The Guardian's Women's Football Weekly - McCabe stuns City while Leicester’s great escape is on – Women’s Football Weekly

Episode Date: April 4, 2023

Faye Carruthers has Suzy Wrack and Tim Stillman alongside her to wrap up the latest weekend of WSL fixtures and look ahead to the international break How to listen to podcasts: everything you need to know

This is The Guardian. Without insurance, your assets are at risk from major financial losses, data breaches, and natural disasters. Get customized coverage today starting at $19 per month at zensurance.com. Be protected. Be Zen. Hello, I'm Faye Carruthers and welcome to the Guardian Women's Football Weekly. Another week, another pivotal game in the WSL title race and things heat up at the bottom of the table too. Factor in two cracking Champions League ties with Chelsea and Arsenal and it's a bit of a busy pod. We'll have all of that, plus we'll round up the latest championship action, preview the finalissima, and that's today's Guardian Women's Football Weekly. Newly pierced Susie Rack, how are you? How is your nose?

Sore. It hurt. It hurt more than I expected. What a surprise. Somebody poked a needle in your nose. I've had a kid and I've got tattoos and I thought, you know, like, yeah, oh, a little needle will be fine. It wasn't. It wasn't. Looks good, though. Looks good. Thank you for indulging my midlife crisis. Yes, yes. Definite midlife crisis. Tim Stillman, please tell me you don't have a nose piercing. I don't think you do. I don't know. I know I have a helix piercing though at the top of my left ear which I had done about 14 years ago when I was much younger and well I was going to say trendier but probably not to be honest but it's still there and it's still surviving I had one of those 20 years ago so when

I say I'm averse to piercing I did go go through a phase. However, it is not there anymore. But what a week for the pair of you. And that's exactly where we're going to start. team game unbeaten run in the WSL came to an end against an Arsenal side who have serious momentum at the moment. They trailed after five minutes Bunny Shaw's header but Frieda Marnham equalised in the second half and Casey McCabe scored a screamer to round off a perfect week if you're a gooner which Tim Stillman certainly

is. Into the last four of the Champions League for the first time as well in ten years Tim. Arsenal just showed massive amounts of resilience this week, didn't they? Yeah, absolutely. I think when you take into account that over the last month, they've gone behind to Chelsea in the Conte Cup final, they've gone behind to Bayern Munich, they've gone behind to Manchester City and won all of those games. I think it does say a lot about the resilience of the squad. And that's something we asked Katie McCabe about after the game

because her celebration, she ran over to the bench and she said she did that very deliberately because it's been such a squad effort. Loads of injuries, you know, even during these games, Caitlin Ford goes off, Kim Little goes off against Bayern. So I think resilience really has been the byword because we know Arsenal are a good team but they've coped with different things thrown at them during these games as well other than the

fact that they've just been playing really good teams. Yeah we'll talk about those injuries in a second but after the game Susie, Jonas Eidevall said we keep giving 100% and keep finding solutions this obviously wasn't the story for them for a large part of the season. What exactly has been key in turning it round? I mean, not just a large part of the season, the last part of the last few years, right? I think that's the sign of the best teams and the best managers, is that when things aren't going your way,

you manage to find a way out of it. And Arsenal are doing it in a very obvious way at the moment. Jonas is making changes to structure, to personnel that are impacting things and helping shore things up. The team are digging deep. They don't look like they're beaten at any point. That first half against City was concerning for any Arsenal fan watching. You kind of felt a little bit nervy.

But the way that they came out in the second half, just never looking like they're beaten, is a very, very new thing to see an Arsenal team do. I think Jonas said afterwards he was lost for words by the resilience of the team and their ability to fight back. And that's telling in that he's picked up on it too. But I think he's very much a part of it, very much responsible for empowering the players

to A, play the way they are and believe that they can do it but also making changes and structural shifts that that they can buy into as well and trust yeah i think um another thing just you know from talking to yonas so much over the last few months obviously there was a bit of a rocky spell in new year when they were adjusting to the loss of Meaden-Miedema. And speaking, I don't know if you've got this sense, Susie, but speaking to Jonas during that period, I threw a lot of questions at him about that. And I just never got the sense that he was particularly flustered by it. He talked about, look, the January transfer window is gone.

We're not going to obsess about that anymore. He keeps using one of his favourite phrases, you can only have results or excuses, you can't have both. That's another one he keeps repeating at the moment. And you just get the sense that inside the squad, they've just become so solution focused. But I don't think we can underestimate the impact of beating Chelsea in that Conte Cup final. One of the things he said after the Bayern game was a good process can sustain you for the medium term but sooner or later you need results and I think that's the story of Arsenal under Jonas I think we can see things have gotten better but they needed that trophy they needed that big kind of win they

needed to get to a Champions League semi-final and I think what you can see the basics the fundamentals have been there largely but now they've got the results and that's really giving them like a new lease of life yeah it certainly feels as if that's where the momentum came from but as you say all the hard work will have had to go in before that to get to that momentum shift place in in the first place and it feels as if they kind of had their backs against the wall and so it's like well do you come out fighting or do you just roll over? And they've come out fighting and no one more so than Katie McCabe in a boot on Wednesday and scoring a screamer on Sunday.

Pretty impressive. But actually, Susie, the injury problems continue, as Tim said a little bit earlier. Kim Little, Caitlin Ford both forced off at the weekend. We obviously don't know how serious those problems are, but bearing in mind it feels as if they're getting down to the bare bones now, how significant could those problems be to both their Champions League and WSL hopes? Yeah, Kim off in midweek and then Caitlin off at the weekend. They're just piling up, right? In the same way that they are for Chelsea.

But still the results are coming. And still the bench doesn't look terrible either. Like it speaks to the depth of the squad that's been built that they're still grinding out results. And I think one of the things that was most, you know, Tim talked about the impact of the Conte Cup final on the squad and needing that result and it being against Chelsea and all those kind of things. But for me, the biggest thing was the fact that they went down so early. And that is what has happened in all of these big

games. You know, if you look at the Bayern doubleheader, you know, being a goal down in the tie, if you look at the game at the weekend, being a goal down within five minutes to Bunny Shaw, when you've done it against Chelsea, one of the biggest teams in Europe, perennial title winners here, that empowers you to feel like you can do it against anyone to a certain extent. And I think that the impact actually of conceding that goal in the second minute to Sam Kerr in that Conte Cup final can't be underestimated um you know if ever a goal has been scored against you that has actually done you a massive favor I think that's that's the one um and you saw similar obviously at the weekend

with Bunny Shaw scoring early and then coming back but yeah I mean the injuries you always wonder which one is going to be the one that's the tipping point that tips you over the edge and I thought you know when it was Kim going down against Bayern Munich that that would be the one and then Leah steps up so magnificently into that midfield mid-game almost looked like quite empowered by that backs to the wall underdog we're 10 minutes in we're still one goal down in this tie and has an incredible performance. I don't think she looked quite so assured in the early stages of the game on Sunday. If anything, I think she looked quite frustrated and annoyed at herself. And it wasn't until a real all-in challenge on Hasagawa that was a beautiful thing to watch, 20, 25, 35 minutes in,

that she really sort of came to life in that position and got to grips with what you do with a player like Asagawa and how you play as a collective around her. I think it took that kind of time. So things are going well at the moment because the puzzle pieces are fitting in well. And I think Jonas is being very, very clever about the way he moves players around the pitch you know I think he mentioned to Tim early on

about when he shifts pull over her from one wing to the other he switches Maritz with her he's keeping those partnerships and relationships going all over and really developing them really well and that's what's working for them you, he's finding players that work well together, regardless of whether it's necessarily a natural fit for them. But then also, you know, we were worried about how the injuries might affect them going forward. But actually, he took Moritz Palova and Black Stenius off for BT Cool and Jodie Taylor before then finding the winner winner just before Tim which I suppose you know can give them a bit of confidence yeah definitely and that was another quite clever

tactical change he went to three at the back which was something that Arsenal did against City they played them twice in a week and I think they only did that because Leo Valti wasn't available for those two games so they went to three at the back, basically as a way of trying to contain Bunny Shaw a little bit. But because they'd done it in those two games, he felt able to do that for the last 25 minutes. And one of the things he said was that he felt for the first 20 minutes of the half, Arsenal had got well back into it, but he just had this sense that City had adjusted to Arsenal's adjustment and he said sometimes when you change formation it just throws the game back up in the air for 10 minutes

and he just felt that that would surprise maybe even shock City a little bit and then of course Arsenal score within that time period and then they've got three centre-halves on the pitch but he talked about bringing Jen Beattie on because in terms of defending the penalty area defending aerially that's what she does now unfortunately I don't think she has the pace really to play you know from the start for Arsenal anymore but if you want to put someone on to defend the penalty area there's probably nobody better and so he just made these little tweaks and on this occasion it worked on another kind of time zone, another timeline, maybe that doesn't work, Man City score. And we're talking about, you know, that being a bad tactical change.

But it really worked on this occasion. Let's discuss Man City, Susie. Gareth Taylor obviously will be disappointed. They had such a dominant first half display and so many chances. Yeah, and I think Gareth Taylor said afterwards he was really frustrated and disappointed that they didn't make more of those chances in the first half. And I think that's, you know, completely fair. Like there were a lot of them. I think

Lauren Hemp could have had a hat-trick by half-time. Chloe Kelly, like, forced a really fine save out of Sabrina D'Angelo, who had a really, really good game. I think, you know, it was very much fortunate for Arsenal that they went in only a goal down at the break. But at the same time, some of the strengths of Arsenal at the moment I see as weaknesses in City in that in the second half when Arsenal sort of got to grips with the game, they didn't really know what to do.

It was still very much sticking to formula. And yes, that formula had been pretty successful in the first half but particularly once Arsenal shift to a back three they go a goal down there was no change they were still trying to find that ball into uh Bunny getting into the wide areas has proven very successful for them throughout most of the game but you know once you've got Gembeauty in there kind kind of following that, providing a physical presence to match Buddy Shores, that door sort of closed even more than perhaps it was early on. And they didn't really have an answer. There was no shift either from the bench or from the players on the pitch to sort of respond to that and deal with that change. And that's something that they're going to have to work on they've they've sort of found a formula for a way they want to play and a route that they

will take and has worked very successfully against most teams but I don't think they've necessarily come up against a team that has found a way to deal with that and then found their way out of it if that makes sense and that for me is almost like the next stage of their process they've almost like got to go through the yona side of our arsenal uh phase of a lot of time of not quite figuring it out to then you know kind of almost learning a way of finding your way out of trouble um for want of a better way of putting it. But yeah, I mean, they're a very good team, right? They were phenomenal in the first half, caused some real problems. I mean, fitting in many respects that Bunny Shaw celebrated

by doing sort of talking hands near her ears after Jona Seideval had talked about them being sort of a one-woman team up top when she scored the opener. But the fact that none of the other chances went in is sort of symbolic of a problem that they've got in that I think she's very much papering over the cracks of a much more average season than maybe the table and results suggest. Yeah, it kind of backed up his argument a little bit, Tim, didn't it? Because that's her 16th goal for the season in the WSL. Do you think, I mean, there was a little bit of bleep-housery, wasn't there, with it, I would suggest, leading into the match from Jonas. Yeah, yeah.

But was he maybe right? You know, Susie talked about the perceived, and I'm using quotation marks here, by the way, weaknesses that City rely on her too much. Yeah, definitely. I think that's a theme, actually, that teams that rely too much on one goal scorer don't tend to win the league.

And if you, you know, look across to men's football, when United had Ruud van Nistelrooy, they won the league once in five years. When Arsenal had Ian Wright, they didn't win the league until he got injured. When Newcastle had Alan Shearer, they challenged for the title. They signed Alan Shearer. They never challenged for the title again. I think when you rely too much on one goal scorer, that makes you a bit of a cup team.

Tottenham, Harry Kane? Indeed, indeed. I'm glad you brought that up instead of me. I thought I'd save you both from the vitriol. But obviously, like, Lauren Hemp has two big chances in this game and doesn't take them. I think Susie really hit upon something there with City in that they don't have gears.

And it's almost like their front three is so good, they basically play every minute of every game and that's because they're all really really good players they're so set in the way they play it's kind of difficult to change any of them but at the same time when a game's getting away from you sometimes you have to do that like Arsenal brought on Jodie Taylor I didn't think I'd be saying that in 2023 but they did and you know, it just felt like Arsenal had those gears. They were able to switch their wingers around, even with injuries to key players. Whereas with City, I think you've seen this in the games they've played against Aston Villa this

season, a team who's really had their number. But when the game starts to get away from them, they just don't have either that tactical change or those players on the bench. There just seems to be quite a big gap between the forwards they have on the pitch. And then you look at the bench, they sometimes bring on Hayley Rasso with five minutes to go. I mean, Hayley Rasso is a really good player, but that's not game changing. That's not, OK, we're in trouble here. The game's getting away from us. We need to do something. And, you know, look, they lost some big players as well.

So someone like Caroline Weir, that's a player that if the game's not going for you, you know, she can wind up the left foot from 25 yards and give you something. And I don't see those players at Manchester City either at the moment. They don't get a lot of goals from midfield either. So I just, you know, sometimes feel like when the game's getting away from City,

they don't really have an answer. But if you look at the reverse fixture, City get that second goal against Arsenal. They go 2-0 up. And actually, after the first half hour against Arsenal at the Academy Stadium, they're not brilliant, but they got the second goal. And it's enough to see out the game. And that's what they didn't do this time.

Yeah, it's going to be really fascinating to see how the rest of the title race plays out because they're not out of it yet. They sit fourth, but they have played a game more than Chelsea and Arsenal, but still an incredible recovery after losing their first two WSL games. Let's move on to Chelsea, though, because they have closed the gap on Manchester United to a point and perhaps another game in the title race this week that people might have thought would be a difficult one for Chelsea against Aston Villa, who've been absolutely flying. But Chelsea did beat Villa 3-0. Goals from Kankovic, Wrighton and Kerr as well.

And bearing in mind, Susie, they played extra time and penalties on Thursday night against Lyon. It was physically and mentally exhausting, as Emma Hayes alluded to. Did you expect them to come away with such a convincing win? No, I didn't far from it in fact like I was super super impressed by this performance and result you know I asked M. Hayes semi-jokingly after the midweek game whether she had any players left and she like made a joke about being ready to play herself because so many of her players are out injured, so many important players. And yet, here we are, five changes, a starting line-up that is incredibly strong

and a really, really almost easy performance after a really gruelling, exhausting one against Lyon. Did not expect it. Did not expect them to keep a clean sheet against a team that haven't lost or not scored since the 26th of January and have been absolutely flying in so many ways. I think it speaks hugely to the work that Hayes and his staff have put into building a squad capable of competing on all fronts,

which has taken a lot of time to do. But yeah, just hugely impressive, incredibly strong team. Yeah, I mean, that just sums it up really, doesn't it? As does Sam Kerr, Tim, really. 50th WSL goal in 62 games. So that's the second fastest time after Vivian Miedema did it in 50 games. But I mean, what an achievement that is for her. Absolutely.

And I think the other thing about this as well, you know, we're talking earlier about Arsenal's injuries and with my Arsenal hat on, I'd like to get to a phase where Chelsea are at at the moment where they've got loads of injuries. They've been playing without Peniela Harder and Fran Kirby and I think that front three is so so important they lost Xi in the summer who I think is a massive player for them they haven't been able to play Leopold's because she's been on maternity leave so that's their central midfield has gone but we don't talk about that with Chelsea and the reason we don't talk about that with Chelsea is because their standards are so high

that you just expect them to get on with it. But it's still not something you can take for granted that they do. And when you look at what Kerr's doing this season, I know Lauren James, certainly in an attacking sense, having a really good season as well. But she's really carrying this at the moment, Sam Kerr. She's having to play every minute of every game they're super reliant on her for goals because Lauren James is a great creative player she chips in but not a prolific goal scorer like this is the first time I think where

Chelsea's always been the Sam Kerr show a little bit because she's one of the top three players in the world but this year it's really had to be. And, you know, coming through in this game as well, I think super impressive. Particularly, you know, if you're Carla Ward, you're probably licking your lips before this game and thinking it's still not going to be easy. But this is the best time to play Chelsea. But I think as well for them getting that second goal right on half time. I think that killed it, really. Because at 1-0, with the goals that Villa have in the team, it's never really safe.

But I think that Guru Raiting goal right on half-time really settled this down. And Sam Kerr had some chances in this game. I think she actually took the most difficult one she had. But yeah, just a phenomenal player, obviously. But this season, she's had to find even another gear. And the fact that we barely even talk about it because we just expect her to do it, I think that says a lot about the standards that she has. As does the fact, Guru Wrighton still, although to be fair, not under our radar, Susie, on the pod every single week, we highlight how fantastic she is,

but her part this season can't be underestimated either. And I know we're not specifically talking about the Lyon Champions League game, but then a player like Mara Mielda stepping up, putting away a penalty like that with, what was it, 128 minutes on the clock? Absolutely astounding to take them to their first ever penalty shootout then they come through that penalty shootout against eight-time winners Leon I know this sounds like a bizarre thing to say bearing in mind what Tim has just said about Chelsea that we just expect them to do this but actually of late they've not been doing what we expect them to do but that was vintage Chelsea yeah and I thought that Maram Rialda performance

and stepping up to take those penalties against Lyon under such high pressure such a pressurized moment was almost like a symbolic point in her journey following her ACL injury because she was so critical to their their Champions League campaign around the time that she did her acl injury scored a number of penalties i remember i can't remember the exact games i think the let's go madrid there was a couple but she had two or three penalties in a row in big big champions league games that dragged them through to that final against barcelona which she missed because she was injured but really her double penalty on the weekend really triggered memories of that for me because it very very much felt like a player returning to

that point in her sort of journey and development after that that lengthy time out but yeah I mean I completely agree on Guru Wrighton like absolutely superb season i'd say you know probably the most influential player behind kerr really stepped up in the absence of uh of panilla and and frank herby and the interesting thing for me now is how chelsea cope like i think the international break has come at a really good time for them because obviously Millie Bright has dropped away from the England squad. Erin Cuthbert's pulled out of Scotland as well. Exactly, Erin Cuthbert out of Scotland. And when you look at Chelsea, you look at the battling spine of their team.

You're sort of looking at those two and Sam Kerr in front of them as the grit. And without those players, how long they can fill those holes in terms of like, attitude isn't the right word, but like the fighters in the side, like their big losses, to lose more than one of those is a big loss. So in a sense, if they've got them back in Cobham whilst everyone else is away on international duty working on getting them back to fitness, I think they've fell on their feet a little bit

in terms of the timing of this international break and the extent of those injuries maybe not being as bad as first expected. Arsenal and Chelsea into the last four of the Champions League, Tim, you know, we always talk about the strength of the WSL and the fact that it's so competitive this season, but it hasn't, apart from Chelsea reaching the final in 2021 and being beaten by Barcelona 4-0, it hasn't really translated into Europe, has it? But what does this say about the WSL that we've got two English teams in the top four? Yeah, it says a lot about the competitiveness of the league.

And frankly, I kind of feel a bit for Man City in terms of when they had their qualifier right off the back of the Euros when they've got so many English players and they've just lost their whole midfield. I think if that game's a month later, as good as Real Madrid are, I think City probably win it. And City could easily go to the semi-finals of the Champions League

as well. Manchester United, they'd definitely get out of a group, I think, depending on, obviously they don't have any coefficient points, but you put them in a reasonable group, they'd get out of it. I think Aston Villa would have a shot at getting out of a group and that's the strength of the league. You know, the WSL maybe hasn't had the best team in Europe, but it's had three or four of the best. And that's, you know, that's something a bit like the Premier League. Like, I think we can see where this is going, really,

where other leagues have one or two really, really strong teams, but the WSL has four or five and really kind of plays on that competitiveness. And I think that's helped the English teams as well. Again, I know Jonas Eideveld spoke about this. He kind of said, look, we're playing Chelsea and Man City, not just in the league. We play them in the Cups. You know, we're getting exposed to those big games. And when you look at the final last season between Lyon and Barcelona. I can't remember which Barca player it was now, but there was a Barca player that basically came out and said, to be honest, the challenge Lyon gave us, we just weren't used to it because the games in the league are too easy for us.

And particularly towards the end of the season where they'd won the league in about February or March and they'd kind of taken their foot off the gas. So I think it says a lot for the competitiveness of the league. I also think one of these teams could win it because I don't think Barcelona, they're still the favourites and I think incredibly strong. I don't think they look as strong as they did this time last year. And, you know, we've seen that Lyon are susceptible and they're out and Wolfsburg are not top of their league at the moment. So, you know know I'm not

saying it's going to happen I don't know but I certainly wouldn't be surprised if one of the English teams went and won it or even if and I don't want to think about this because it'd give me nightmares even if we ended up with an all-English final don't know how I'd cope with that from an Arsenal perspective but there we go honestly I would be absolutely buzzing if it would be a Chelsea Arsenal final that would just be incredible especially this kind of rivalry that's developing between uh Yona Siderval and Emma Hayes as well it would just be something fantastic anyway that's it for part one in part two we'll look at some of the rest of the goings-on in the WSL and championship and have a quick chat about England ahead of their upcoming friendlies.

Do you have business insurance? If not, how would you pay to recover from a cyber attack, fire damage, theft or a lawsuit? No business or profession is risk free. Without insurance, your assets are at risk from major financial losses, data breaches and natural disasters. Get customized coverage today starting at $19 per month at zensurance.com. Be protected. Be Zen. welcome back to part two of the guardian women's football weekly it was a massive game at the bottom of the table leicester lift themselves off the foot with a 96 minute winner against reading um a huge three points tim can leicester start dreaming about staying up again?

They definitely can. They're the team with the momentum at the bottom at the moment. When you consider they went into the Christmas break with zero points, having lost all of their first nine games. Like what Willie Kirk has done there has been tremendous. And also a kind of measure of revenge, because I don't know if people remember the reverse fixture of this Leicester were leading Reading and conceded twice in stoppage time so to get a 96 minute winner this time probably felt like a measure of revenge for them but Leicester deserved this as well they had chance after chance after chance at 1-1 they hit the post they had one cleared off the line they had a one-on-one, so this was no fluke. They haven't lost their last two home games now, Leicester.

I know that's only two home games, but when you're at the bottom of the league, beating Brighton, drawing with Everton, beating Reading, those results can keep you up. And I know Brighton have got two games in hand. One of their games in hand is against Arsenal, so you'd think that they shouldn't get anything from that anyway. So I definitely think Leicester can get out of it. They're the team down there who, to me, look like they've got the momentum. I don't think they'll take points off big teams, but they look like they can take points off teams around them. And that would be enough to stay up. It might have been a late goal from Kerry Jones, but at the end of the day, 19 shots on goal during the game from Leicester.

They weren't giving up on it at all, were they? And, you know, we've spoken about it before. Kelly Chambers has managed to dig results out from somewhere, but Reading are bang in trouble as well. Oh yeah, big trouble. We've said it time and time and time again on the podcast that every year we sort of wonder whether this is the moment that kelly chambers can't pull a rabbit out of her hat and make things happen on a shoestring and keep them away from relegation and increasingly it's looking likely that that this could be a season where where she can't and i don't think

that's necessarily down to her and her personnel maybe but more down to the club as a whole and lester's shrewd move in bringing in willie kirk a point where things really really looked gone for them so i mean i think both them and brighton are in big trouble neither are playing well Reading can be frustrated with the conceding the late goal but the reality is is they can't be too frustrated because they gave Leicester so much space so much time there was so much energy to the Leicester performance I thought they really like Tim said that you know they they've got the bit between their teeth to a certain extent I think that's I mean spot on in that they've got some belief there that I don't think any of the teams around them have,

Spurs included in fact. There's some real fight. They look like they've got a plan. They're being brave. Sam Tierney's volley was wonderful. Yeah, it was just a lovely performance from them. And if we see that again and again again which I think we will into the end

of the season then yeah Reading, Brighton, Tottenham are the ones battling it out and Leicester will pull off the miracle that I predicted I'm gonna say that because my predictions always go so so wrong but I predicted at the winter break when Willy came in that he could potentially pull off the greatest escape that the WSL has ever seen. And I would say that's well and truly on the cards. And my predictions aren't as bad as we all thought. No. So if I say England win the World Cup, then we're going to win the World Cup too.

Oh, God, you've just done that already. Oh, my goodness. It's April. Susie. Now, I'm not excited about the World Cup. I actually spoke to Willie Kirk last night as well, and he believes that they can get two more wins out of their remaining fixtures, which are Chelsea, Liverpool, Arsenal, West Ham and Brighton.

They need to find out when that Chelsea game is going to get played and whether their first game back from the international break is going to be against Emma Hayes' side against Liverpool which could be quite crucial. If they can do it in that game I won't be too sad. I thought you might say that but I asked him whether or not he was concerned that they've lost a little bit of momentum with it being the international break and he said no because his players look tired towards the end and they needed a bit of a break and a reset. So actually, he thinks it's come at quite a decent time.

I think of those games left, Liverpool, West Ham, Brighton, those are the three that Leicester will really target. But I felt this game was just a bit of a microcosm. We talk about momentum. Leicester were the ones who went and did business in January, brought some good players in, like Seamson and the goalkeeper Leipzig and Courtney Nevin, who sets up the first goal. It feels to me like Leicester are trying to get out of it,

whereas it looks to me more like Brighton and Reading are trying to hang on. And I think that's what you saw in the last third of this game as well. A draw was okay for Reading because it maintained the gap. Reading needed to draw the game and Leicester needed to win the game and I think you saw that I think that's a bit of a microcosm for the relegation battle here I feel like Brighton and Reading are trying to hang on whereas Leicester were in that situation where they had to proactively try and get out of it Jeff Sixworth coming back as well huge huge boost to their front line like into this closing stage

of the season you know we're talking about uh some of the big teams having players go out and how they're going to cope with that having a player like that return of that quality with a knife a goal huge huge boost um and now they've got a nice little international window to to have her on the training pitch and and be getting her ready to play more than what was it like 10 minutes eight minutes something like that in the sort of closing stages of the campaign um yeah real real exciting team to watch at the moment yeah they are you mentioned Brighton though and actually you know this game had implications at the top and the bottom of the table but I think most people just expected Manchester United to win it.

It finished 4-0 in the end. Two goals from Leah Galton and two from subs Rachel Williams and Lucia Garcia. But I think it was never in doubt, bearing in mind the performances that Manchester United have put in of late compared to Brighton's, that United would come away with all three points. But it leaves United top of the table. We'll assess that in a minute, but bearing in mind we're talking about the relegation places,

Brighton got plunged as a result of Leicester's late win, bottom into the relegation place. They do have two games in hand, but that's not points on the board, is it, Tim? No, that's right. And Brightonon they look to me like they've slept walked into this a little bit when you look at you know the sack Tote Powell in the autumn I don't think that in and of itself was a dreadful decision I understand

why they did that but then they took and again I understand this they took a lot of time over appointing a successor probably because they thought they were in no danger of relegation. And so they kind of drifted for a couple of months, got Jens Scheuer in, that didn't work. And now they're in trouble when they probably thought they wouldn't be. And when you look at, I think the issue for Brighton is just one of identity. Scheuer wanted to move them to a more high-intensity pressing side. Then he very quickly said his players aren't fit enough to do it.

I mean, look, they've conceded 50 goals this season. The second most in the division is Leicester with 39. So there were big defensive problems. They're very young in the full-back areas now. They lost Letizia and Coivisto, who I think are very big players for them. And I just look at Brighton, and I don't know what they're trying to do.

Under Hope Powell, don't get me wrong, I wouldn't really pay know what they're trying to do. Under Hope Powell, don't get me wrong, I wouldn't really pay for a ticket to go and watch them under Hope Powell, but I understood what they were trying to do. I look at West Ham and Liverpool and Reading and Leicester, I understand what they're trying to do. I look at Brighton and all right, they're not playing that much like kind of 5-4-1 counter-attack bit of long ball like they did under Hope but I also don't know what they're trying to do and I think they've got a real identity crisis which is just bleeding into these results. Yeah and they don't have an experienced manager as Leicester do with Willie Kirk as Reading do with Kelly Chambers and that's no disrespect to Amy Merricks who I think has done a fantastic job in her two interim stays but you know she's not been in this position before like

Hope Powell has for example quick one on Manchester United though because they are top of the table and the fact that we're even just saying quick one on Manchester United because they're still top is feels a little bit insulting. So apologies, Manchester United fans. But it's because you've been so good. You know, five games left. What are your expectations for this team, Susie? Good question.

I don't think they'll win the title. I'm going to say that. But I think they're going to push the other two, three teams very, very hard. I mean, the performance of Leah Gorton at the weekend was phenomenal. The goals are being shared around. They're playing with a fluidity and a doggedness that that is really really nice to watch um obviously they capitalized on some really poor defensive um issues with brian you know the back pass for garcia's goal and things like that really opened the door for them i think it is for them going to come down to those uh two big games against arsenal and Man City. I can't see any other team necessarily causing them too much of a problem.

Obviously, they've got an FA Cup semi-final. It's against Brighton. They should, in theory, ease past them. And then I think, I mean, to be honest, the only thing I think that could disrupt their momentum are those big games and one eye on a FA Cup final. And maybe a hesitancy in, you know, kind of not wanting to miss that big stage, that big moment could impact things.

But, I mean, they just have been so brutally efficient and like smooth sailing to this point that I can't see them messing up too massively. I think the issue is that obviously Chelsea have the game in hand in the league and after Chelsea's performance at the weekend, it's theirs to lose, right? And to a certain extent, Arsenal's with Arsenal playing Chelsea as well and Man United. So there's some big hurdles there in that it's very much not in their hands to a

certain extent. But at the same time, I don't expect them to struggle too much towards the end of the season. And I think if they missed out on top three in particular, it would be a staggeringly bad failure. Absolutely. Going back to the relegation battle, Tottenham will have been absolutely devastated with Aggie Beaver Jones's late winner to give Everton all three points and put some serious nerves on edge at Spurs. They're just three points above the relegation places. They've lost 11 of their past 12 matches. It finished 2-1 in the end. And they're not in the clear. We've talked about them a lot, Susie, haven't we? I don't know what's gone wrong for them this season, but it's so close between those bottom four

sides that Tottenham really have to pull some results out of somewhere yeah nothing's really clicked has it like in any any way this season you know even you look at bringing in Beth England and plugging a hole that everyone saw was there um she's scoring goals and they still can't get the results that they they sort of want and need to really drag them out of trouble I mean I think they've got almost the same issue as Brighton at the moment to a certain extent that Tim talked about earlier you know a bit of an identity crisis and I think that came in under Rhiann like when she came in she very much gave them an identity they looked like they had a plan they looked like they had um there was a vision there and you could see it.

And you could see what she was trying to do in that first season in charge after coming in early on in the season. And that's gone. And I don't really know why that went. And Vicky Jepsen has a really difficult task at trying to bring that back quite late on in the season, in the same way that Amy Merricks has a very, very difficult task with Brighton. And that's why I actually think that those two are in more trouble than Reading because Reading always have, whilst erratic and not necessarily very consistent, you sort of know what to expect from a Kelly Chambers team.

They can always pull something big out of their bag. They can have a result, like a 2-1 loss to Leicester, and then go around and beat one of the biggest teams in the league like they're erratic right I think yeah Tottenham and Brighton are the teams that are actually in more trouble and yeah yeah for me it's an issue of identity um lack of a plan beyond get the ball to Beth England and hope that she can do something with it which in a sense they're better for having her in that position to be able to have that as part of their plan because they didn't have an alternative but they sort of need an alternative regardless of whether that plan is

able to be enacted because they have her or not. Disappointing result aside Keris Harrop broke the record for most WSL appearances playing her 178th game overtaking Gilly Flaherty and Kate Longhurst such an incredible achievement and West Ham Liverpool ended goalless has no impact on the table whatsoever so not a lot to say so we're just going to skirt straight over it and go into the championship, which is really exciting, actually, at the top. Again, another little twist because Bristol, who are top, went down to 10 players and lost 1-0 to Sheffield United. London City Lionesses beat 10-player Charlton 1-0, which means the gap closes yet again to just three points.

Crystal Palace beat Sunderland 2-1. Blackburn and Durham drew two all. Durham scoring in the fifth minute and then equalising in the 93rd. Talk about bookending a match. Birmingham beat Southampton 2-1, their third. And Lewis and Coventry drew one all, which relegates Coventry with three games of the season left to play. It was an inevitability, was it not, Susie Rack?

Oh yeah, I mean, it was coming, right? Like it was, if we're talking about Leicester and Great Escapes, if Coventry had managed to avoid the drop from the championship, I think that would have been one of the greatest in the history of football. I mean, how they avoided it last season to a certain extent was that after their points deduction and things there's so many problems around the club whilst they were taken over and saved from liquidation and being wound up you've got ownership of a club that have never been

involved in football before up beyond sponsorship um and i think the job is far far bigger than than many people coming into football think not just women's men's football too but you know you you've seen it you know i think manchester united thought it would be a much easier job that it proved to be so even the most experienced of clubs picking up a team in women's football will not necessarily find an easy ride. So when you've got a completely new ownership set up coming in to pick up a club that is rock bottom in so many ways, it's almost the impossible task and not unexpected. I think it's going to be interesting to see what happens next because

I think clubs that fall out of the championship have a tendency to struggle to get back up again and actually fade away rather than grow and I think that's partly because this is unfair to the Coventry ownership because I you know I know they're extremely invested and really, really care about this team in particular. But the tendency is that when clubs go down, that's when that dies. And when they fall away from professional women's football, that's where teams slip away. And that level of support suddenly fades even further. Yeah, and there's a lot of competition down there as well

in the National League, for sure. Right, the international breaks upon us. England have two friendlies lined up. The inaugural finalissima against Brazil at Wembley and then Australia at Brentford. Two tough opponents, so it should be a really good test for England ahead of the World Cup. Tim, how are you feeling about the squad?

Yeah, it's quite interesting, isn't it? It looks quite light in midfield to me still, even just from a purely numbers perspective. But then I thought that about the Euros squad as well. But I think players like Lucy Parker, Katie Robinson, Jess Park, who are really, really bidding for some of those last places, the goalkeepers as well they can only take three I think this camp I reckon Serena probably knows 19 to 20 of her squad if

you asked her in private now and I think really what this is about as well as preparing against big opponents is just firming up those last kind of three spots which probably six seven eight players are fighting for so that's the kind of thing I've really got my eye on just because I think England as a team are largely set and we know what the starting 11 will do yeah what did you make of it Susie it's it's the last squad before the squad is announced how do you think Serena's going to line up in these friendlies is she going to go for experience or like Tim said test players out it's an interesting one isn't it because to a certain extent you don't want to be losing these games when you're on the the streak and the run that you are and against decent opponents right like you don't want to be necessarily

chalking up your first loss in your final camp before the the sort of pre-World Cup one like finishing touches one so it's a balance between probably fielding quite a strong starting lineup in these games and testing these players in camp I think is going to be the place that she views some of these players I don't think we're necessarily going to see a huge amount of them in these games themselves I may be completely wrong but like as her record sort of shows to date she generally does field quite strong starting lineups particularly against uh bigger tougher opponents so I think that pattern may well stay the same because they will not want to be going into the last camp before the World Cup with a loss under their belts for the first

time. And certainly against Australia, who they could potentially meet in the last 16. Exactly that. I don't know what you think, but very, very harsh that Beth England's not got a look in. I mean, to a certain extent, I feel like she knows Beth England as a player she knows who she is she knows what she's about Beth England is clearly like a player that very much relies on being in form and obviously she is in form at the moment and I don't necessarily think Serena has seen her in a England camp while she's been in the form she's in so in a sense like I feel like while she knows her as a player she maybe doesn't know her when she's playing well and full of confidence and scoring and feeling like everything she touches is going to go in

in the same way that when she was in her camps and in the Euro squad, I think she was a bit of a confidence-depleted individual. Yeah, I know what you mean. I'll tell you who else I was surprised not to see, and that was Katie Zellum, because I thought she actually played quite well in the Arnold Clark Cup games she featured in. And Tim mentioned that midfield felt a little bit light. Do you think she's already secured her place and so isn't needed or or out of the picture I did wonder

about her sat um like Serena Wiegmann being sat at the Chelsea Man United game where I don't think she had the best performance um and watching that and maybe for not too sure but on the other hand again like yes she knows her but that midfield is very light so in that sense you sort of wonder well you know wasn't this the perfect time to give a player that you know and if you know her and think that she's you know got a decent chance of being in the squad, of giving her some pitch time. She's playing for the team that is, captaining the team that is top of the league at the moment. If you don't have enough confidence in the captain of the league leaders

to play in some of these big games, should they be in your squad at all, is the question that runs through my mind but clearly there's something about Katie Zellum that doesn't necessarily speak to Serena. I think something we will see during this break is I think we'll see Leah Williamson tried again in midfield I know she played there a bit in the Arnold Clark Cup from what I'm told it's likely Kim Little is out for the season, unfortunately. So she is going to play in midfield for the rest of the season for Arsenal. And it really looks

like it's clicked for her there in a way I don't think it has before. I don't know whether Millie Bright being out changes any of that, but I really think in at least one of these games, we'll see Leah in midfield. Yeah, interesting. I suppose, you know, she needs to try out combinations Serena doesn't she and she did bring in Lossa Ruben Moy to replace Millie Bright so you know we might see a few different combinations and Alex Greenwood going back into that central defensive berth again. Elsewhere Republic of Ireland are going to be playing two matches against world champions USA, Scotland will face Australia and Costa Rica and Wales play Northern Ireland and Portugal.

We'll be reviewing all of those games next week. Susie and Tim, it's been an absolute delight. Double Guna action today. What a week it's been for you. Have a fantastic rest of the week as if it could get better than last week. Thank you. I tend to get invited on the more

generalist shows when arsenal are either playing very badly or very well so i'm very glad it's the latter at the moment suzy see you later uh we will be back next week discussing the international break and a reminder you can now email us on women's football weekly at the guardian.com the guardian women's football weekly this week is produced by Lucy Oliver and Becky Taylor-Gill. Music composition was by Laura Iredale. Our executive producer is Sal Ahmad. This is The Guardian. your assets are at risk from major financial losses, data breaches, and natural disasters. Get customized coverage today starting at $19 per month at zensurance.com. Be protected. Be Zen.