The Guardian's Women's Football Weekly - Malard breaks duck for United and record WSL TV deal – Women’s Football Weekly podcast

Episode Date: November 5, 2024

Faye Carruthers is joined by Suzanne Wrack, Sophie Downey and Tim Stillman to chew over the WSL results and international action

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starting at $19 per month at zensurance.com. Be protected. Be Zen. This is The Guardian. Hello, I'm Faye Carruthers and welcome to The Guardian Women's Football Weekly. Chelsea's perfect start to the season continues with another five-star performance, while City stay top after reaching their 200th Barclays WSL win. Russo returns to horn her former club, but super-sub Mallard earns Manchester United a point.

Elsewhere, Liverpool, Tottenham and Brighton get back to winning ways, and we'll delve into the details of the league's record-breaking broadcast deal. All that, plus we'll take your questions. And that's today's Guardian Women's Football Weekly. Susie Rack, how have you been? What was your favourite thing from the weekend? Not the football. But, you know, nice to have all the games on a Sunday and, you know, not have to do anything on a Saturday, which was great.

And I bought a, I took my son to the London card show to buy Pokemon cards. And I bought a signed Etanabon Matty trading card, which was cool. I love that. That's brilliant. It doesn't always have to be football. We do have to have a life outside of the football sometimes. I mean, I turned it into football, but, you know. Well, I mean, of course you did. Of course you you did but you know there are there are layers to football uh Tim Stillman double arsed all day today have you thought about anything apart from the football uh no not really last week I was in Preston on Wednesday Newcastle on Saturday Lee's Sports

Village on Sunday uh managed to squeeze in a visit to my mum's in Brighton on Thursday and Friday because of half term. My daughter, so my feet haven't touched the ground, but I've got good momentum behind me, put it that way. You have indeed. And Sophie Downey, it's always, always football for you, but the hats are back again. Canada, Canada reigns supreme. Always.

Yeah, the Canada hat is back. It's hit winter in my book anyway. I know it's still autumn, but it's too cold for me. So the hat is back. I know. I can see the throw behind your sofa as well. And I'm thinking, oh, I need to get a throw in my booth, in my recording booth. It's not very cosy in here. It looks like a sauna very randomly. Feels like it at times as well, which will be nice in the summer. I wondered if the Canada hat was a tribute to Christine Sinclair, but it doesn't sound like it. Yeah, totally. No, not Christine Sinclair related, unfortunately. We gave her lots of love the other week on the pod, didn't we? Right, let's start in Manchester, shall we?

It was billed to be the game of the weekend. And Mark Skinner marked his 100th game in charge as his unbeaten Manchester United side hosted fifth place Arsenal at Leeds Sports Village. It finished Manchester United 1, Arsenal 1. So United stay unbeaten. Melvin Mallard's late equaliser cancelled out Alessia Russo's opener. Arsenal were on top of the match for most of it, Susie, as well. What did you make of their performance, though?

Did the game itself live up to expectations? Yeah, I mean, sort of the same old, right? Like, it's, you know, a testament to the fact that not everything changes overnight when you change a manager. You know, so many chances created. Like, it's 19 shots to six, only four shots on target to three, seven block shots to one. Like, they should have, like, comfortably won this game but didn't and like that lack of ruthlessness in the final third i think is really frustrating especially when that's like the focus of what they talked about like like after the international break like i said afterwards uh we came back from this

international break and had a meeting with the players and we talked about intensity ruthlessness in the box communication and we could see that was all good on the pitch today. No, it wasn't. Like, yes, communication and intensity and stuff, like it was a strong performance, but that ruthlessness is and has been the missing piece for quite some time. And I don't know why or how they find that because it feels like, you know, it's, you know, not something that you can necessarily coach. I don't know. I don't know. I'm just, it's frustrating. Yeah, we'll talk about that in a second, Tim, because we did find out on Friday that Rene Slegers is going to remain in charge

as interim manager for their next five fixtures, whether or not that is a good thing or not. But let's talk about the game for now. You said pre-match that Manchester United's press could potentially be difficult to manage for Arsenal. How did they manage it? And do you think, bearing in mind the dominance that Arsenal had, you view it as two points dropped rather than a point gained? Absolutely two points dropped.

I think this was the worst I felt after a game this season for Arsenal. And my first question to Rene, actually, I said, you know, I'm going to ask you this almost more as a fan than a journalist, but I said I found it immensely frustrating that Arsenal dominated that much. The United press was kind of non-existent, to be honest. I think they were opened up quite easily the last time they played Arsenal. They were a bit too adventurous, and I think they overcorrected slightly, and they were quite conservative, and Arsenal made a change at half-time.

And one of the things Renee said about the change she made at half-time, she said, we felt the defensive details were there, which I think was kind of a nice way of saying we weren't really concerned about what was coming in the other direction. And when I watched the game back, Daphna Van Domselaar touches the ball in the second half for the first time in the 76th minute. And that was a back pass from Leah Williamson. She did not touch the ball for 31 minutes. United did not enter the last 30 yards of the pitch. That tells you about Arsenal's dominance.

But to Susie's point, this is very, very, very far from a one-off for Arsenal. They've got seven goals from 10.5xG this year. They were one of only two WSL teams to underperform their xG last year. That ruthlessness, that lack of ruthlessness turning dominance into goals is their biggest issue by a million miles and to Susie's point I don't know if that's a coaching issue or a personnel issue but it's definitely for me it's going to be number one the highest priority on the new coaches list to try and sort that out because without that

Arsenal are a title challenging team whatever you think about the way they perform they generate enough to score enough goals to to challenge for the title and they're not doing it at the moment no they're not um one of those issues though has been been being clinical in front of goal. We've said that Alessia Russo hasn't been at her best, but she did get her goal, which is really key for her confidence and going forward. But bearing in mind everything that Tim and Susie have said there, is it too simplistic to think that the tide is turning for her or could this be the momentum that at least

she if not the rest of the team need? I think she had a really good international break as well she looked really positive really creative quite free as well with England and while maybe the goals didn't come in that like completely come in that international break I think it was a really positive turn for her I do think sometimes we forget about Alessia Russo's attributes sometimes. I think everyone wants her to be a 20 goal, a season striker. I'm not quite sure she ever will be. And that's not any kind of disrespect to her. I just think the type of game that she has, she's not an out and out number nine. She loves to drop deep. She loves to come and get the ball and influence the play from deeper positions um so I I've been really impressed with her her performances while

the goal hasn't come I think it's sometimes with Arsenal the um it doesn't really always suit her her play just trying to I feel like sometimes she's pinned in the box um and and not really um expected to come deep or really they're accommodating her to come deep all that much. So I think she had a really good performance against United. Of course it was going to be her. She looked back to her kind of best. But yeah, Manchester United seem to have this theme this season where former strikers are coming back to haunt them.

You had Nikita Paris in the last game and Alessia Russo this round. But I'm really hoping it's a platform for her to build off for the next few months. Yeah, Manchester United have had their problems this season. And Mark Skinner was very honest after the match about the fact his side were lucky to come away with a point. This is what he had to say. I'd probably say they feel like they should have won the game and that's on them, but they didn't. And you've got to take the point where you take the point. We weren't at our best today, but I didn't. And you've got to take the point where you take the point.

We weren't at our best today, but I'm really happy that we've taken the point. Were you surprised, Susie, about how difficult United found it? I wasn't necessarily surprised by how difficult they found it, in that we know that Arsenal are good at dominating. I suppose I was surprised by the Man United performance in that, you know, we've seen them play so well this season, generally speaking. And they looked, you know, totally off pace. And I think Tim's point about them sort of overcompensating for previous fixtures, like, makes a lot of sense for how they were set up in those games so um yeah I mean I think they're very very uh fortunate to have got a point at the end of that in a way I think that's in part down to the performances of Millie Turner in particular but my May Leticia as well at the back like I

thought they were very very very good um let's wrap this up Tim with what I mentioned earlier on about Renée Slager's because you know she is going to be remaining in charge for the next five games what do you think of that decision how much progress has actually been made in terms of finding a permanent replacement could she do the job or is it just you know as you mentioned earlier on effectively replacing Jonas with someone who's worked alongside Jonas and therefore that's not going to really change or improve much for Arsenal what do you think yeah I think it's it's a timeline thing really I think essentially um I heard Nick Cushing's name the day Jonas resigned. Quite frankly, I haven't heard any other name since.

And this is kind of me putting two and two together, but I get the sense that's what they're waiting for. And that's why there's quite a definite timeline. I suspect that Arsenal were kind of trying to keep things going with Jonas until the manager they really want long term is available and you know Jonas resigned and cut the cord and so they've got this interim situation with Rene Slagers which yeah long term you know she's worked with Jonas twice before so there's obviously a lot of continuity I do think one slight one clever

thing she has done which both as an interim makes sense for her, but also her previous role as an assistant was very much one-on-one coaching with the players. So she very much sat with the players, went through their clips and coached them individually. And she's talked a lot about getting the players and saying, right, what do you think the problems are? How do you want to play?

What do you think we need to fix a little bit? And I think when the belief is broken in the group a little bit, like it has been at the beginning of this season, as a short-term interim solution, that makes a lot of sense to bring the players back to the group and builds on her strengths with her individual relationships with the players. But obviously that's a short-term solution. And long-term, what needs to happen, I think,

is new voice, probably new ideas, and a philosophy coach to come in and really build in a style of play. But I think Renee, she understands she's an interim and I think she's doing some quite good interim things, if that makes sense, because you don't have the authority or the time to make huge sweeping changes.

So she has made some little changes, which I think makes some sense in her position. What are we thinking, Soph, about Nick Cushing? I mean, he's at New York City FC in Major League Soccer in the US. So he's been, you know, obviously former Manchester City boss, but he's been in the men's game for the last couple of years. What do you make of him being the potential replacement? And is there any kind of timeline in place? I was honestly a little bit surprised when I first heard his name. I heard it pretty early on as well, like Tim did, because I hadn't

heard his name within women's football realms for quite quite a while since he left Manchester City really I thought he was pretty settled in in the MLS but I read Susie's article with Nikita Paris who was full of praise with for Nick Cushing about the coach that he was and I know he did get the best out of some of his players and Nikita Paris has that said that she hadn't had a coach before Darrow like Nick Cushing before. So there's a huge amount of praise there. He's definitely got the platform in the women's game, I guess, from his time back in Manchester City. He is very much from the City group realm of coaching, though.

So it's going to be interesting to see how if how he breaks out of that if he does um but yes uh time frame I mean like Tim says I think it probably now fits with the kind of MLS season playoff um I am surprised that it's pretty much been the only name I've heard of like being considered I thought there were a few others around that might being being looked at um but yeah no Arsenal seem pretty set on it at the moment. Yeah, they do. And of course, it was Gareth Taylor, currently Manchester City boss, who took over from Nick Cushing when he left.

And City got their 200th win in the Barclays Women's Super League against Crystal Palace. It finished Palace nil, Manchester City three at the weekend. Jess Park broke down Palace's resistance just before the break. Jill Roard and Bunny Shaw also on the score sheet. But Gareth Taylor did say City also not at their best. Is anybody at their best this season? Especially given the quick turnaround that we've seen after the international break.

What did you make of their performance, Tim? Yeah, they weren't at their best but at the same time I think sometimes one of the things Emma Hayes did really well in this league actually is sometimes just take the points and don't worry too much about the performance if you've got a big block of games and City will have been looking at this and thinking we should probably be able to win this in second gear we've got Champions League games coming up etc etc so I do think sometimes you do have to do that in a long season but I think really a couple of things stood out for me for City I mean that 80% possession 23 shots I mean even if we're saying they're not their best this was a consummate 3-0 win but I think the fact they got some young players on towards the end as well

really pointed to that. So Blinkielder, Brown, Murphy, Pryor all coming on. But for me, what really caught the eye was the Jill Roard goal in this game. That is exactly the goal I think Gareth Taylor envisaged when they brought her in. A cross comes in. All of the defenders are attracted to Bonnie Shaw. It breaks to Jill Roard and she's free. because all of the defenders have understandably gone to Bunny Shaw. I think that's exactly what Man City would have bought her for and obviously we

haven't seen that due to her injury. But yeah, I think this was very much a case of City probably privately thinking we can probably win this at 80% and leave a little bit in the tank for other games coming up. Yeah, it's interesting you mentioned Jill Roard there because news came out last week that Vivian Miedema has undergone knee surgery. So she's going to be on the sidelines for a little while, which is a big blow, Susie. But Jill Roard is that ready-made replacement and she's hit the ground running already, which probably for Gareth Taylor actually, you know, means a little bit of a selection headache when they're both fit.

Yeah, because how you fit them in the team, you know, would be quite difficult, particularly with Bunny Shaw. But like, I mean, you know, that's the bonus of playing in four competitions, right? Like they've got games they're going to need to rotate. Mir Dermers, like, you know know clearly not been right since her ACL injury problems on and off since then obviously had another surgery now we don't know exactly what it's for um they've not revealed like that information so yeah I mean it's highly likely that she's going to be out for a period of time Jill Ward has only just come back like Her form has been brilliant on her return, but that's not necessarily going to last.

Chloe Kelly obviously came back from an ACL injury just before the Euros, had a really, really rapid return and really impressive start to life at City after her ACL injury. So we know that that is is possible but it doesn't necessarily last you know her she struggled form of late struggle for minutes are late um and you know there can be significant long-term knock-on issues around ACL injuries um so like the fact that you've got those two players both returning from that the ability to be able to sort of swap the minute out I think is going to be able to sort of swap them in and out i think

is going to be really really important and even if that wasn't the case the fact that you've got four competitions you're going to need to be able to rotate whether that's you know me and them are coming in for bunny shore or uh rod coming in for me to remember the 10 whatever that may be there's so many different like variants that they could go for now um hemp playing through the middle either of those players behind like i don't think it will ever be much of a selection headache because whether they're both fit is is the big big question yeah um that's that's a really good point and actually sad when you say it like that in uh in many ways that you can't have a team with them both in it because of fitness issues.

Man City still a point clear at the top of the table. Chelsea do have that game in hand though, but City really showing their credentials in terms of the title race so far, albeit early days. But what about Palace, Soph? I mean, they worked pretty hard, didn't they? Came up with a couple of chances, not the scoreline that they would have wanted, but how much can they take for that performance? I think they're making progress. I think that's clear to see. I think I spoke to Laura Kaminski afterwards and she was very positive about it. I mean, obviously, you probably go into that game not really,

she'll never say it, but not really expecting to get much out of it. But the fact that they held it to 3-0 was really important you know we just think a few weeks back where they went 7-0 to Chelsea and it sort of fell apart in their second half and it never really felt like it was falling apart they battled really really hard for that first 40 minutes until Jess Park's goal they had like three at the back so they were they were defending really really well as well they were working really hard for each other and it was kind of that moment of magic from Jess Park that really kind of broke them down yes City had chances they were dominating the ball but they were kind of limiting their opportunities so Jess Park needed a bit of brilliance from distance to kind of unlock the whole the whole thing I think and the goal came at the right time as well right

for Manchester City 40th, just before the break. That changes things completely. In the second half, they had their chances as well. Palace, they started really trying to attack. Katie Stengel hit the post. Molly Mayshark came on as a sub and produced a really good save from Keating as well. So I think there'll be positives to take. There'll be things to build off.

They've got Everton next. So I think they'll go into that one feeling pretty confident in themselves. I think they have outperformed what probably most of us thought they would do in this early stage of the season. They've got a win. They've got a draw. And they look pretty good at competing right now. Yeah, they did, actually.

Scoreline doesn't look great, as you say, but still a decent performance, I would say. Decent performance from all of you as well for part one. In part two, we'll look at the remaining WSL fixtures, give you the latest from the championship and the Adobe Women's FA Cup. And we'll recap a busy end to the international break. Welcome back to part two of the Guardian Women's Football Weekly. Right, next to champions Chelsea, who gave Everton a night to forget

at Goodison Park. Just as well we didn't have Marva Creel on today. That just would have been cruel, wouldn't it? It finished Everton nil. Chelsea five. Aggie Beaver Jones, Aaron Cuthbert,

Guru Wrighton made it three nil before half-time and then late goals from Vika Kapteyn and Ashley Lawrence made the victory pretty comprehensive in the end. Five wins from five in a five-nil win for Sonia Bonpastor.

A five-star performance and her side are really racking up the goals. It's a nine-plus goal difference over Manchester City that they've got. I mentioned that game in hand earlier on as well. But how important is it to open up that kind of gap at this point, Susie, given we know what happened last season in terms of goal difference and and also big shout out to Chelsea in in terms of the goals are coming from all over the pitch not just one or two yeah I mean a goal difference gap is good if you can maintain it right and extend it because we saw at the end of last season how easy it is in the WSL to overturn large goal-differing margins.

I think it was an eight or nine goal gap between City and Chelsea at one point that Chelsea turned around in the space of two or three games. So they're very easy to turn around if you get a decent run of games against particularly low-table opposition. But if they can build on it, if they can keep extending it between now and the end of the season, then they can make it an insurmountable um mountain the the goals coming from all over the team again hugely impressive like that you know they're kind of so fluid in attack uh so interchangeable which is nice but the thing that impressed me most in this

was the um uh the performances of sandy baltimore and ashley Lawrence out wide, like I thought they were super effective. And they really seem to be finding their feet in the Chelsea side and the structure that Bonpastor wants them to play in. Like it just, that all feels to be clicking a little bit more than it did in the first few games. So yeah, like I was hugely impressed with them. Obviously a lot of goals coming in from their delivery. So yeah, like hugely impressive performance great to get different goal scorers on the uh score sheet but i think that was partly

because you know they were they were getting balls in from wide areas that were setting up some of the sort of central players really really nicely tim we mentioned uh manchester city's selection headache potential going forward but ch Chelsea's going to have one. I mean, they usually have one anyway, don't they? But something big for Sonia Bonpastor to have to deal with because her squad is absolutely stacked. Sam Kerr and Mia Fishel look like they're on the way back. And Aggie Beaver-Jones got only her second start of the season

and made her mark scoring the opening goal. It's going to be difficult to juggle isn't it it is a bit yeah there's there's a stat i think that chelsea have 13 different goal scorers this season and no one else in the wsl has 12 goals wow they've literally got more goal scorers than everyone else has goals i i have to say i think that that will correct a little bit. Some of that is kind of purple patch stuff. They've almost doubled their XG. I do expect that to come down slightly, not enough that I think any particular trouble is coming to them. But I think what's been really impressive about this from Sonia Bonpastor is this is a Chelsea side that's turned over a bit

in the last year. They've brought the average age right back down of the squad. They've brought in a lot of new players in over the last couple of years. So she didn't take over a really settled team, I don't think. And so to be able to do this and have this start, and I still think they have some very fixable issues, but if you're winning games 5 and 6 nil when you've got some fixable issues that's quite a good position to be in and and yeah I think it's looking quite ominous to be honest because as much as I said I think the XG for example might course correct a little bit I mean

they're going to bring Sam Kerr back at some stage and then it will probably go back to where it is so yeah I think I think they look very ominous, I have to say. Yeah, clean sheet for Hannah Hampton as well. Big shout out for her and a little bit of love, Soph, because she became the youngest goalkeeper to reach 100 WSL appearances, aged 23 years and 353 days. Her birthday is imminent, but 23 years old. I think I've been really impressed by Hannah Hampton.

I think, you know, there was a whole lot of discussion when she joined Chelsea about how she would kind of settle into the team and how she would kind of, whether she would even get played, whether she'd go out on loan, all of this kind of stuff, because Chelsea were stacked for keepers. They've always been stacked for keepers they've always been stacked for keepers and and she came in at a time where you had Anne-Katrin Berger and Zatira Musovic ahead of her but she's really made that starting place at Chelsea her own at the turn of the year

this year but also um this season under Sonia and I think you can tell a real maturity under her I think she has matured a lot um I think she's really now in line as well on an international stage to be England number one um by the next summer um I think you can tell with her game she's um breeding confidence as well you know sometimes I think you know her key strength is distribution I think and sometimes it goes a bit awry when she gets a bit stressed but um I think overall you know it's a really impressive contribution, the fact that she's reached that mark so young. You know, we've had quite a few of these kind of landmarks

being reached by really young players. And I think it just shows the progress of the kind of development of young talent in the league. Yeah, I agree with you. Quick focus on Everton, Susie. It's looking a little bit desperate already, which I hate saying early on in the season because we know how things can turn around,

but they are propping up the table as it stands. They're on the same points as West Ham and Aston Villa, though, but that negative goal difference is starting to build up a little bit. These are the thoughts of captain Megan Finnegan speaking on Sky Sports after the game. The club situation right now obviously isn't ideal. That's impacting the women's side in some ways. Once the new ownership comes through, hopefully

we can start seeing changes for the better because this league is ever growing. The league's growing fast and that's why the standard's so high. Everton Football Club cannot be left behind. That's really important, that message. It's worrying, isn't it for for Everton at the moment for the women's team in particular Susie very and they are being left behind and they've been really unlucky as well like the number of injuries they've already got this season um like extending the problem that they had last season with injuries is just so so unfortunate when you've got such a a tight squad um and know, very little to work with. But, you know, they'll be ruining some of the defensive errors

for a couple of the Chelsea goals at least, like the Aaron Cuthbert one and the Uyghur captain one in particular. Like, they shouldn't, A, shouldn't be giving the ball away to Cuthbert in that position and, B, like, the way they were set up around the Uyghur captain goal was just really like, they were just ball watching really. And, you know, so things like that will be disappointing. They won't expect to get points off of Chelsea, let's face it.

But they've not got a win yet. They need to be doing better against the teams around them. And they're not at the moment. And you can't really see a way out for them, given, you know, the personnel they've got available at the moment, the way they're playing, the number number of their heads look down right like it doesn't look like they're going to pick it up so um they really really need some money um in January to inject some life and soul into the team but it's you know a pretty unattractive prospect for for any new player coming in as well. Can I add on Everton?

I think it was clear from the close of the transfer window they were going to have a lot of work to do in January. They've scored one goal this season and it was an own goal. They have had injuries, but I think that's probably a consequence of having such a small squad. Brian Sorensen pointed afterwards to the fact they conceded goals at the end of the first half and at the end of the second half. And he said that that was probably down to lack of energy because of the small squad.

And they lose Sarah Hornsgaard before the game. They have to start Izzy Hobson, who's 17 at centre-back. They need three, four players in January minimum. Yeah, January is going to be key for quite a few clubs, isn't it? I wouldn't think so for Brighton, though. They did all their business in the summer. Brighton won Leicester City nil is how it finished and informed Nikita Paris on the score sheet yet again. That was her third goal in as many games. She looks like she's really flourishing in her new home at the moment Soph doesn't she? She does she's playing with a smile on her face and that's absolutely key for Nikita Paris when she's smiling it's kind of infectious and I think it it goes through the whole team as well when when you have a happy Nikita Paris up front it's not just her that gets affected by it it's everyone around her because she is that bubbly

kind of focal point as well and I think she's got a really good leadership style as well. You know, she's one of the senior members in the squad now. She's, what, 30 years old. So she's got so much experience behind her. She's been abroad as well. And she just looks like she's really content. Do you think her form's good enough for potential England call-up again, a recall? It's been a while since she's been in the squad.

I think she's certainly playing well enough to get noticed. I think age like time is against her a bit and I think when you look at the England squad and kind of the forwards that they have yes they sometimes really need that kind of number nine but I do you're looking at you know Jess Naz and Aggie Beaver Jones coming through and they're performing pretty well especially like Jess got her first start for England against South Africa. So she's obviously doing well in training. Aggie is performing for Chelsea as well. So she has got competition from those coming through and that makes it even harder, I think,

when you are at the latter end of your career to really get back into the fold. But keep scoring goals and who knows what can happen. Yeah, without a doubt. Dario Vizicic has been praised from all quarters for the progress his side has made. He picked up the WSL October Manager of the Month award as well. Very well deserved.

They face Arsenal next Friday, though, Tim. Well, this Friday, as it is. This Friday coming. How big a test is that going to be? And will it be a good measure of whether or not they can sustain their their progress absolutely they're four points ahead of Arsenal any kind of result for them in this game keeps Arsenal at arm's length and then you start to have the discussion about whether Brighton can be that team this season that maybe Liverpool were

last season and Villa were the season before that and And yeah, they're very, very brave in the way they play. Nobody has more touches in their own defensive third than Brighton. That tells you a lot about how brave they are. And actually, one of the things that Valisic said over the summer was that he wants to do that against the big teams as well. And that's going to be a real big test for them. We saw them do it against United, but coming to the Emirates, I fully expect them to do that again and be brave and play out as well and that's going to be a real big test for them we saw them do it against United but coming to the Emirates I fully expect them to to do that again and be brave and play out from the back but it'll be interesting against a team like Arsenal who do for some of their attacking faults have some really physical players who are very good at pressing I'm sure Arsenal will target that

so but what they've got going for them I think they did some smart business in bringing in Frank Kirby Nikita Paris they already had Vicky Lozada there that's a lot of WSL and European experience in there and I think they they did some really really good business over the summer and they look they do look like they could be that disruptor team this year. Yeah they do which is exciting unfortunately for Leicester I don't think they are going to be that disruptor team this year. Yeah, they do, which is exciting. Unfortunately for Leicester, I don't think they are going to be that disruptor team. Really struggling at the moment. And before I go into what happened

at the weekend, I just want to read out an email that we had from Tamsin Slater. First of all, I want to apologise to Tamsin because we did get a couple of facts about Leicester wrong in a pod that we did a couple of weeks ago so apologies for that

but this is what Tamsin had to say I listen to your podcast every week I started following the WSL last year after the World Cup so I was keen to learn and find sources of information I could have chosen a glamour club to support but I chose Leicester as they're the most local to me but I still have

to travel over an hour to get to games I appreciate there's less interest in Leicester than some of the bigger clubs but every week we're bottom of the roundup pile not this week we made sure you weren't but unfortunately it was still a defeat for you but she makes a good point we're another team in transition with a new manager come through a lot of turbulence last year with the Willie Kirk sacking. And we have an injury crisis in our forward line. But our defence is really standing strong, which is worth a mention. And actually, yeah, just conceding the one goal against Brighton is pretty impressive. She finishes off. I get it.

The big teams are where the majority of the interest is. But please look a little bit further up the M1 than just Norse London. We're all in this to grow the game. And that includes the less glamorous teams too. Thank you for your message, Tamsin. And yeah, absolutely. It's really difficult, isn't it? Because a lot of the questions that we get in tend to be on the bigger clubs as well.

But you're right. We do need to focus on the so-called smaller clubs. And I don't want to call you that either. But it is a struggle at the moment, Susie, isn't it, for Leicester and for Omandine Mikel. Third defeat of the season, but they've got loads of injuries, as Tamsin mentioned.

New forward Naomi Mouchon, she's been ruled out for the season with an ACL injury. Lena Peterman's also been sidelined with a knee issue. It means, obviously, they've had to been sidelined with a knee issue. It means obviously they've had to juggle the front line a fair bit. Ruby Mace playing up there against Everton. Janice Kamen playing there in this game. And then Sam Tierney was stretched off in this match as well.

One shot on target. It's been a difficult season for them, but there are extenuating circumstances, Susie. Yeah, there are. And it's how they manage and deal with those circumstances that will be the test of Andy McGill in this time. And then how supported they are around the January transfer window at filling the gaps they've got because of these injuries. Like a 1-0 loss to Brighton in the form of Brighton are in is is like nothing to be sniffed at I mean it's it is really hard like you know in terms of coverage because like you know I would love for us to cover every team in the WSL equally both you know in written as well as podcasts and things like that but it's you know the match of the day problem right like you have to pick teams to go top of the list when you're recording a podcast and that often ends up being the ones in the title

race just by default particularly when there's big games like you know Man United v Arsenal and stuff going on but like one of the joys that I've had from the start of this season in having Tom Gary come in from a written perspective is that we're able to get to more games between us which means we see more of teams outside the top four that you sort of just automatically get like drawn into covering because that's where like a lot of the you know kind of big attention is um but yeah being able to cover those teams in more detail is always an aim right like that's where we want to get to a point where they're all getting you know equal coverage a point where they've all got brilliant, like, local club-specific journalists like Tim, right, like, doing brilliant work that we're not always able to do,

that real in-depth, like, tactical analysis and day-to-day stuff. So, yeah, like, completely fair comments that they don't get enough of an airing, and I think the same could be said for a lot of the other teams like Palace and, know Brighton and Everton um and yeah we should make a concerted effort to try and get like you know one of them a little bit more heavily featured maybe every week yeah and don't you worry Guardian Women's Football Weekly fans we we are pushing behind the scenes there is so much work going on the behind the scenes that I wish you could see of us trying to get more coverage. But keep your emails coming in to us because we really appreciate reading them. Women's Football Weekly at theguardian.com is the email address.

Tottenham registered their first win since the opening day of the season. They came from behind to beat London rivals West Ham. It finished Tottenham 2, West Ham 1. Rico Wecky sending the Hammers ahead but an equaliser from Bethany England and then a 92nd minute own goal

from Camilla Saez sealed the three points for the hosts not the prettiest of victories Tim was it but still pretty important

for Robert Villaham's side in terms of having a platform to build off give Spurs some love you gooner thanks for that this was an incredibly important win for them in terms of having a platform to build off. Give Spurs some love, you gooner.

Thanks for that. This was an incredibly important win for them because their next two games are Man City away and Arsenal at home. So, look, I'm not going to sit here and say that they won't beat Arsenal because I remember what happened last season. But, you know, they're looking at the fact that they might get zero points in the next two games. So to not have won this would have been pretty disastrous for them and to concede from another set piece as well I think they've got a bit of a frailty there um perhaps they'll have a new goalkeeper in January

that might help with some of that um but yeah I mean they kind of got away with one by getting a pretty comical own goal um in the last minute And Saez, who scores the own goal, is actually Everton's only goal scorer this season because she scored an own goal against Everton. So, yeah, I couldn't really make sense of what was going on with that. But yeah, I think there were some green shoots here. Like Spurs, their attacking numbers are good. They're fourth in the WSL for XG. They brought in Ella Morris in this game and I think they've really been missing Grace Clinton. They haven't really been able to replace

what she gave them last season. And Robert Villaham talked about Ella Morris kind of driving with the ball and being proactive and that's the stuff they lost with Grace Clinton. But yeah, they kind of got away with one with the nature of the winning goal and they really, really needed to with what they've got coming up, both in terms of the points they might get, but also just building a little bit of confidence.

Any green shoots for West Ham, Sophie? Still not got their first win of the season, really struggling. And, you know, the own goal obviously would have been a sucker punch. They have moments in performances, in games, where the performance is there. And I think they showed it against Manchester United as well in their opener in the season. They have these moments where they can put on pressure,

but I just don't see it consistently enough. And all too often they can see really bad times or really silly goals um and that is just like piling up and piling up the pressure I think um I think it's gonna it is a worry for Rhian Skinner at the moment I know she will always say that you know they're putting the numbers they're all of the stats when they look at the them in training they're improving throughout the pitch but you at some point you really need to turn that into results and you know they are looking at the moment like they're going to be in

a relegation fight and you can't just hope that someone's going to be worse than you every year um you've got to start making the improvements and they the thing is they invested really well and especially in January you know they brought in some really big experience in Katrina Gorey and and you know they do have good players but it's just trying to pin all the pieces together which isn't quite working at the moment I will just say I do feel really really bad for Camilla Seiss because um she's new to the league and that is one one really really bad opening to few games for her um a baptism of fire I guess guess as well and you know it would have been a spectacular goal down the other end of the pitch I don't really know what she was doing but yeah I just feel really bad for her because you just that can't be helping with her confidence and it can't

be helping with the team's confidence either. No another team low on confidence Aston Villa. They lost by two goals to one at home to Liverpool. It's really increasing the pressure in Birmingham on Robert de Pau. He changed his system in the first half, but meant that they really struggled. Taylor Hines then capped off a brilliant fortnight with a with a brace for Liverpool but Villa reverted back to normal in the second half and pulled one back through Gabby Nunes but ultimately couldn't salvage any points let's focus with the the positives from a Liverpool perspective Susie first of all unbeaten run on the road stretching to eight games now they're sixth in the table that and the performance of Taylor Hines I'm sure will it will have pleased Matt Beard yeah definitely I mean I think having uh and you know another uh player providing goals like they were so um so reliant on you know kind of just one or two last season that like it they really really really needed to expand on that this season the fact that Hoban just got to

Capoche has got to um Olivia Smith has got to now Taylor hoban just got to cap arch has got to um olivia smith has got to now taylor hines has got to uh sophie roman hoggs and got one like that they're spreading out that little bit further that i think will be a big advantage this season if they can like sort of maintain that um because they've not had a huge turnover um you know they didn't they didn't spend like that big in the summer. Like their budget is quite small, relatively speaking, to like the other clubs sort of around where they are sort of competing just outside the top four. So yeah, like good sides,

but like not necessarily as straightforward for them as it was last season. Yeah, it's not been straightforward for Robert de Pauw, Tim, though. He's cut a frustrated figure again. That new formation just didn't work in the first half, but I suppose he had to try something. it was put to him but the response was good and he just said in a very frustrated way the response is always good but we have to keep starting better and it just it makes me wonder whether or how the message is getting through to some of the players when you're changing formation making triple substitutions at halftime that doesn't smell good to me and I just think with Villa overall you know they've got look Rachel Daly's got three goals, one of them a penalty. Nunes now has two. Adriana Leon has one. Jordan Nobbs, Kirsty Hansen, Ken Zadali, Katie Robinson, Missy Bocurns, Ebony Salmon, none of them have scored this season. Villa and I don't see goals basically and that that that's quite a surprise actually because I look at Villa and think maybe they look a bit top heavy if anything but yeah it just feels like they

haven't really clicked with what he's asking them to do yet which is a surprise because I watched them on the opening day against Chelsea and thought they looked very good but since then um yeah there's just there's just something not right there. No, there isn't. But hopefully they can turn it around. Villa fans, let us know what you think. How is it watching your side every week? What is going wrong?

Is it something behind the scenes? Something that we're maybe missing? Let us know your thoughts. Right, the championship, we say it almost every single week, but the Barclays Championship does continue to deliver, doesn't it? It's absolutely brilliant. London City Lionesses drew themselves level with Birmingham City at the top of the table after a 1-0 win over Sheffield United. Birmingham, though, lost 2-0 at home to Newcastle United,

thanks to goals from Shania Hales and Isabella Sibley. Durham kept up the chase with a 3-2 win over Blackburn Rovers. Charlton's 1-0 defeat to Southampton, though, saw them drop down to fifth. Finally, Sunderland stunned Bristol City in a seven-goal thriller. Just three points separate positions, one to six,

as the battle for promotion starts to take shape. Portsmouth, though, continue to struggle at the bottom. Blackburn and Sheffield United remain in touching distance, though. It is the gift that keeps on giving the championship. Any championship fans out there who want to let us know what it's like from their team's perspective, please do. Last week, we previewed the second legs of the Euro 2025 Round 1 playoffs as well. It was a successful night for the home nation, shall we be pleased to hear.

All three came through unscathed and progress. Comfortable for Scotland, they registered a 4-0 victory at home to Hungary and set up a Round 2 encounter with Finland. Dramatic scorelines elsewhere though. Northern Ireland needed a 114th minute strike from Lauren Wade to beat Croatia. They've got a really tough encounter with Norway coming next. Kerry Holland scored in the 112th minute to make sure that Wales got past Slovakia. They've got a mouth-watering tie with Republic of Ireland who beat Georgia 9-0 on aggregate.

It was a positive night all round, Sophie. It was. I think to get all three through to the round two is absolutely key. I do think a couple will have a stumbling block in the next round of playoffs. I think Wales, Ireland, obviously, that's going to catch the eye.

Republic of Ireland, that's going to catch the eye. Northern Ireland with Norway, that's going to be the eye um northern ireland with norway that's going to be really really tricky um yeah they're up against it in that one and i do think scotland could have a problem in finland they have a really age-old history of facing each other and and kind of being disappointed at times um so that's going to be a tricky one as well uh for scotland so it's going to be be really interesting to see what happens in the round two in November. But yeah, the fact that all three have got through and, you know, are facing, you know, a place in the Euro 2025 that's going to be, that's pretty positive.

Yeah, really positive, exciting as well. England also rounded off their international window with a 2-1 friendly win over South Africa. Brilliant email from Mads who messaged us to say, listening to yesterday's pod and wondering if perhaps Serena Wiegmann wanted to play her cards close to her chest and not play her new players against Germany, one of the big rivals in the Euros. Could that be a strategy to make her team more unpredictable next summer

suzy what say you from mads the pod fan i mean it's a great theory um like i like the idea of it um it makes everything a little bit uh like all the you know sort of not amazing performances look that little bit nicer if you look at it through that lens um i think it's unlikely that um that you wouldn't sort of play to compete and uh test yourself like whilst not wanting to give a huge amount away to your opposition about sort of the way you're going to be like look in the summer um i think it'd be really unlikely if you didn't sort of go full throttle for those games so um i don't think it's that i think it was they made a choice for those two games and went for experience over uh over youth

for a team like germany and a game at weberley and then you know kind of consciously pivoted a little bit more for the south africa game with the pressure and that that little bit off whether that's the right decision or not, like, I don't know. But that, like, I would suggest that that is more likely the answer. But like, I like these different ideas about why it could have been done the way it has been done.

Me too. Thank you, Mads. Right. The first round of the Adobe Women's FA Cup took place on Sunday. 58 ties across the country. Tier five side South Shield shocked FA Women's National League Northern Premier side Halifax with a penalty shootout victory.

Saltine United made history with a 2-1 win over South London. Natasha Thomas scored five as Ipswich Town beat MK Don's 12-0. Blimey, we don't see those scorelines that often anymore, do we? Burnley also cruised through against Spennymoor Town with the same scoreline.

Watford beat fellow FA Women's National League Premier Division side AFC Wimbledon, and Lewis beat Dulwich Hamlet on penalties. The second round is going to take place on the 24th of November. Oxford United host Watford in one of the standout

ties. A couple of quick questions for you. Nag has asked on X, when will the prize money within the Women's FA Cup be distributed more fairly? No increase from last year's figures. Teams barely got a few grand until the teams with the money already entered the competition. How does that grow the game and improve the pyramid?

Who wants to take that? I think it's that we have this continuous discussion about prize money in the FA Cup, and it has gone up. I do agree that it needs to go up even further, definitely. But I think we also have to remember that things come in stages as well. And I know we've spoken on this podcast before, Susie's advocated about where that money goes and how it's distributed. And maybe it's not being distributed right at the moment.

You know, the fact that the kind of top of the pile in women's football still get more money than the bottom of the pile. And is that what the FA Cup is really about? And maybe that distribution really needs to be looked at. But I do think there is being progress made. It's a lot more money than they've ever had before. I'm not saying that's right, but I'm saying it's a lot more money than they've ever had before i'm not saying that's right but i'm saying it's progress absolutely matt's also asked on x how come the adobe fa cup isn't advertised as much no tv deal in place for the first round only until the wsl sides come in um is it fair to ask when or if this is going to change it's fair to ask it for sure um and you'd like to see it change pretty rapidly i mean obviously the focus broadcast wise has been on um the wsl and then um you know

obviously the the fa cup and the league cup sort of come after that you know they've not even got a title sponsor for the league cup yet so there's a lot of things on the wPLL's to-do list, I would say. Yes, indeed. But one of the things on their to-do list has been done because the Barclays WSL announced that Sky Sports and the BBC have agreed a new five-year shared domestic broadcast deal to show almost every WSL match live from next season. The Guardian reported the deal's worth approximately £65 million across five seasons,

plus production costs, taking the broadcaster's total investment in the women's game to comfortably over £100 million. It's a huge increase on the current deal, which is reportedly around £7 to £8 million. I mean, that's massive. Sky Sports are going to show up to 118 live WSL matches per season. The BBC is committed to showing up to 21 matches a season live. Any matches not selected will be shown live on YouTube. Massive news for the league, Susie.

What are your thoughts on it? Yeah, huge news. And I think there was a little bit of tempering of expectations before, you know, a deal was reached on, you know, kind of the scale and scope of it. So I think it's hugely impressive given that context as well. You know, they went into negotiations after the Premier League had just done their deal and you know that soaks up a lot of money um that uh broadcasters has lost around and was like considered a bit of an error to have waited until the premier league deal was done which is something that you know this five-year deal was trying to avoid and it takes it away from the premier league cycle a little bit so that's a good thing um there's

lots of positives but like obviously it's a long-term deal which could look like a bargain towards the end of those five years um but i think you know that there's a big argument say that it's you know a five-year deal gives the league um you know in its infancy under this new ownership a degree of stability right like you know you add that to the the new barclays sponsorship deal and they've got a base level of income for a significant period of time as they're getting going so you know and we'll see more sponsorship deals and stuff come in so I like whilst you know five years feels like a long time the game could change a lot in that time it could be significantly higher at the end of that like I think like in terms of like stabilizing the new ownership and giving them a base level to work

with and like you know they've got five years where they don't have to hugely think about this and can focus on some of those other issues that we just mentioned of you know kind of other you know the FA Cup the the League Cup those kind of stuff as well as all of the other things they need to deal with refereeing the pathway academies or you name it like it I think that's a good thing I mean what it means for kick there's so many questions what it means for kickoff times and things like that um you know whether any of the championship games will be picked up like they've not said that they've said at the moment no but it'll be an ad hoc basis like they're all big questions for the championship if they don't

get any games picked up for telly uh in five years would be a massive massive blow so all of those questions still need to be answered there's like you know problems with it but I think like it's overwhelmingly positive yeah I one detail I really like as well is that they're allowing players to use some of the broadcast clips as well for their own social media which I think is a really progressive smart move in terms of building the player brands and recognizes one of the key selling points of the WSL that people really like individual players quite a lot so I thought that was quite smart and also a really good thing for the players themselves to be able to build their brands a bit and build their income as well because the

salaries are getting better in the WSL but they're not I can retire at 35 good so I think that was a really forward thinking and progressive move as well. I also think it's very positive but to pick up Suze's point about the championship I think it's absolutely crucial that that starts getting more eyes on it gets more accessible it's an incredible league and at the moment you get one game a weekend on youtube i think we need to get to the point where if they want to like if their plan is for youtube to be the platform that we need every single barclays championship game on youtube as well i mean the clubs are recording the games you know filming the games anyway a lot of the clubs do the broadcasting themselves when they're

at home um so i think that has to be the next step because you're thinking about growing the ecosystem and the pyramid as a whole and there has to be more eyes lower down than just the barclays wsl it's never going to grow if you don't get those eyes on it and that's what the barclays wsl did so well way back when it's now the turn of the championship to have that kind of visibility yeah these things take time. I mean, you know, in the men's championship, it's taken ages to try and get games. So, yeah, it's definitely something that needs to be looked at. But well done to everybody involved

in getting that deal over the line, because I'm sure it will have taken a lot of sleepless nights and hard work and brilliantly exciting for women's football fans everywhere. Listen, finally, we've got an email that was sent in from Mamawaji from South Africa. Hi there, messaging in from South Africa. By the way, love the pod.

It's come up many times on the pod about diversity and activism in the game across all leagues. I've noticed that Arsenal, although a very recognised and well-supported team in the WSL and across the game, they're very behind in their inclusivity in terms of racial and cultural diversity. After the current transfer window, they still haven't taken an opportunity to improve their current squad. And I'd like to know what your opinions are about this topic specifically in Arsenal's case. And they're so vocal in all issues and so eager to address these topics head on. How come the topic's gone under the radar uh tim do you want to take this one yeah sure i i spoke to arsenal about this

about a year ago um actually about the lack of kind of racial diversity in the squad i think the same was true of everton last season they didn't have a player of color and there are a lot of reasons one of them i think being that arsenal had a Scandinavian manager. They heavily focused on the Scandinavian market and Australian players as well. I mean, some of those players, without going into it too much, Rosa Kefaji is of Iraqi extraction. Kai Rukuni-Kross as well has a kind of diverse background that's not immediately visible. But I spoke to James Honeyman, the academy director, and he was talking about what Arsenal are doing,

maybe to break out of Hertfordshire a little bit and try and attract some of that talent that we used to see at Arsenal coming from more diverse areas, particularly around North and East London. And, you know, at the moment, to be fair, they've got Michel Agyemang, who's on loan at Brighton, coming through, Vivian Lear coming through as well. So I do think they are making an attempt to fix it. And I do understand why there's focus on Arsenal, but I do think it's a

problem across the league. I think there are a lot of squads that have got one to two players of colour in the squad who perhaps haven't had the same level of kind of scrutiny, but it's definitely an issue. And there's also work permit issues around trying to get players from africa and areas like that i know of a couple of targets arsenal have had like ten watch a winger who they haven't been able to get for work permit reasons so there are without making out the arsenal are totally blameless in this there are loads and loads of reasons on it but um i i wrote a piece piece on it about a year ago on Ask Blog News, which you can find pretty easily by Googling

Arsenal women lack of ethnic diversity, Ask Blog News. And that's a really long read with a lot of different perspectives in it. Brilliant stuff, Tim. Thank you. And thank you, Mamawaji, for that email as well. Don't forget, you can also have your say send in your

questions via x or email us at womensfootballweekly at theguardian.com Tim as always lovely to see you see you soon

my pleasure as always thanks for having me Soph take care keep warm I will do thanks for having me bye Suze

see you later see you later alligator in a while, crocodile. Listen, it's a reminder, as ever, for you to sign up to our bi-weekly women's football newsletter. All you need to do is search Moving the Goalpost. Sign up to Women's Football Weekly at theguardian.com. The Guardian Women's Football Weekly is produced by Sophie Downey and Joshan Chana.

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