The Guardian's Women's Football Weekly - FA Cup shock and City’s managerial shake-up – Women’s Football Weekly podcast

Episode Date: March 11, 2025

Faye Carruthers is joined by Suzy Wrack, Tom Garry, and Robyn Cowen to discuss Gareth Taylor’s exit and the weekend’s games

This is The Guardian. in football don't they? Certainly feels like it. Gareth Taylor has left Manchester City, queued cryptic social media posts from players. It's Nick Cushing who's the boomerang by the way, back at the helm until the end of the season. Liverpool shock Arsenal to reach the semi-finals of the FA Cup. They join City, Chelsea and Manchester United in the last four. Speaking of United, more foot in mouse content from Sir Jim to come. All that plus we'll take your questions and that's today's Guardian Women's Football Weekly. And what a panel we have today as well. Susie Rack hello busy one this week. Just a bit. On the phone to Tom Gary last night as the news of Gareth Taylor broke. How are you Tom?

I'm well thank you lovely to see you. Yeah It's been a busy 24 hours but never a dull day in women's football is there? Of course there isn't never a dull day for Robin Cowan at the moment either. Starting slightly late today because Solly, gorgeous little Solly has soiled this morning as we start to record which is wonderful. It's so good to to see Robin how are you? Oh all good but yeah never a dull day or night at the moment for me. 24-7, I do very much. Right listen it is only Tuesday and it has been quite the week I don't even know where to start we're gonna start with Gareth Taylor because that's what happened last night this email from Jim actually sums up the week and how we were planning on doing the pod as poor producer Soph was just rapidly changing everything.

Where do you even begin this week says Jim. Gareth Taylor sacking Liverpool knocking Arsenal out of the cup. The abuse suffered by Taylor Hinds during that game. The introduction of the Champions Cup alongside the Club World Cup. The home nations bidding to host the actual World Cup. I'm expecting the pod to be at least two hours long. Good luck. I mean, yeah, it's going to be close to that, Jim. I'm not going to lie. We're starting late as well. So this is going to be fun. Look, there was a little bit of surprise last night. We've talked at length on this pod about Gareth Taylor, but the news broke from Manchester City that the clubs parted ways with him. He took on the role in 2020, led them to an FA Cup in 2020, a League Cup in 2022, narrowly

missed out on the WSL title last season on goal difference as well. Managing director Charlotte O'Neill said in a statement, Manchester City prides itself on competing at the top of the WSL and on its outstanding record of qualifying for European competition. Unfortunately results this season have so far not reached this high standard. With six games of the WSL campaign remaining we believe that a change of management will breathe fresh life into our bid to ensure qualification for the 2025-26 Champions League. I mean they did this after the FA Cup, which was interesting. Timing question marks all over it, Susie, but what did you make of the news? What was

your first instinct? Surprise at the timing. I don't think anyone expected it now, but at the same time, not surprised that it's happened and can't believe it hasn't really happened before this point to be honest. I mean, like, City present themselves as a club with big ambitions and with like a rich history of battling at the top. But for the last five years under Gareth Taylor, like two cup wins is nowhere near good enough. Like they've not won the title since Nick Cushing is in charge of only title. It's just a weird scenario that he's lost as long as he has. When he was given a new contract last season I made the point that at that particular moment it looked like a really good move because they were still in all four competitions or three competitions. They were doing really, really well in the league.

They were really like, I think, you know, lots of people kind of had them as favorites at that point to take a title off Chelsea for the first time. And I like urged caution and said it's either going to look like an absolutely genius move to tie them down to a new contract, or they're going to have egg on their faces come May when they walk away with zero trophies again and what happens that so like it's I think they've like under achieved for the quality of the squad and the investment that they've had in it and that has played out this season as well like It doesn't help that you have so many ex-players leaving and hinting that they weren't particularly happy with the way they felt in the environment and not

necessarily saying nice things about the manager, almost in their admission of him from their leaving statements. So yeah, like I say, not surprised at all that he's gone. Surprised it's taken this long for people to wake up to him not necessarily achieving. And I think Man City have almost just dressed on their laurels a little bit under the illusion that they are a big club in women's football when the reality is that the statistics, the trophies all speak differently. Let's kind of delve into that timing Tom because you know I understand the sentiment of the statement but they're still fighting on all four fronts. They're unbeaten in the last six.

It comes five days before a big cup final, which is going to be the first of four games against Chelsea in the space of 12 days. I get the point about the WSL, but just be honest about it. It's not working out. Why do you have to focus on that specifically when it still feels like why wouldn't you wait till the end of the season if you've waited this long? Well, from the conversations conversations I had last night this is very much a performance related decision you know the club didn't feel the performances were what they wanted it to be and I think there is a feeling that there might be a new manager bounce now at this fascinating time in the season it certainly throws a real cat amongst the pigeons doesn't it

for these four games against Chelsea they've got to come in. I did find the timing a bit strange but I think it's worth there's a few things that are worth bearing in mind about because remember don't forget that in 2022-23 season when Taylor's Man City finished fourth a lot of people thought he was probably going to leave that summer and he got a one-year extension initially and then last year signed that new three-year deal and I think it's worth keeping in mind that when he got the new three year deal, he had a huge ally behind the scenes in Nils Nilsson, who was director of women's football.

And he was a huge supporter of Gareth Taylor. He's obviously no longer there. He's not been there since the summer. He's now the head coach of Japan, as we know, but Nils was a big backer of Gareth. And I think it's for any head coach, you know, when there's this change of director of football and when you've got a relatively new managing director

in Charlotte O'Neill as well, you know, the new people in charge behind the scenes are going to have their own thoughts and ideas. And I think I did wonder if this might happen in the summer. It's a surprise it's happened now, but City feel that they've got a really safe pair of hands now in Nick Cushing. Cushing's been taking some time out after getting into playoffs with New York City men. My understanding is that this is the only job in women's football he would have contemplated coming for because of his emotional attachment to Man City. Other than that, he didn't really want to get back into a job right now, but it's because of that emotional attachment he's got and City feel that Nick Cushing can come in and give them

the best chance of not just winning a trophy but the best chance of getting into the Champions League. That's what's really hit the button for Man City is they didn't feel that the performances were going to be enough for the Champions League qualification and they now think that they've got a better chance of that. Yeah, it's going to be fascinating, isn't it? We'll talk about Gareth Taylor's future potentially. He was ruled out of the job at Angel City at the weekend, but obviously who knows now that that's all changed and if that has anything to do with it.

You always end up going to social media, Robin, don't you, in these circumstances and seeing what some high profile current and former players have to think about it. And if you remember a recent BBC interview with Ellie Roebuck, former Man City goalkeeper, made it clear she'd been frozen out the team, not been shy on social media in the last 24 hours. The boomerang, I'm like it's either what goes around comes around or it's Nick Cushing's back

but I think it was the first, I think it's maybe the former and obviously we know about the high-profile incident with Chloe Kelly, we've spoken about it a lot on the pod as she tried to force a move from the club, lots of liking of comments etc which feels pretty telling. I think so, yeah. I kind of agree with everything that Suzy said. I believe Manchester City have underperformed massively. One WSL title just isn't good enough and yeah I think that the main thing is if Gareth Taylor was getting results and getting trophies you couldn't really argue with it and but the fact that there clearly is

It seems I'm inferring there is an issue with his player management Because it seems like there's a pattern here as you mentioned any robot Chloe Kelly I mean I remember back to Jill Scott's when she was loaned out to Aston Villa in her last season as a professional footballer. And just from being with pundits, it just seems like he's not a great communicator. And I also feel like that with the media as well, it just doesn't quite come across as, you kind of got to play the game a bit, haven't you? He's not exactly a warm individual. And as I say, if he was getting results, and he was to start with, wasn't you? He doesn't, he's not exactly a warm individual. And as I say, if he was getting results, and he was to start with, wasn't he? You know, he got the FA Cup, he got the League Cup,

but that was a long time ago. Ellen White pointed out to me that was the last time, she was in the team, she scored in that. And now here she is in her second year as a pundit with the BBC and they're back. But that was the last time they won anything. And, but I think more importantly, it's the players, a lot of them clearly weren't very happy. And I don't think Nick Cushing is going to come in and sort of start playing a really different way. This seems like a vibes thing to me. They're hoping that he's going to come in,

give them a boost and maybe, you know, they could still potentially, unlikely, but potentially win three trophies. You know, they're still in the FA Cup, they're still in the League Cup final, of course, and the Champions League. And I know they said qualifying for the Champions League is a priority as well. They're only one point behind Arsenal who seemed to be wobbling a little bit. So that's, you know, that that's all to play for. So yeah, interesting timing, but clearly they feel like it's worth the sort of roll of the dice. Yeah. Let's talk about Nick Cushing, Susie. Interim basis at the moment, he's returning. How tough a challenge is it going to be with the month that they have ahead we've all alluded

to? Yeah, I mean, it's really tough. Obviously, he's not coming into the same club, the same playing group that he left, right? Like, it's different people around, you know, some familiar faces, but not many. Obviously, he's got a huge amount of experience of success in the women's game and, you know, did pretty well in America based on sort of, you know, what we know about how he feels about this role, what Tom said earlier and what his ambitions are in the men's game. I think you could probably fairly confidently say that it's unlikely that he's going to necessarily go for the job long term unless, I mean, if they walked away with three trophies

I'm sure he might reconsider that position. But, you know, he's very liked. I remember doing an interview with Nikita Paris, said he was the best coach she had ever had. And you know, this was literally in the summer just gone. So, you know, she's had a lot of coaches, like tactically and clearly kind of really good people manager as well, like he was really well liked. So, you know, a change to the feeling around the environment and around the club generally, I think will help. And then, you know, they've got one of their best tacticians, the women's game has had so There is opportunity there right like it's just how quickly he's able to implement his views

I mean in theory the fact that the League Cup final is first like it'd be great to win a trophy right in your very first game back but In a certain way they they can sort of just there's nothing to lose in that game for them if they lose that game Oh, well, you know, it's his first game back. They've just got rid of Taylor There's a lot of change going on if they win that game great but they learn a hell of a lot from it and they go straight into a game against the same opposition and From a tactical point of view you can't really can't really want for more than that in terms of who you've got in charge No, he's done his homework on Chelsea. That's all

Only one team you need to be looking at. So Susie, I've just seen you did an interview with Kiera Walsh. She said that as well. She, she was saying that how great he was in instilling confidence in her as well. Yeah. And that's the thing, right. It's like, that is where you, you worry, you and wonder about Gareth Taylor's influence, right? Because they've all been managed by him as well since right, is like, that is where you worry, you wonder about Gareth Taylor's influence, right, because they've all been managed by him as well since then. But no,

they talk about cushioning and gloss over their period under Gareth, which is like concerning really. And it's been weird that the club have overlooked that for so long. Have a listen to this from Graham. He's emailed us on women's football weekly at the guardian.com should we put money on Mark Skinner leaving that hot seat before Jim decides to add him to the Manchester United redundancy list. He might be safe as Jim Radcliffe probably doesn't know who he is. Seriously though will this level of managerial upheaval in the last few weeks bring us much needed change and usher in an era of more and more female coaches in the WSL? We'll look at Sir Jim Ratcliffe in a minute Tom but what do you think

of the second part of Graham's point? We have had quite a lot of managerial changes of late. That's true and it has particularly with Laura Kaminski's departure, it's left the WSL very light on English women's coaches in particular. There's a lot of eyes now on Liverpool, Man City and Southampton as well, you know, on what direction they're going to go in and it would be so, just so valuable and important for the health of the ecosystem in a women's game if at least one, if not all of those jobs were to go to women's coaches and particularly if they could be British women's coaches

as well because there are so many coming through, younger coaches, but there's not, particularly in the absence of Emma Hayes, there's not really that massive big figurehead of the, if you can see it, you can be type influence. And I hope that changes now. And I think, yeah, there's a lot of, yeah, it's too early to say who Airman City will go with the recruitment, they're going to go through quite a long, thorough process. I'm not at this moment, I'm not expecting Nick Gushing to go for the job, you know, our understanding is that his long term ambitions is to try and go back to the men game. He feels he's got unfinished business there, having got to the playoffs in America. So I don't, my gut feeling is he probably won't be in the running. What we do know is that Amber Whiteley's put her hat into the running for Liverpool and made a great start. So let's see what happens there.

But I hope, yeah, I think we'll all echo that sentiment that we want to see more women's coaches in leading the game. Let's focus on Manchester United then. The city's been busy for sure. So Jim Radcliffe sat down for an interview with Dan Rowan for BBC Sport the other day. It was released on Monday and he continued to make some eyebrow raising comments about the women's team and where it stands within the club. Regarding the criticism that's come his way for previous comments where he described the men's side as the main issue and the women's as an opportunity he thinks that was a bit unfair. He said what I said at the beginning was my main focus is on the men's team because at

the end of the day, that is what moves the needle at Manchester United. He then went on to cite the difference in revenue that the two bring in. I think he said something like 640 million for the men and 10 million for the women. And he said, with my business background, you tend to focus on the bigger issues

before you focus on the smaller issues. But the women's team where the Manchester United brand, he said, the Manchester United logo. So in that sense, they're every bit as important as the men's team. And frankly, they're doing better than the men's team. He said, I think they're second in the league. Yes, they are, Jim. Thank you.

And won the FA Cup last season. Mark Skinner is doing a great job as the coach and the new captain, Mea Letizier, I think he called her Maya, is doing a great job. He said he didn't want to respond to reports that he asked former captain Katie Zellum what she did at the club but that he did ask Mea if she was related to Matt Letizier but the answer was no. I mean, look, we might insert some of our off-recording comments here. I'll let that, I'll let Producer Silas decide on that because we had a good old chat about this before we actually started recording.

But let's do some proper on-the-record comments for now, shall we? Which would be exactly the same. And Robin's face just tells a picture. So actually I think I'm going to go to Robin first. Well, I'll say what I said off air is most of us have a sort of a filter and a public sort of what we really think we kind of keep either in our heads or in our private lives. But he seems to really not care that the PR own goals affecting not just the women's team, but the men's teams we've seen. But it's so damaging and I really feel awful for the players, for Mark Skinner as well and just for the whole set up, and particularly the women's set up, who are striving to do something special with this team. And then they must just despair every time they hear more comments. And I do feel like on the pitch,

they're doing actually really well, like under the radar, really well this season at Manchester United. But we are very despondent, aren't we, about them, because of all this. And it's not just Jim Radcliffe, because this has been going on before him, you know, this is we can trace this all the way back to Casey Stoney leaving and, and, you know, talking about the conditions, etc. So it's not just him, but he's making this 100 times worse just by just give us, you know, for once, just give us some platitudes. I don't, you know, fine, just just give us something you don't you don't have to believe it. Just say, you know, the women's team are valuable, blah, blah, blah, even if you don't you don't have to believe it just say you know the women seem a valuable blah blah blah even if you don't think that do you know do you see what i'm saying it's just not helping anyone

Tom? I just find it such a missed opportunity for Sir Jim and Ineos you know even when he's trying to be positive about it he still lets it it slip with the, calling them smaller things and just a tone of it and alluding to thinking that they were in second. And what a missed opportunity it was to really be more aware of the fact they got the best defensive record in the league or praised some of the individual players or praised, you know, mentioned the fact that they won. He's never been to a game at Leeds Sports Village and I think that speaks volumes. we should we should talk we should actually we talk about him more broadly as the Man United owner

we should refer to him as the owner of Manchester United's women's team that is his dad is from women's perspective that is what he is and if you look at it from that lens he's a terrible owner because he doesn't pay no attention whatsoever and I think he more broadly here I'm gonna make a prediction here that in maybe years time, we'll look back on this and to Jim Radcliffe will have been a, one of the triggers for a big turning point. And I think we could see a movement over the next decade where women's more and more women's teams are the women's arm of the club is like sold off. Yes, I was exactly that exactly that. Not necessarily Manchester United, but I do think we'll see a lot of that. And the more and more that happens, I think we're going

to see the players and the fans craving that more and more, you know, an owner of their women's club where they are the full 100% focus. I think as we start to see that, the domino of that happening over the next few years, I think that's gonna be absolutely fascinating and I suspect players and particularly players are going to want to play for the clubs that have an owner who is invested in their women's side night and day living and breathing it. Yeah I think you're absolutely spot-on there. Right that's it for part one in part two we'll look at the rest of the FA Cup action and discuss the news of a home nations bid for a World Cup. Time's running out to take advantage of Wealthsimple's best match offer yet. With our big winter

bundle you'll get a 2% match on qualified RRSP transfers and a 1% match on other eligible accounts. Just register and initiate your transfers within 30 days to get your cash bonus. And remember, March 15th is your last chance to make the most of your recent contributions. Minimum $15,000 transfer. Additional terms apply. Learn more at Wealthsimple.com slash match. Welcome back to part two of the Guardian Women's Football Weekly. So let's focus on the football, shall we? The quarterfinals of the Adobe Women's FA Cup returned on Sunday. Eight teams were whittled down to four

and the upset of the round came at Meadow Park as a dogged Liverpool knocked Arsenal out of the competition. It finished Arsenal nil, Liverpool won thanks to a slightly unfortunate own goal from goalkeeper Daphne von Dompselaar. It was a mixture of both Liverpool's game plan being spot on and Arsenal maybe not being at the races. It was back to back wins for interim manager Amber Whiteley. Here's what she had to say.

I don't know if I've got the words to be honest. I'm just so proud of everyone. I thought we were so well organised. The work rate was absolutely incredible and we limited their chances and put them under pressure in front of their own goal. What a start for her. First two games in charge, Robin, couldn't have gone much better. It's the first time they've actually reached the semi-finals since 2016, 2017. But what's she done to kind of come in and, and, and steady the ship in what's been a little bit of a turbulent time for them? Yeah. I don't think an awful lot,

but clearly she does have her own ideas. And I do like the fact that she has come out and said I want the job, I'm gonna throw my hat into the ring. I do like that. So she's been quick to praise Matt Beard and his contribution. It just seems like they're a bit more, just the last two games, they only scored two 1-0 wins. They just seem a bit more progressive going forward and a bit more, a bit braver maybe. But as you said, the game plan against Arsenal was brilliant. Arsenal weren't at their best, of course, but it just seemed like they really kept them at arm's length.

One shot on target by Arsenal the whole game. So that suggests a really well executed game plan. And yeah, this is great. It's their first semi-final in eight years. It is nice that we don't have, because I predicted, you know, I think we all thought all the home sides were going to win. It was going to be another Chelsea Arsenal Man City Man United semi-final. So that's good. And she's, you know, she's really put herself in the shop window. And, you know, if they win the next round, of course, they got Chelsea away. Gosh, I mean, they really have no choice but to give her the job. The only thing I say from an Arsenal perspective is that I saw a lot of complaints about the pitch, which I don't think is... I'm sure they're valid, but I don't know. Arsenal seem to have a thing about, you know, Miquel Artés talking about the ball, you know, things like that.

I'm just not sure it should be... I don't think it was the club actually, I just saw supporters saying the pitch wasn't great. And I don't know about you, Faye. I don't really like those sort of discourse, particularly. I don't either. Stop making excuses. Just play better, win the game. Let's focus on Arsenal, Suzy. No shots on target. I mean, there you go. That's got nothing to do with the pitch. No shots on target until the 65th minute. Rene Slagers didn't impact the game really. I mean, this stat is really damning actually. No FA Cup for Arsenal in nine years, having won it 14 times prior to that. Their last league title came in 2018-2019. Bearing in mind your club's history, Susie, two trophies since then is not a particularly good return. How do they need to compete and what do they need

to do to try and compete? It's not a good return. I mean, exactly the same that obviously about Man City and Gareth Taylor earlier in terms of what we should be expecting applies here as well, right? Like, at least they've had some managerial turnover to try and rectify that to a certain extent. But like, you know, we've just been talking about Amber rightly, like, if you look at that scenario, like, maybe our story is perhaps a cautionary tale for not getting too hyped up about a interim manager having a good start to things because I don't

want to say that the shine has sort of come off in Ace Lakers a little bit but I've have noticed some fan discontent there about you know kind of the way Arsenal are playing at the moment and their lack of goals and creativity which you know like is a legacy problem right like it was the same under Jonas Eideveil and they still ultimately operate the same way, clearly benefit from a new manager bounce. We were very concerned about the period coming into the new year at the end of January with Chelsea and City back to back,

which wasn't a wholly satisfying set of games for the club, obviously going out of the cup competitions, huge blows. So like, you know, we need to be less maybe quick to jump on a, you know, this manager is really, really great when there is a very, very natural new manager bounce that we, that we see every single time men's and women's football, right? Am I saying that Renee Slega shouldn't have been given a job? No, no, not at all. I think she should have been. I think it was the right move. I don't think there's a huge number of top quality managers in the women's game that

are available or even exist. So already it's Celine Pickings and she's done a great job to this point. And I think she deserves backing and a chance to create a team that is more in her image. You know, I think they need to do a little bit more shopping in the summer transfer window and a little bit of a squad rehaul wouldn't go amiss. But yeah, like they need to start finding finding the creative edge to match the like dominance in possession and things like that because

you just can't be losing games like that with such lackluster displays for a team of their quality and in the same way that City can't rest on their one WSL title as an implication that they are a big team, Arsenal cannot rest on its, what, 30 plus titles in history when we're talking about the last league win coming in 2019 and that even then was in isolation from their one prior to that and going back further and further and further. History doesn't sustain you and you've got to find new ways to win. This was a year in which Chelsea were undergoing major change and no one has challenged them and that is a massive indictment of every other team in the league.

We'll chat Chelsea shortly. I do just want to talk about an incident in the second half though, Tom. Taylor Hines was on the receiving end of sexually inappropriate comments from a spectator and the game had to be temporarily paused as a result while stewards escorted him from the ground. Both clubs and Taylor released statements on Monday night. The Liverpool captain says she's determined to make a stand. These incidents seem to be becoming more common, Tom, which is a worry. Yeah, very depressingly. This is not an isolated incident. We don't want this to creep into the women's game and sadly it already has. I have massive respect to Taylor Hines for

the way she's called us out. And actually, as Hines and Liverpool have said, kudos to Arsenal for how swiftly they dealt with the individual in removing them from the stadium. I know an investigation is ongoing more widely, but I think Heinz and Liverpool are grateful for how swiftly the Arsenal staff there took action on the day. But no pleasure in having to be putting up with this. Yeah, we're not going to discuss the exact comment that was used. I don't think that's the right thing to do to get that oxygen. But certainly it's not something that anybody in any walk of life deserves to have shouted at them, let alone a footballer just doing their job there. So no respect to her.

And but I hope that I hope that we don't see this skipping in more and more because we don't want this in in more and more because we don't want this in the terraces in the sport. No we most certainly do not. So Arsenal are out, Liverpool are through, across London Arsenal's close neighbours seem to have no such problem winning by whatever means necessary. Sonja Bonpastor's side progressed to the semi-finals for the fourth straight year thanks to a narrow win over Crystal Palace. It finished Chelsea 1, Crystal Palace 0, thanks to a fine finish from Lauren James. And the quadruple is still alive for Chelsea, Robin. I feel like we talk about this every year. Yeah, every year, every year. And yeah, it's going to be, yeah, talked about up until,

of course, this weekend, where maybe it might be or maybe it will be. Well, I don't know what to say. But yeah, I mean, they clearly should have won by more 59% possession, 21 shots to Pallas's two. And I mean, Pallas didn't have their Chelsea Lonys, Lexi Potter and Anik Nawan. So, you know, they're always going to be up against it. Yeah, just pretty, pretty profligate in front of goal. But yeah, Lauren James is in fantastic in fantastic form. Another lovely clean strike from her. And yeah, they're through. It just, it's like just just in juxtaposition to Arsenal, Chelsea, I've seen I feel like I've seen them play not very well a lot. And yet they win. And we've talked about this a lot,

haven't we? Whereas if Arsenal teams like Arsenal, Man City, etc., they don't play well, they're in danger of not winning, no matter who the opposition is. And that's the difference, isn't it? That's the difference. And as for Crystal Palace, I mean, they've changed the manager. This was clearly going to be a very difficult one. They've got Villa Everton next, so I guess we'll see then if the change was worth it. Yeah, it's going to be fascinating. We'll talk about Leafs-Marouda in a second, but just as an example with some stats of Chelsea's poor performance, they were wasteful. And that is something that I'm sure Sonia Bonpastour will start to be concerned about. 21 shots they created, but just five of them on target.

Stats don't lie and things like that they've got to be a little bit more clinical but it was a really good defensive display to be fair from Crystal Palace and when you look back at the last time these two sides met when they were hammered 7-0 you have to say that there's progress. What will he take from it Leafs, Maroud, Susie going into those two big games? Again, I repeat what I said when we're talking about Arsenal and Liverpool in that, you know, fear the new manager bounce in setting expectations really high, but obviously that is a hugely impressive defensive defensive performance that said Chelsea haven't looked amazing of late

Like as Robin said there they're winning ugly a lot of the time. They're getting the results despite performances Not necessarily matching up with them It's gonna be really interesting to see how they do in this run of fixtures against City Where the games are more open where they're gonna be tested more So like there's loads of positives that Palace can take from that performance obviously, like not having the ball go past you seven times as a goalkeeper for one is going to be a much better experience and give you a little bit more belief. But I just am wary of expecting them to go on such an amazing run and avoid relegation and blah blah just because

of this one performance against a slightly misfiring Chelsea side and with a new manager bouncing in swing, you know, like I just yeah, just caution. I just urge caution everywhere because yeah, like there's a lot of heart to be taken from it. But, you know, there was a lot wrong with Chelsea in that game and, and the valiant performance from Palace, but not necessarily sustainable. And I would like to see them find some sustainability and like consistency. Yeah. We've touched on Manchester City already, but we haven't fully focused on, on their quarterfinal. It was a pretty comfortable 2-0 win over Aston Villa, Bunyshaw and Jess Park on the score sheet and City had dropped more league points in midweek so this kind of victory, Tom, felt like it would help

to give the players a bit more confidence in what's a really important month for them. Well, yeah, for all the fact they've just had a change of manager and, you know, they've lost four league games over the last couple of months, they still could have a hugely successful season, theoretically. You know, they're still fighting for three cups, potentially. And yeah, they could have won this game by more, couldn't they? They were a little bit wasteful in the first half, completely deserved the win and I think they will fancy the chances with the home semi-final in the draw. Hey listen, I know we've already talked about Gareth Taylor,

haven't we? But let's not forget this is a team that missed out on a title on goal difference last season. So through November 2023 to November 2024, they played 23 league games, they won 21 of them and lost only once. I know seasons don't work like that, but that's more than a league season's worth, that's a title winning year. So they're good enough to win things and let's not count them out, let's just wait.

I'm fascinated by now how they're gonna get on for the rest of the season. I think they are a real enigma now for the next few weeks. I'm totally fascinated by how they're going to get on over this quartet of games against Chelsea. Yeah, it's going to be fascinating. Robin, there are a few eyebrows raised at Natalia Arroyo's decision to leave Rachel Daly and Jordan Knobs on the bench. Her team very much set up to defend and hit the opposition on the counter attack. What did you make of her plan? Well, Ebony Salmon had a really good chance, didn't she? Yamashita pulled off a good save.

I mean, at the risk of sounding like a kind of tub thumping, you know, oh, you know, you shouldn't ever drop our England's roses. I do think dropping Rachel Daly is a bit of a mistake. She's like, she's so quality. She's great. You know, she can, there's so much to her game. I do understand the need to change things up because things haven't gone very well since she came in. Did her first game against Chelsea and they lost 1-0, of course they did, but they played really well. She's only had one win and that was in the FA Cup against Brighton. She's had WSL defeats, that 1-0 defeat to Chelsea, 3-0 to Leicester, 2-0 against Everton. Clearly they're finding it hard to score, but I do think dropping Daley is not really going to help that. I mean, just tough times and it's actually made me really sad for Villa because after they had that fantastic season under Carla Ward, they couldn't back that up with her. And yeah, they just seem a bit listless at the moment having, you know, as the third coach in charge this season, just really hope they find some stability

at some point. Yeah. Manchester United, pretty stable at the moment on the field secured progress once again comfortable victory over Sunderland it finished Manchester United 3 Sunderland 1 thanks to goals from Leo Galton, Mayor Letitia and Ella Toon. Louise Griffith scored the consolation for the visitors and it was another dominant performance actually from United. Susie they're in such an impressive run of form unbeaten 2025, what's that down to? They are and like, I mean, me and Tom were actually chatting about this last night, like one of the things that we're a little bit concerned about is the lack of rotation

in that like that could really cost them as the games start to pile up, obviously, you know, in cup competition, in the FA Cup and in the league. They've got that really intense run of three games at the end of the season against Arsenal, Chelsea and City. One injury to one of those starting 11 that have started pretty much every game and you're in trouble because you've not really properly blooded any of your sort of more fringe squad players. So like that is the concern for me is that whether it's sustainable to stick with your starting 11 across the course of the season is a really, really tough ask and a little

bit of an unknown. Is it doable? I mean, sure, why not? But like you're banking on a lot of luck going your way as well in terms of injuries and loading and things like that, that is slightly worrying for me. So like a hugely impressive form, but yeah, that lack of squad rotation, I think could bite them in the ass at some point. Yeah. So the draw for the semi-finals has been made. Manchester Derby with Manchester City hosting Manchester United

and Liverpool travel to Chelsea with both those games taking place on the weekend of the 12th and 13th of April. I just want to make a nod to the touching tributes actually across the sport at the weekend in honour of 10-year-old Poppy Atkinson, who died after being hit by a car while on a football pitch last week. After Leo Goulton's opener against Sunderland, Mayor Letizier collected a shirt with Poppy's name on it that they then held up to the cameras while across the games there was also applause on the 10th minute and just awful, awful news. I can't

even imagine what Poppy's family and friends are going through and our thoughts are with all of them. Right, it was announced after last week's FIFA Council that the Home Nations were uniting to submit a bid to host the 2035 edition of the Women's World Cup. Bids will be submitted in the final quarter of this year, a decision we made in 2026. This took everyone a bit by surprise Tom. I think we did think that the FA were perhaps looking at a World Cup bid at some point but what did you make of the news? I think it's a really smart move for everyone I've spoken to since that announcement politically kind of around the world. There's actually a growing feeling that the whole nations, excuse me,

have got a great chance of getting this tournament. Strategically, they've not gone up against the USA, who I think most people are assuming are sort of a shoe in for 2031. I think they played this quite smartly, so still a very long way to go. But I think it would be a prospect if you're a young player coming through now, you know, the chance of potentially a home tournament in 10 years time. There'll be a lot of work to be done between now and then, but there is a lot of optimism, I think, and in other countries as well, that this will be a hard bid to beat. It will be a hard bid to beat. We also don't know if anybody else is

planning on bidding yet either. You were the voice of Euro 2022, Robin. I still love listening to all the highlights, your commentary on it. How excited are you at the Prospect of the UK hosting the biggest tournament in the game? Oh, so, so excited. And yeah, I mean, obviously circumstances will have moved on by then,

but logistically with kids, that's going to be a lot easier. But yeah, I can't even imagine what it's going to be like then. But no, it's going to be amazing. And again, you know, hopefully by then we've moved forward a bit, you know, a lot with the women's game. But as we saw the impact that that had here last time and just it was just a joyous summer wasn't it? Hopefully it can have that again and not just in England but across all the home nations. Did anyone else do the math on how old they'll be in 2035? Thank you. Okay so yes potentially the World Cup could be coming but also Okay so yes potentially the World Cup could be coming but also FIFA have announced a 16 team women's club World Cup which was originally meant for next

year and we discussed on the pod. It's now going to launch in 2028 and run every four years. We'll maybe talk about our thoughts of club World Cups another time. They're also going to start an annual 16 Women's Champions Cup from next year which will involve the winner of every confederation. Finally with the NWSL season about to kick off this weekend saw the 2025 edition of the Challenge Cup. Washington Spirit lifted their first silverware of the season with a 4-2 penalty win over Orlando Pride. The match had finished one-all at full time. Right, it's been an absolute pleasure. We have got through so much today. I actually cannot

believe that. It's not quite two hours as Jim predicted but probably not too far off. Robin, it was lovely to see you, lovely to see Solly. He's been so well behaved the whole pod. What an absolute peach. Oh thank you, yes my little mascots be very good, easy when they're not mobile so yeah he'll be here and then it might be a bit trickier but yeah great to be back and to see you legends faces. We have missed you very much. Tom it's lovely to see you, I hope you get a quiet a week this week, I pray for you. Thank you so much. We'll be fine. Yeah, it's only the League Cup final and goodness knows what else. Oh my goodness me. Suzy, it's always lovely to see you and yeah, I hope it's slightly quieter for you and your days off are actually

days off this week. Me too. The only question I want to know next time Robin is on the pod is whether she can stick on her commentary when she's out to get Solly to sleep. To be honest, I think as my husband has said, they hear enough of me. They do not want to hear extra Robin voice. It's too much. You never get too much Robin voice. No such thing. Exactly. Very kind. That's it from us this week. Keep your eyes peeled though in your feeds later on in the week for a special interview with Baroness Sue Campbell. Suzy and Sophie sat down with her to discuss her new book and her illustrious career. So enjoy that. Keep having your say by sending in your questions

via social media or emailing us at womensfootballweekly at theguardian.com and as ever, a reminder to sign up for our weekly women's football newsletter. All you need to do is search Moving the Gold Posts, sign up. The Guardian Women's Football Weekly is produced by Sophie Downey and Silas Gray. Music composition was by Laura Iredale.

Our executive producer is Salamat. This is The Guardian.