually judge that from the camera angles that we see bully because we just don't have that same technology. But they are so, so tight. And I just think when it's that tight. I have no problem of letting some of those goals go. I think we've seen worse be given this season for many other teams. But the black sinuous one particularly, I just think that feels

like a goal where we're looking on VAR screens to try and find something to rule it out. And that's what kind of everyone hates about VAR. So it was a real surprise to me that they decided to rule that one out because I just think if you're not fully sure on that decision, which I understand why they might have seen a hand go, but you couldn't have been that sure. Because if you were that sure you would have called it up much earlier as well. So yeah, just very old decisions. But I think on the balance of it all, yes, Arsenal can feel hard done by. And then, of course, there's the possible plover red cards. Then Chelsea can feel hard done by. And also, I think, on the balance of how the game was actually played, I think one one's probably fair. But

you just don't want to go away from a game like that, which the atmosphere was great, maybe because of the decisions. But it was a really good spectacle for this league. And it's just a shame that that's what the focus is on now. Yeah, it is. And Renee Slager's was very frustrated post-match. The clip of her going up to the referees shaking her head has obviously gone all around social media. This is what she had to say. A lot of respect for referees because it's not easy. We're looking at video. If you ask me, we need justice. And that's why I think VAR and technology can help. I don't want to elaborate too much. But there's more and more at stake in the WSL. We have to look at how we grow the game in all aspects. The big question for me is where we want the investment. to go. It has to be tiered in some way. It's got to be incremental. So the referees need more investment for their training first and foremost to help them with their development and get more coming up full time and through the pathway. And then we can start looking at investing in perhaps goal line technology than VAR light or an alternative, obviously, because I really feel

it's got to be incremental because the most important investment has got to be in the people first and foremost, because they're the ones who are then going to be implementing the technology. But what do you guys think? Yeah, I massively agree with that. I think the fact that we're comparing, you know, this league to the Premier League, basically, in terms of what we're expecting from VR and what we're expecting from officiating. And if you haven't got full-time referees, if you haven't got referees who have that same training and that same level, then how can we expect it to be anywhere near the same? And then you also have to look at the fact of different stadiums and the capacity of camera angles and

infrastructure at different stadiums and I think even if we were to just implement VR in the same way that we do in the Premier League how many stadiums would be able to cater for that in a proper way and then you have to consider okay well then if we have any league cups or different competitions even the different sort of Champions League ones in Europa

League well equivalent competitions how many of those are going to be able to benefit from that system and then you've got a chop and change from different leagues and different competitions there's so much more on the infrastructure that needs to happen and I think that even though it's one of the more expensive things,

but the automatic offsides, for example, that are developing around the world, I think something like that and, of course, goal line technology and these kind of easier ones to implement, I think, should be the things we start to look for in the future and how to kind of slowly get those in. Yeah, so I'll preface this by saying, I really don't like VR, never wanted it in the men's game,

really don't like it. However, I understand I'm not the only person the WSL needs to cater to. It will come one day. just a matter of when, of course it will. I think we've got a bit of a lag at the moment between the officiating and the quality of play, but I think that's unavoidable and understandable. And in the background, the FA have been investing in this, in training new referees.

It's just it takes time. It takes a few years for that to really come through. What I would hope is happening in the background is the new generation of referees that are currently being trained are being trained with VAR, so that when it comes into the WS, and perhaps some of those facility issues are ironed out because I think a lot of the problem in the Premier League as well is one of the things we're not sympathetic enough about often as fans this has drastically changed the job of officiating overnight

if whatever job you do if someone just drop something in and says this is going to fundamentally change it that's going to take a while there's going to be wrinkles life is messy also in the WSL we've got a quite strange situation situation where there's unequal, really unequal media attention between individual games. This is the biggest game of the season. It's 56,000 people. But Liverpool Brighton, Liverpool's goal, Lily Woodham is probably offside.

But there's a couple of thousand people in the stadium and there's not as many people watching it. We don't have the same level between certain games. And this game, this stadium, with this crowd, with this attention, is so much different to even other games that happen this weekend. Look, technology can definitely support officials, but investment is key. PGMO need money in order to keep that support going. FIFA's used football video support,

which is also known as VAR light at some of the Youth World Cups. You actually only need four cameras for that, which is the minimum requirement in the WSL now anyway. Semi-automated offside, I think we've all mentioned that. previously could easily have solved two of Saturday's incidents at least. We still don't have goal line technology, obviously. This all costs money. The NWSL have been using VAR for years. Liga F in Spain as well have brought in VAR light this season. So I think steps ahead, but again everything costs money, doesn't it? And that's what it always comes back to. But the match

itself was still really fascinating. Chelsea getting off to a fast start. How did they target Arsenal's weaknesses, Tim. Yeah, this was really interesting. I asked both managers about this afterwards because Chelsea have largely been playing a back three this season. They went to a back four and they left Ellie Carpinter and Sandy Baltimore on the bench.

And I think there was an undercurrent to this game where the table really informed it because Chelsea didn't have to win. A draw is a much better result for them than it was for Arsenal and Arsenal had to win. But I asked both managers about Chelsea going to a back four and René Slager said, well, we did plan for that, but she admitted they were a little bit surprised.

And Sonia Bonpastor told me that she did that because she didn't want to end up in a back five, which suggests at some stage she knew that they were going to be defending and what they did and what they usually do actually is they made a really, really fast start. They really targeted Arsenal's left-hand side. Kim Little was a massive miss for Arsenal. Mariana and Victoria Polova as a double pivot. Those are both number 10s, really.

and Chelsea were getting in behind them a lot and I think what Chelsea's plan was that very nearly worked was go for them first 15 minutes, get a goal or two and then sit and they only got one when they could have got two or three in that period. I think Arsenal did adjust after that

but I think Sonia Bonpastor sprung a bit of a surprise with her selection. Yeah, I know exactly what you mean. How did Arsenal react to that in that case? And also, double question. It obviously felt like a must win for Arsenal before the match, a draw, as Tim said, not ideal for them. But equally, Chelsea is still unbeaten in the league,

but some fans are worried about their current performances. So where do both teams sit after this game? Yeah, I think if you'd ask me at half time, I would have said it's actually one of Chelsea's better performances for the whole season. And I think it was a sign of while they didn't technically play with a back three, but actually in possession, it did almost look like a back three. and then also could often look like a back five

in terms of how much they were defending but when I say defending in the first half it felt like their defenders were defending rather than their whole system coming back and then Kira Walsh was that sort of missing piece which I think they've kind of, even though she's been brilliant this season I think that first half was probably one of her best performances and helped connect them really well in a way that they

haven't been connecting in terms of their passage of play and why Chelsea fans have been a bit frustrated in the way that their team's playing and I can see why Chelsea fans are frustrated of it because it felt like okay great we're finally stepping up in terms of how we're playing and for a big game as well and then to kind of

I don't want to just say sit back because I think it was Arsenal's push that really meant that they couldn't just sit back you saw how much in the second half Kiralh actually just got crowded out because Arsenal players were just pushing forward and just like you could just see the extra bit of energy

they were just all over them and I think in that first half that midfield two just didn't really work for them. It was too open and not having a kind of clear central defensive midfielder on the pitch. I think you could quite clearly see that. And it was almost like, I know Cairo Pooning Cross came on later, but even before she came on, it almost was like that midfield didn't even matter because they were just pushing so, so aggressively that you felt the difference. So I think Arsenal can take a lot of positives from that performance because

I think it shows that despite the system, they have got enough talent in that team. So when they really push forward, they can do something. But they'll be gutted that they didn't just get that win because I think if they'd got that win, a lot of nerves would have been settled and they would be looking a bit more bright for the future in terms of that top three. It feels like a really pivotal weekend actually in terms of the title race with some of the results. By the way, sending our best to Arsenal defender Katie Reid, who we found out the other day had ruptured her ACL in training. I feel like this is a weekly occurrence that the at the moment, unfortunately.

So sending all our best to her. But real upset at Lee Sports Village at the weekend. An impressive 1-0 win over Manchester United from Aston Villa at Mary Taylor's first half finish, the only goal of the game. And actually, it's quite impressive Villa, because although they haven't been getting the points on the board, so to speak, and question marks over what they're going to achieve this season, and Natalia Arroyo's side actually got a point at the Emirate,

They were a real handful for Chelsea, despite losing that game. And now they've beaten one of the other title contenders in Manchester United. How impressed were you with them on Saturday, Tim? Yeah, definitely. There's definitely something about their setup that works better in those games, perhaps when they're counter-attacking a bit more. The way they attack, they're kind of taken Rachel Daly out of the team. They don't really have like a focal point,

but they have a few players who really rotate up front like Kirsty Hansen, who had a great game here, and, you know, Missy Bo Cairns sometimes goes and fills that number nine spot, and they have Chastity Grant really overlapping, so that they're actually is difficult to identify who's going to attack the space. I thought they were really, really good in this game. I thought they deserved to win the game. You know, I think United will point to, they had 15 shots, only two of them on target. They were quite bad in front of goal. I think they took out Ziyoti and Sandberg as well. And I think that... think that took a lot of their creativity away, but I just think in these games, Villa,

they press you quite a lot, and the fact that they no longer have, like, a number nine that kind of just stands there for one of a better phrase. And United as well, they're very solid centrally. United, you know, that centre-back partnership of Leticia and Janssen, that's very solid, Mia Zauer and front. It's very difficult to get any change out of them in that area, but I don't think those are the areas that Villa typically attack. So I was impressed with them in this game, but, you know, looking at their games maybe against teams around them in the table to see what the coach can come up with there. Yeah, this is what Natalia Arroyo said.

We know that for these types of games, probably no one expects us to win. So if we can take something to the point at the Emirates and these three here at United, that allows us to believe and dream bigger. But as you say, it's the points around the teams around them that is important. Manchester United's first defeat of the season, though, Marva. And Mark Skinner described the performance as very flat. Tim mentioned the shots on goal, but actually they failed to register a shot on target until the 64th minute, which is not what we're used to seeing from Manchester United. Where else did it go wrong for them?

Yeah, I mean, there were a few changes. I think Champions League coming up midweek was probably on their mind. And I think that's what we've said about this Man United team from the beginning, that they've looked really, really strong. But how can they balance a quite small squad in comparison to other teams with Champions League? and I think this is the first time they've sort of slipped at that hurdle. I do understand why Skinner would make those changes. I don't think that's on him at all. I think you have to try and rotate.

And I think he's a bit damned if you do, damned if you don't, because if he didn't, then people would say, well, you know, wasting the energy and people could get injured, etc. So I understand why those changes were made. It just felt a bit like they weren't clinical either. They actually had quite a few chances towards the end, some very clear chances that I would expect them to score, which they just didn't.

But it was more just the goal they conceded was, not getting the second ball in the box from a set piece. It was quite just a lack of concentration, slightly lazy defending, which I don't think there's too much of a need to dissect it too much for Man United. I don't think they should be too worried about moving forward. And I think they're almost a victim of their own success of this season, where if this is where they were, if, you know, before the season started, people would say, oh, great, yeah, I'll take that in a heartbeat.

But I think the kind of expectations of them have risen so much, because they've been so brilliant this season that the thought of them losing against Villa is now like, oh, this is a shocker, but it shouldn't be because once, you know, Champions League does get going fully and we have to see them rotate their squad, I think that is where some troubles might come in. Yeah, we'll talk about PSG a little bit later on in part two of the pod.

But finally, in part one, let's look at Manchester City because with Chelsea and Manchester United dropping points, City had the chance to capitalise, and they did a hard-fought 2-1 victory over Everton sees them top of the table for the first time this season. And it wasn't an easy game, actually, for Andrea Jurglertz's side, Tim, despite a bright start. They needed, you know, the experience, if you like,

of Viviana Meadamara and Bonnie Shaw to get them over the line. Shaw actually said there'd been a mentality shift amongst the group this season, which I thought was a really interesting way to put it. Can you see that kind of marked difference this season? And is that perhaps the reason why they managed to get over the line in this one? A little bit, yeah. I mean, they just about deserve to win the game, I think. I think kind of what's happening is obviously they've got new managers playing a very different style.

And I think you see this often in the WSL and new manager comes in. There's a style shift and it takes everyone a few months to kind of work it out. And really the real test comes for a manager after about a year. We're seeing René Slager's at the moment. I think we saw it at Yona side of Al, you know, after a year or so, everyone gets used to you. But at the moment, Man City are largely playing once a week, new style, new coach. I think there's an element to this game in which they've got arguably maybe the two greatest goal scorer as this league has ever seen. And they both scored a goal and they won two, one.

I do think Everton caused them a lot of problems, though. I think Everton with that ball in behind, in particular, quite a lot. And in the first half in particular, Kelly Garco was really getting. getting in behind quite a lot. I thought Everton made good subs as well. Katie Robinson made a real impact when she came on, and I do think this game could have quite easily been a draw. I think 2-1 City was just about right,

but it could easily have been 2-2. I think Everton caused City some problems here, and I'll be interested to see how other teams take on maybe some of the things that Everton showed in kind of how direct they were. But Everton have a very particular style of play as well, where they attract the press and then they go in behind you

and I don't think City always dealt with that brilliantly to be honest. How impressed were you with your team, Marva? I was waxing lyrical last week you'd have been proud of me about Kelly Gargo

on the score sheet again creating chances. I mean she's just brilliant but the whole team the work ethic was there should you have got a point? I think we could have easily got a point there were two brilliant saves

from Yamashita and then there was another vignola one that's just so painfully sort of cross the line but not over the line. So yeah, it was a really, really good performance. I've been sort of shouting into the abyss about Gago and pain starting and how much they need to play together and how much we need to go more direct in our style of play. And it's something that we're not seeing when we play against other teams who are in

around our position in the league. But this was kind of actually why I expected from this team against a team like Man City. I thought we could hurt them in behind. I've seen it with Man City, I thought even their opening game against Brighton, there were a lot of signs of that, but how easy it is actually to get in behind them, despite them being a very, very good team. But yeah, it was a real big effort from the team, really, really impressed with a lot of our players.

But it's a little bit difficult to take so many positives away from it when it feels like we put in these performances against some of the bigger teams. Even that Man United game where we lost 4-1, we were actually still really, really in it for most of it, And then it was just we conceded the second and then we just kind of like heads went and Jess Parks just brilliant. So what can you do?

But we put in quite a few performances like this where we sort of change our style of play when we're playing up against more difficult teams. And that's what's quite frustrating because it just feels like, well, actually, if we played a bit more like that against the teams in and around us, I think we'd have a lot more points on the board.

But then when we play against these other teams, we just try, we bait the press and then we try and play it through the middle. And I don't think we have the players or I don't know whether it's the players or the coaching to outplay every team, the WSL. I just don't think we have that. So while we can take a lot of positives from this game,

there's also an element of if you're not getting a point or three points from these games and then you're switching up your style against the other teams, it just feels like what are we learning from this? So I would like to see us kind of revert back to this style of football and really rely on our pace and our width

and on Gago. There are already rumours of her leaving in January and I think I was just, I'm not sure I'll be able to appear on this pod after that. Hang on, listen, listen, let me inject some positivity for you. I have a feeling you're going to be appearing on this pod very soon with a haircut. Do not worry, it's coming, Marva. It's coming. Right, that's it for part one of the Guardian Women's Football Weekly. In part two, we'll look at the other games from the weekend and look ahead to the Champions League.

Tristan, an Englishman in Australia, the host of the Guardian Football Weekly podcast, but for the next few months I'm also bringing you a new show at Guardian Ash's Weekly. And I'm Jeff Lemmon, Guardian Australia's cricket writer in the coming weeks. I'll be travelling all around Australia to every Ashes test city to follow the battle for cricket's oldest, grandest prize. We'll be watching every ball, every nick, every catch, every cover drive, every bit of sandpaper, you know, you know. And every terrible joke that doesn't need to be repeated that many times. best commentary, we'll have all the best analysis from Guardian cricket experts in England, in Australia, coming to you.

So join me and Jeff throughout the series for every episode of the Guardian's Ashes Weekly on YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts. Welcome back to part two of the Guardian Women's Football Weekly. Fans at Hayes Lane were treated to a footballing spectacle. London City Lionesses being Tottenham. 4-2, a six-goal thriller. It was quite fun, wasn't it? Very entertaining, Tim.

What did you make of it? Yeah, I watched this game. Because Arsenal played on Saturday, I was actually able to watch other WSL games this weekend, which was really, really nice. Always helpful when you're coming on the pod. Exactly, exactly. This was a brilliant, brilliant game

between, I think, two of the teams who had probably got their eye on that fifth spot. It's funny, I was having a conversation because I was with someone the other day where I was kind of saying I don't think any of Arsenal, Chelsea or Man City have really grabbed me this season as playing at their absolute best

but we were kind of talking about well actually is that because the standard of the middle rung as it were of the WSL seems to be coming up we just talked about Aston Villa bloodying some noses Everton could very easily have taken something from Man City London City lionesses I think have really added

to the league because it's the first time in a few years a promoted team has come up and they're definitely not going to get relegated and they're going to take points and Tottenham under Martin Ho looked like a different proposition and this was I think this was just a really entertaining game between two really good teams both of whom were going for it and I think that's another shift in the WSL you're not getting as many teams who are kind of just putting 10 behind the ball and hoping not to get beaten 3-0 you know they both took the game to each other but really this game was all about Freya Godfrey who is perhaps one.

one of the lesser hailed, London City lionesses signings, but LCL paid quite a bit of money to get her from Arsenal this summer. And she had a sensational game, two really good goals and a really great assist. From the right wing, she usually plays on the left. And yeah, this game was really all about her. And I think very soon we're going to get that kind of will she get in the England squad quite soon kind of conversation. Brilliant. Look, they're in the top half of the table.

as you said, fighting for that fifth spot it feels, which I don't think anybody really thought was possible bedding into the league in their first season in it. And as you say, Frey at Godfrey, player of the match performance and assist as well. And Jocelyn Prussia is giving a lot of young players a chance, Marva, isn't he? Which is crucial really for their development.

Yeah, it's been brilliant to see. I thought Godfrey was, that was one of the best individual performances I've seen in the WSO in a little while, particularly from a young and up-and-coming player. I thought that goal where she step over, takes a touch and bends it, was like, to do that finish and get it past the goalkeeper, I literally was off my seat as I watched that. It was brilliant to see.

And I thought just tactically, London City Linus has really got it right. A lot of teams have, you know, fair enough, Martin Ho's spurs have been brilliant, but one clear weakness of theirs is how much, well, it's been their benefit to them, is how much their wing backs get forward. But I think they really, really targeted that for spurs. And it was where the biggest weaknesses kept coming for spurs that, you know, you saw on quite

few goals. Actually, Neville was struggling to get back. And there were just wide open spaces in behind, which I think a lot of teams haven't quite cottoned on to yet with spurs. And it'll be interesting to see now how Martin Ho adapts to that, because I think, like we're saying about City and the lessons that could be learned from that from other teams, I think similar could be said of that Spurs performance that a few teams. will be going, oh, okay, this is how we get around them.

Because they have been so brilliant and they've been so sort of on your neck as a team. They don't stop. But I think they were, London City Lionesses were so clinical. In the moment they got the ball, they targeted those spaces. And that Godfrey goal is the perfect example of that. Gets in that space in behind, cuts in scores. You just have to be quite clinical against them, which is obviously easier said than done. But I think it was a big warning sign for this Martin Ho's team.

who's generally other than that city game being pretty defensively solid but yeah to have that against a team like London City I think will make them go okay we definitely need to address this problem not just the fallbacks but actually of the wingers as well and how much they get back and help defend or they have to also be clinical

because there are a few chances there from their wingers Jess and as should have scored which I think is where the battle was really won and lost in this game well good timing for a jolt back down to a I would say, bearing in mind the North London Derby is pending. And actually, this is the season that they would be thinking, okay, we can maybe do something in this, Tim, because they have been great so far.

And Arsenal, sorry to say, have not. How does he regroup ahead of that crucial game? Yeah, I mean, a lot of what they're doing reflects some of the, I think, the better trends we're seeing in the WSL. also three at the back. A lot of teams doing three at the back, but being quite aggressive with that, Villa do that as well.

Everton quite often go with three at the back and then they kind of get one of their centrebacks to really go and commit to the press. They've been much more aggressive. I don't mean that pejoratively. They go after teams a fair bit more. I completely agree with Marva in that they were exposed in the wide areas and actually they didn't deal

with the crosses particularly well either. However, the North London Derby on Sunday at Brisbane Road, which tighter pitch than the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. Perhaps looking at this game, Arsenal would have preferred to play at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, have a little bit more space to play with, maybe slightly better surface, although, to be absolutely fair, I don't know what the surface at Leighton Orient looks like at the moment, but I guess it's not as good as the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. So they've got...

Spurs will be hoping it's not as good in some ways, otherwise that's an awful lot of money wasted for a big stadium. Well, indeed. But also the teams played each other in pre-season and Spurs actually won that game and they were very front-footed, very aggressive. They got after Arsenal's centrebacks on the ball. So I think that pre-season friendly in August

certainly gives them a blueprint. At the same time, it gives Arsenal the blueprint. They know what to expect. Whereas when they played them in August, they'd played a couple of pre-season friendlies that nobody had seen. So I spoke to René after that game and she kind of said,

well, we didn't really know how they were going to play because we haven't seen them but Arsenal have now but I wouldn't mind betting that Arsenal were taking notes about particularly what Freya Godfrey

produced Right moving into our final two matches of the Barclays WSL from the weekend and oh dear two teams that appear to want to just mirror

each other's seasons at the moment which you know makes for an interesting relegation battle that's for sure West Ham and Liverpool still both searching

for their first win of the season, and both dropped points in injury time. It very much feels when it's against you, it's against you. West Ham took the lead against Leicester City in Dagenham, Shakira Martinez on the score sheet, but Shannon O'Brien, with the final kick of the game, got an equaliser for Leicester in the 97th minute, which is just gut-wrenching for Rianne Skinner and her side, Marva. Yeah, and it is, again, I mean, we've said a lot on this thought about how West Ham haven't actually been playing that badly. When you actually watch a full game of theirs, it doesn't seem like a team who should be on, well, at the time, zero points and, you know, bottom of the league, because in a lot of their games, they've been in them or their general passage of play hasn't been bad. You're not looking at that team going, oh, that's a shambles. There have been a lot of games where they should have just gone ahead and then they've lost the game after that. And this was another one like that. I know they've got their first point on the board, but it was just after the first 10 minutes, 50 minutes, which I did think Lester were better in. After that,

Lester didn't really have any answers for West Ham. I thought West Ham were brilliant going down the wings. I thought they were, once they did get that whip rather than trying to go centrally because that's where Lester are particularly good at kind of just like having a bit of a low block and just crowding out that middle.

Once West Ham worked their way around that, they were really in some brilliant positions and could have been in a 1-0-2-0 and then they get that lucky goal and you think finally some luck is on their way like I think back to the game they had against Villa where they had so many chances and then Villa just scored two absolute world-class goals

and you're just thinking, oh, that's just West Ham's luck. So I thought finally, they're getting a bit of luck themselves. And then unfortunately for them, I think the equalizer is on them. And I think that's what they're going to have to take in with them moving forward because it's really poor defending. And to kind of lose that concentration in the last few minutes in a game you needed to win, it would have just meant so much of them if they had one and to leave a player free at the back post.

I mean, that's just your basics. defending and I think, you know, Rian will be gutted with that and all the players will be gutted with that because it wasn't what they deserved in terms of the overall performance and actually in terms of the overall season, I think they deserve to have at least three points on the board. But at the same time, you can't really say it's too unfair when you defend like that in the last few minutes. And the point for Lester moves them above Everton in the table. Sorry to highlight that to you, but they didn't offer that much all afternoon, which will be a worry for their fans. Liverpool, though, took the lead against Brighton as well.

Peter Olson scored for the second time in as many games, but Brighton rescued a point late on, Rosa Kofargy levelling in the 93rd minute this time. They were so close. Gareth Taylor, though, determined to focus on the positives of his team's performance. He said it's a cruel game. It would have been nice to reinforce the good work with three points. For us, though, it's the first point on the board. So therefore, that is a step forward. And that is definitely a way to take the positives out of it, isn't it? They wrote their luck at times, but perhaps their best performance of the season today

is what he's doing, working, Tim? Not yet. I have some sympathy in that they've got three ACLs in a squad that's not the biggest anyway. I have always kind of questioned whether this Liverpool squad and Gareth Taylor are fit together. I think their problems are really clear.

They have been unlucky. The data suggests they can see, He defeated 13 goals from 9.8 XG, so they've been a little bit unlucky, but they've only scored four goals this season, and that's just, like, nowhere near enough. They put a lot of crosses in in this game, but not hugely productive. They had some good shots from range, but I didn't really see them open Brighton up. I think Brighton had chances, and a draw was certainly a fair result here. I mean, obviously, it's something to build on. They literally have infinitely more points than they did when they started this game.

But, you know, maybe it gives them something to build on, but I'm still quite worried about them. I think they've got work to do in January in the transfer market. They've got £1 million for Olivia Smith in the summer. I'm afraid I just don't see where it's gone. And I think Gareth Taylor deserves to get some of it to spend in January, particularly with the injury situation. Yeah, very good point.

Brighton feel like they're in a bit of free fall without a win in the last four. Their last victory. I'm sorry, Marva. I'm not doing this on purpose. I promise you, was against Everton at the end of September. How does Dario Vidazic stop the run becoming more of an issue, particularly in terms of confidence? And they're hosting Lester next, so with no disrespect to Lester fans,

maybe that's the turning point. Well, we have to, you know, say, well, obviously, Adjimang is now out, which is, you know, gutting for them and obviously for her and all of us England fans. But I think as well for them, it's been a case of, they've shown real signs of that, that same team we saw last season, which can play brilliant football. But it's been that final decision and that extra element of being clinical. And I thought you saw that in this Liverpool game as well, where particularly in the second half, actually, I thought Liverpool did quite well for a good part of the game.

But towards the ends, there were warning signs for Liverpool. And I thought, Brighton, there was an exact sort of same replica of the goal that had happened just before that they didn't score. And I think Shimsu saved it off the line. And so you can see that they can play some really nice football where it was played out wide, a little cut back. It was like really nice off the ball movement. But it's just not been enough of that and not enough of those moments

that then actually get you into goal-scoring positions because they do some really nice bits of build-up play. And then what you were finding in this game particularly is that once they got into the middle and sort of got past that first bit of press, then they were just really struggling to find that one through ball that could just cut them open. So I think they need a little bit of a plan B when that isn't happening

or when they're up against a team that maybe the quality is just overpowering them. But I think they'll be okay in terms of they'll get points on the board. Frank Kirby always comes up with a moment or two of Magic. Khafarji, I think, is coming into her rhythm now as well, which is great to see. But yeah, I think they would have been expecting more from the season. I think there's still time to do that. But it's more just finding that extra clinical edge. And then when they can't do it in their buildup play,

looking how else they can get a goal basically. Yeah, I think with Ajumang out, they need a striker in January. They played Carrillo up front in this game. She hasn't scored this season. I think Marba's exactly right. Like Kirby, Gankovic, Kofagi, they've got a good supporting cast. But I think without Ajamang, they really lack a focal point. Champions League returning this week, all English teams in action,

and the Guardian Women's Football Weekly team all out and about. And Tim, you're heading out to join Susie in Munich for Arsenal's match against Byron on Wednesday. They met last year in the group stage, you'll remember. Well, what are you expecting from this one? Well, this is my ninth time in Munich watching Arsenal's men's and women's teams. I've yet to see an Arsenal victory unless you count the men's team winning a second leg 2-0 but losing on away goals. So I'm hopeful it's ninth time lucky for me. I think for Arsenal this is such a pivotal game because they lost the league.

Leon game, and this is the trickiest game they've got left. They've got Real Madrid after this, but then they've got a bit of a soft landing with their last two kind of group games. I think this is really pivotal. They have to go and win this. Byron have not been hugely impressive this season. They've got lots of injuries, and it's strange because last season, Arsenal lost this game 5-2, which is completely forgotten in view of how Arsenal finished their Champions League campaign. But, you know, that was a very open game and Arsenal were kind of really cut open, particularly on crosses. But at the Allianns this time, I think that should be a better environment for Arsenal as well. But this to me is a

really, really pivotal game in the group for Arsenal. I think if they win this, they'll be absolutely fine. Producer Sof currently on their way to Austria, beautiful part of the world. Chelsea facing St. Paulton and Sonja Bon Pastors team put a convincing showing last time out against Paris FC, but how do you think they're going to fare against a team that are struggling in the Austrian League, Marva? They've actually conceded nine goals in their first two games of the Champions League as well. How do you think they're going to do? Well, I mean, you'd hope they would win, given those stats. But I think for Chelsea fans, it's not just about the win, it's going to be about the performance, which I understand there'll probably be a lot of rotation

given where they're at in the league and where we're at in the season. But I think for Chelsea fans, they want to see a performance that shows that they can dominate a game from beginning to end, which there hasn't been enough of this season. And yeah, I think it'll be a good chance for them to kind of have some fun with their football and get the best out of some of these players to go in with a bit more confidence moving forward in the league. And just shut me up a moment because I meant struggling in the Champions League, not struggling in the Austrian League, they're second. So shut up, Faye.

clearly my Austrian knowledge is not up to speed and we should have experts speaking on that rather than me also keen eye on Old Trafford on Wednesday I think we're all a little bit rubbing our hands to see how this is going to play out because Mary Earps is returning to Manchester United for the first time with PSG since her book came out the other week

additionally. Lots happened in the last couple of weeks but I mean it feels like it's time to let the football do the talking Tim, how do you think United are going to get on? Yeah, I mean, PSG have been really poor this season. They're not having a good season at all, and I think this is a really good opportunity for Manchester United to go and win this game. I think they probably had their eye on it as well,

not just with the team selection, but maybe even slightly psychologically against Biller, because I think they recognise that this, a bit like Arsenal, this could be a real make-or-break game for them in the Champions League group, and obviously they lost a PSG the last time they played, them. But I think this is a very different PSG game. I think Manchester United should go and win this. And I think they probably know it's a very good opportunity for them. Yeah, without a

doubt, very much looking forward to it. Now then, listen, a couple of other bits of news to bring you. The NWSL semi-final lineup was decided this weekend. Gotham FC pulling off one of the shocks of the year. Katie Stengles, 1201 minute goal sent them through against Kansas City current, the runaway league leaders all season. Orlando Pride, Washington Spirit and Portland Thorns also booked their spots. And North Korea became under 17 World Cup champions for the second year in a row, beating the Netherlands by three goals to nil in the final on Saturday, continuing their growing dominance at youth level. Right, I mentioned this to you earlier on at the top of the pod, but I just want to remind you again that we

are nominated for a Football Supporters Association Award. The Guardian Women's Football Weekly is up for Women's Football Media of the Year. The Guardian Football Weekly is also up for podcast of the year. So please vote for us. I get my begging hat on. I've actually put, if you want to go on my Instagram, I've put a link to where you can make your decision. Without any pressure, please make the right decision. There are some fantastic women's football pods out there, of course. But it would be lovely if you could vote for us. the fsa.org.uk forward slash news forward slash fsa dash awards dash 2025 dash vote dash now and if you've not written that down don't worry just google it can i just interject there as well and say my employer

asked blog is nominated again for fan media of the award so yeah we've won it a few times we'd like to win it again thank you wonderful well i will vote for you don't you worry um so please if you can that. That would be fab. You can also keep having your say. Send in your questions via X. Email us at Women's Football Weekly at the Guardian.com. And as ever, a reminder as well to sign up for our biweekly women's football newsletter. All you need to do is search moving the goalposts sign up. Tim, it's been a pleasure. Enjoy Munich, one of my favourite cities. Yep, my pleasure, as always. Hopefully I won't get lost in Munich, as it were, which I shouldn't do. in Munich, car in a trap.

Which I shouldn't do given that I've been there so many times. I just love the city and I love the Allianz Arena. Marva, have a wonderful week. Thank you, thank you. Hopefully I never win to come soon. Yeah, the hair's getting cut. I know it. The Guardian Women's Football Weekly is produced by

Sophie Downey and Silas Gray. Music composition was by Laura Aydale. Our executive producer is Danielle Steven.