The Guardian's Women's Football Weekly - No Hope at Brighton but 13 is lucky for Arsenal – Women’s Football Weekly

Episode Date: November 1, 2022

Faye Carruthers, Suzanne Wrack, Tim Stillman and Moyo Abiona round up the latest WSL action and news

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. No more hope for Brighton as Powell steps down after an 8-0 thrashing at home to Tottenham. Reading come out on top in the battle at the bottom. Arsenal bag their record 13th win. While actions speak louder than words, is everyone taking the Rainbow Laces campaign seriously?

We'll discuss all that plus the rest of the weekend's action take your questions and that's today's guardian women's football weekly good morning suzy rack good morning oh that was a livelier good morning than i normally get from you that's because you've been out and about already. I know, right? I've already done my power walk to the school and back. Wonderful. Wonderful.

God, I've literally rolled. Rolled out of bed. Moyo Abiona has not rolled out of bed because she's wearing a beautiful, very comfortable looking vest. Yes, I have been awake for about an hour and a half now. So all good. Feeling lively. Just me being lazy then in that case um stillman very good morning to you i have a very important question because this morning when i went to send out the twitter any questions question

um i could not find you and i could not find you because you have become the Stillmanator. When did you become the Stillmanator? That was a decision I made yesterday. So my previous Twitter handle was Stillberto, which was obviously a tribute to the former Arsenal and Atletico Mineiro player Gilberto Silva. But he made an Instagram post over the weekend in support of a Brazilian presidential candidate, Jair Bolsonaro, who I will delicately say is not aligned to my own values and politics. So I decided to make the change on that basis.

I applaud that. Well, now I'm pleased. I was slightly worried that you'd been watching a little bit too much American Pie and trying to Sherman 80 yourself. So I'm pleased it was for the right reasons. Right, let's kick things off, shall we? And only really one place to start. Brighton 0, Tottenham 8. And Brighton's announcement on Monday that Hope Powell has stepped down

as first team manager with immediate effect. Powell, the third longest serving manager in the WSL behind Emma Hayes and Kelly Chambers. She'd been in charge of the club since 2017. Susie, our first managerial departure of the WSL season. I don't quite think it's a merry-go-round just yet, but it's a big one. Hope Powell has been a trailblazer for the women's game in England. Results obviously not been great for Brighton of late,

but it's still a real shame to see her go yeah and I think it was a really important like appointment when she took charge in 2017 like she really kind of elevated Brighton and made them be able to compete in the women's super league in a really serious way embarked on a lot of changes in terms of you know lots of us have had tours of their new training ground and things like that and it's you know the best facilities in the league arguably maybe next to City and little things like that that she's been been instrumental to professionalizing the setup at Brighton for them rising into the Women's Super League so she's done an incredible job there I don't think anyone would look at it and say it's been a failure of a tenure by any stretch but one win from five matches that really heavy defeat whilst they've done all this work on the back room they've not done as much

work on the squad and really developing that squad and they've had trouble hanging on to players and getting them to you know want to really commit to that environment for the long term. And that's the problem, really. And I think that's where it's come a little bit unstuck for her. Yeah, as Susie says, Tim, a lot of turnover recently. Players in the summer, but also their general manager, Polly Bancroft, appointed as Manchester United's new director of women's football. Now Powell's departure on top of that, it feels as if the club's in a bit of flux. Yeah, definitely. And they might have looked at their opponents on Sunday, Tottenham, who about this time two years ago made quite a similar call in getting rid of Juan Amoros and Karen Hills,

who'd both done, similar to Hope Powell, a very, very good job building Tottenham up. But they made that call. They went for Rhian Skinner and I think Tottenham up but they made that call they went for Rhian Skinner and I think Tottenham have gone to a different level maybe Brighton are looking at something like that and thinking we shouldn't be getting turned over 8-0 by Spurs we should be on their level I think maybe a couple of things have happened here I think first of all we all know what to expect from a Hope Powell team they're very organised usually difficult to break down I think maybe after a few years players tap out of that style a bit but also as you say they've they've lost important players

and I think really critical is they lost both their fullbacks over the summer Coy Visto and Mayor Letizia and they're very young in those fullback positions now they've got Georgia Fox and Poppy Pattinson both very very exciting teenagers, but teenagers. And I think when you're playing in a Hope Powell side and you really rely on that defensive solidity, I think that's been a bit of a problem for Hope and she hasn't really found a solution for it. And I do think the time is probably right for all parties to move on. What next for Hope Powell, Susie?

Good question. I think she could pick up a job in the league. You don't want to necessarily look at managers who are struggling elsewhere, but there's a few that are finding it difficult in the Women's Super League where she could do a really good job at sort of steadying things. And I think a fresh team might suit her.

That said, national team management is always somewhere we should go. Or I would say, you know, seeing her at the back room at a club um where she's just so effective at pushing and driving change of board level as she's shown over the years you know in the fa and then at brighton as well like could be huge you know as a like sort of director of women's football type role somewhere she'd be or general manager should be absolutely superb. So there's plenty of options. I think she'll be in high demand. I wouldn't be surprised if we saw her

in any Aluko-style role somewhere doing that kind of thing. Yeah, you're nodding, Moyo. What, for you, is next for Brighton? Yeah, I think with Brighton, I guess they sort of need to decide whether they want to go for an up-and-coming coach, like similar to the route that Leicester have tried to take with Lydia,

or they want to go for someone that's more of a staple in women's football in general and try and get that sort of solidity they had with Hope, but a rejuvenated version by getting someone new. So yeah, it's just going to depend on that. But obviously they're going to need to sort out the rest of the staff as well, which is obviously the bigger task at hand. There are a couple of really good managers available as well. You know, you look at the likes of Willie Kirk or Mark Parsons, you know, people who are sort of floating around waiting for an opportunity. And Brighton is quite a nice prospect because of the support from the top. Yeah. Amy Merricks, the assistant manager, is taking charge at West Ham on Sunday with support by Alex Penny and Perry North East.

But we really have to talk about Tottenham, Moyo, because it was easily their biggest ever WSL win. Rhian Skin has been criticised in the past and we've talked on this pod before about their lack of goals apart from a couple of players and that she's not necessarily an attacking manager but I mean they blew them away didn't they I know Brighton in many parts were architects of their own downfall but the goals from Molly Bartrip, Nicola Karczewska, two from Ashley Neville again, Drew Spence with two and Jess Naz with two as well it was an impressive performance. Very very to be honest that I was watching it on the train coming back from Southampton and all I was thinking to myself was I never knew that Tottenham could score this many goals and to be honest like the quality of the goals as you said was was really

good but also like you could see little partnerships really forming on the pitch with some of those goals so like for example one of the Drew Spence goals the back kill from Ashley Neville like you can just see even in recent weeks that those two have really been connecting on the pitch. And I feel like a lot of that came into fruition this weekend. But obviously, as you said, Tottenham don't score that many goals. And I feel like that's why the writing was kind of on the wall with Hope Powell going. Because I think I saw a stat as well and was like that was like a third of their total goals last season which is absolutely insane to be honest but it just kind of shows that they have got players that can score and

it's more about getting those players into positions to score in games yeah one of those players is ash neville tim and and lauren has sent a question in what more does ash neville have to do to get an england call up yeah i mean she's i I think it's been the case for about a year now that surely she must be in the frame I think maybe one of the things that counts against her is maybe the positional change because we were used to seeing her as a right wing back then sometimes she was a left wing back but this season they've pushed her right up onto the left wing obviously that's Lauren Hemp's position and that's probably a little bit more competitive at the moment but I think she's really benefited from that kind of more advanced role as well and another interesting

thing they've done is they kind of play Drew Spence as a striker which I don't think I've ever seen before and I think Moyo's right that that partnership between Spence and Neville you look at some of the business Tottenham did this summer bringing in players like Eli Brazil like Drew Spence they brought in a lot of WSL experience, and I think that was quite deliberate. And I really think Ashley Neville has basically just been given a very free role at the moment. She is clearly Tottenham's most prominent attacking threat.

And this is the gap that Tottenham have to bridge as well, because that's what they need to challenge that big four, that top three. Their goals conceded last season were about the same as United and City, but they were miles behind on goals scored. And Ashley Neville is obviously a critical part of that. And that's why they're pushing her forward because they recognise that.

Yeah, she's having a great season, isn't she? Someone else having a really good season, but unfortunately had the show stolen from her in some ways Chelsea 3 Aston Villa 1 at King's Meadow should have been all about Lauren James this chat two goals and an assist but it's kind of been overshadowed by Hannah Hampton's absence and I put that in inverted commas because she was actually in the stands, despite supposedly having been told to be absent. Susie, you broke an exclusive on this yesterday about how Hannah Hampton had been dropped from the England squad post Euros because of her attitude.

Can you tell us a little bit more about what's going on? Yeah, I mean, there's only so much I can say beyond what's printed. But, you know, I've heard, and I think it's alluded to in the piece, from a lot of sources for quite a long time, that there's problems with Hampton's attitude and behaviour and the way she acts in and around squads and teams. And, you know, I've heard that it came to a little bit of a head in the summer during the Euros

and it wasn't a very nice environment to be in. As a result, that's why she's been dropped by England and won't play again, potentially under Serena Beegman. And then, you know, we're now seeing potentially the results of that attitude spilling out at Villa as well I don't think it's Carla Ward in a post-match press conference alluded to some kind of incident that happened like the day before or something where she told her to stay home despite the fact that two days before that she had told her she was going to be involved in some way and she was in the squad because she was fit again so that was a bit of

a surprise so clearly something's gone on there that we don't know about but from what everything I know is that this is not like an isolated incident it's not like a one-off thing it's not one explosion or like one outburst that it is like consistent problems with the way she behaves in and around squads and camps and that's not a nice thing to say about a young player. And, you know, when you've got a young player who's got a European Championship medal and isn't being picked by their national team or their club, questions start being asked and suddenly it becomes a story that sort of needs exploring in a way that perhaps maybe

I've turned away from this story a little bit for quite a long time because you don't necessarily want to tarnish a young player with a brush of being difficult when they've got a whole lot of developing to do as a person so it's not the easiest of stories to write it's not the nicest of stories to write so when you get people on twitter and fans going you know show us the receipts what's happened blah blah it's not as straightforward as that because there's not been one sort of like outburst that has triggered things although clearly something's happened at villa that we don't know about. Yeah it's a really difficult situation to talk about because you don't know what's going on behind the scenes you don't know

where this behaviour is stemming from and it's really important to say that the Football Association, Aston Villa and Hannah Hampton's representatives that have all declined to comment at the moment on this but it's such a delicate situation for both Villa and England to have to handle Moyo because she's clearly such an accomplished young goalkeeper and it's really difficult. Yeah and one of the conversations that I was having with someone yesterday was just that like it was more of a surprise that the story came out because historically when we think of England players in general we think of like this sort of protection around them like around speaking negatively about players within England squads um but at the same

time the fact that it's happened at club level like there's been some sort of disconnect at club level as well um in recent time obviously stems from that suggestion that is true or in the sense that it's not an isolated incident, as you said. So I think, yeah, just the fact that it came out in general obviously speaks volumes, but also speaks to a wider issue as to how players are protected, but also needing to report on things that are happening. Yeah, absolutely. Tim, just briefly on Chelsea, I mentioned Lauren James there, absolutely superb start to the season and they seem to be shifting into gear a little bit

after a stuttering start. What have you made of them? Yeah, definitely. I think obviously they've, you know, last season they came in with a very, very settled squad. This season, you know, Lauren James, for example, coming in, I know she was signed the summer before, but she wasn't really fit last season. And they've tried a few

things out. They lost Melanie Leupold, so they've kind of shifted Erin Cuthbert, who's a player that just fascinates me because she just seems to be all things to Chelsea. Wherever they have a gap or a hole, Emma Hayes just seems to throw her into it and she gets on with it but I think on Lauren James I'm really interested in this move because it's another one, you see this a lot with Chelsea they sign a big player and you think they're fantastic but where are they getting into this team and Emma

seems to get them in somehow and I think one of the things Lauren might benefit from is obviously we don't know the full story with Fran Kirby's fitness but I do wonder whether her days of being able to play every single game are more or less done and she has to be managed very carefully and that's that's a real gap that Lauren James can exploit because now Chelsea have that other attacker that you can throw in with Harder and Kerr and and not really experience

any kind of downturn so I think Lauren James probably is going to benefit from that situation, assuming that Fran still needs to have her game time managed. One player trying to steal the headlines herself this weekend, Reading's Rachel Rowe. It finished Reading 2, Leicester 1. An incredible comeback from Reading at the bottom of the WSL. Leicester had gone 1-0 up through Natasha Flint, looked to be about to secure their first points of the season,

but Rachel Rowe decided, no, I'm not finished yet. A goal direct from a corner in the 90th minute and then firing in from distance in the 92nd minute. Wow. A little bit of heart needed from this Reading side and they certainly have it in spades Susie. Oh my god I mean what a finish. Throughout that game I sat at the Man United game and had dual screens up and I was paying attention to it and watching it and just thinking about Reading

quite a bit actually because thinking about how hard Kelly Chambers has worked to keep Reading up and as a team that lacks consistency but can threaten the top and avoid the the drop fairly easily on very little resources and I think is it the are we seeing the moment is this the moment that it starts to become apparent that Kelly Chambers can't work magic every single season you know is this is this the moment where the lack of resources and the lack of money into the squad and all of that kind of thing suddenly sort of catches up with them a bit and then they pull off that remarkable recovery just almost like to stem that thought a little bit I still think that they're heading that way the fact that you know they've only got three

points from their first five games is not like a great result but when you look at the games against Leicester and you know Brighton potentially now and Liverpool you know it's really important to get points and at the start of the season you would maybe have Reading battling it right at the bottom. So getting three points off of Leicester and in such emphatic style, it's going to do wonders for their confidence into the next few games as well. Yeah, how important, Moyo, are those three points for Reading?

Yeah, massive. It was almost a six-pointer, to be honest. Like, Leicester would have been looking at that game as one of the ones that they could win. They've had some tough fixtures recently, so they would have been pointing to this Reading game as where they could get three points, potentially. And still being 1-0 up in the 90th minute

would have given them great confidence. But losing it in that manner, I think it would have done more harm to them than good, to be honest. I think, obviously, people take confidence from scoring and results and things like that but but losing it in that manner just kind of points to the the frailties that they do have both in defense but also like in midfield as well there were stunning goals so you can't

really take it away from from Rachel Rowe but yeah really hard to take for Leicester but an amazing result for Reading nonetheless yeah absolutely Tim you've been scouring the WSL rule book and think that actually one relegation spot is not enough to keep teams on their toes I want to hear your your suggestion and and first of all I want to know whether your suggestion is in this 12 team format or in an extended 14 team format? Yeah I think we probably are coming to the stage where we can extend when you look at the top of the championship. Generally quite competitive. And actually what happened last year,

I think was kind of a shame because Liverpool ran away with it. But the competition for second in the championship, there were about four or five teams battling for it, but it didn't mean anything. And I think something inverse happens in the WSL. I look at a team like Everton last season who more or less chucked their season in in about November and were able to really because Birmingham and Leicester were the two teams competing for that final relegation spot what I'd really like

to see at the moment I'd love to see a playoff maybe between 11th in the WSL and second in the championship I just think there are too many teams who, particularly in the second half of the season, can coast. Or else, like I look at this Reading-Leicester game, I do think these are the two teams that are going to fight relegation. And we saw it last year. We could have had a bit of a relegation battle, but because Leicester beat Birmingham twice, that was it.

It was over. Those two games had an outsized kind of impact. relegation battle but because Leicester beat Birmingham twice that was it it was over those two games had an outsized kind of impact and I get the impression that Reading and Leicester might do that this year and I just think there are some teams who could maybe do with you know maybe thinking oh actually if we finish 11th we're not safe I just think that might be better for the overall competitiveness of the league if more teams have things to play for. Moyo's nodding away. Yeah, I agree, to be honest.

And I was saying as well that I did like when two teams got promoted from the Championship. Like the season United came up, Spurs came up as well, I'm pretty sure. And that sort of thing not only incentivises people in the Championship to try harder when they know that there's a greater chance of them coming up but also as Tim was saying that it would incentivise 11th place as well in the WSL to do more because right now they're just seeing okay as long as I beat number 12 I'm fine and I feel like yeah it's a bit of a deterrent for everyone else. The Championship needs expanding desperately as well. I mean, the fact that only one team comes up from two leagues is outrageous, quite frankly. It's just

mad. But not just that, it's so competitive. It's a crazy league. And actually, we'll round it up in part two, but that there are so many teams in that league from one to 10 at the moment that could do something. Exactly exactly that and what are you saying to clubs that are investing and doing really well and doing everything right and building fan bases like Ipswich like Southampton and stuff when you've got this situation where they could win their league and not go up like that is just madness it needs work same situation in the National League in in men's football. And as a Luton Town fan, I suffered from that for five seasons with just one automatic promotion. Just

an absolute nightmare. Right. That's it for part one of the Guardian Women's Football Weekly. Part two, we'll round up the rest of the WSL results. And as I promised, talk about the championship. 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.

Everton 0, Manchester United 3. United equaling their longest ever winning streak in the WSL with five straight victories. That keeps them top of the league. Still yet to concede a goal as well, which is mightily impressive. Nikita Parasly, a Galton and Hayley lad all chipping in with the goals here. How excited are you, Moyo? Or are you reserved still, bearing in mind it's just November? I said this year I'm going to be really optimistic

and really be positive. So I'm trying to say, yes, I'm very, very happy. I think United have started really well. I've been happy with what I've seen as a fan, especially. And it feels as though they're going in the right direction. Some of the points that we would have dropped last season we haven't so like for example the Everton game teams like Reading but yeah so far I feel like we've beaten teams I would expect us to beat which is why I'm still kind of like let me calm down a bit but I think the fact that we haven't

conceded the goal yet is huge especially for confidence with tough games coming up but I feel like United players always get themselves up for games against Everton. So this one I was expecting a win, to be honest. But yeah, we've started really well. I've been happy so far. Very measured. Very measured. We'll revisit that question in a couple of months. Susie, Nikita Paris seems to be finding her form in this Manchester United side. We know that the Arsenal fit wasn't quite right, but it's great to see her back in this Manchester United side. We know that the Arsenal fit wasn't quite right, but it's great to see her back in form again. Yeah, and I was almost a little bit sad.

This is really cruel, I don't mean it this way, to see Alessia Russo sort of coming back into the fold because she could potentially push Paris out again. You know, she's the superstar for England and obviously their first choice centre forward but like Paris is a player who thrives off of consistency and regular game time and she's just started to get that and that's about to potentially be taken away or she's about to be shifted out wide again or something like that and I think that's a real shame because she's a really great forward and

she's had a tough time since leaving City at Lyon and Arsenal in terms of getting time on the pitch getting regular football and you sort of really sort of want to see her do well she's a really nice person as well which adds to it you really want to see her getting a decent run so she can show what she can do again I guess because I think everyone has sort of forgotten exactly how good she is because she's not had enough time on the pitch. But obviously not sad to see Rousseau come back. It's going to be great to see her on the pitch again.

But the downside for Paris is that it affects her game time or her positioning, which would be a shame. Yeah, absolutely. But, you know, it's interesting to see her coming into form. How much of a threat, Tim, are you seeing Manchester United? And I'm asking you this question from an Arsenal perspective. As if I have any other perspective. Well, Manchester United's next four games, they have Chelsea at home, Arsenal away. Then I think they have Villa at home. Then they have Man City away. And I think we'll know more about their...

Obviously, they're very much in that big four. I don't think anyone would ever question that even before the season. But where they figure in that big four, I think, is going to be determined a lot by those results. You know, look, as an Arsenal fan, if I were a Manchester United women fan, to draw an analogy to the Premier League, Arsenal men are currently top. I'm not thinking about Arsenal winning the league.

I'm thinking, let's just get in the Champions League. And that's how I'd be thinking if I were a United fan. I'd think, look, let's try and get that third place. City, I think, are potentially vulnerable. And if it turns into a title race, great. But first priority is to finish third and just on Susie's point around Nikita Paris and Alessio Russo I mean I think another one of the challenges United might have is Lyon have lots of injuries and they need forwards and I think they might come and test

their resolve for Alessio Russo probably in January not even the summer and we've already seen United kind of I don't want to say folded, but they sold Jackie Groening right at the end of the window. And I think that's had a knock-on effect in terms of how they're seen in the transfer market. And I wouldn't be surprised if Lyon really banged the door down for Russo in January. And I think if United want to certainly be in the title consideration and definitely in the top three, they'll need to resist that, I think. That's a really interesting point, actually, Tim.

And obviously, Moyo, that would be a huge test of Manchester United's resolve, but their biggest test on the pitch of the season, arguably, is Chelsea visiting next Sunday. Still yet to beat them. Is this the moment? Yeah, to be honest, United fans, when we're about to play Chelsea,

we pretty much just surrender, like in our heads, six points is gone. I think this is probably the first season that we're looking at that game at home and thinking, OK, we might be able to get something. I don't think a win, but if we could get a draw, I think that would be a great result. I think Chelsea have shown they've got a couple of defensive frailties this season.

I don't think they've quite worked out how yet to play Buchanan, Bright and Magda all together. And I feel like that is an area we can test, but we would have to literally be on top of our game in every area. We'd need on the back to your back, and we'd need Russo sort to your back and we'd need Russo sort of being able to play substantial minutes in that game as well but yeah I'm hopeful that we could get a draw but I'm not I wouldn't put money on it okay that's a nice link to Adam's question Susie he wants to know if Manchester United draw or even beat Chelsea

this weekend do we have to start considering them as genuine title contenders rather than just being as Tim said in a top three race? I think we already have to consider them as title contenders on the basis of the the way they've started the season they're the only team not to have conceded now as well like I think they are in that conversation I also think the conversation about champions league is is a is a stronger one and better for them as well because it's less pressure um than you know bumping them up into wait can we win the league now territory so i do think we have to treat them as title contenders they get anything off chelsea and that only strengthens like this is a real test of

United's character and whether they are ready to challenge for a title or not so like this whole run of fixtures is the point at which we go yes they're title contenders or not because it's not quite the same that it's the head-to-heads that are going to choose the the league in the way it was before I think I think it's now potentially you, you look at Arsenal last season and that Birmingham game, it's those kind of games, those banana skin games that are going to slip people up. So, yeah, it's going to be interesting. By the way, Tim, I just want to say

you sounded very Arsene Wenger-like when you were talking about Arsenal. Just having the ambition to get a top four spot. Just sticking that in there. Let's talk about your side shall we Arsenal 3 West Ham 1 going toe-to-toe as we said with United at the top of the WSL table 100% record and came from a goal down as well to beat West Ham Moyo I don't know if you heard the pod last week but we had a very in-depth chat about the need for teams to work out how to mark Dagny

Brynäs-Dottir at the start of games and they were very lucky to get away with this because there was plenty of controversy at the beginning of the match West Ham with that initial goal from her disallowed and it turns out quite spuriously, I feel like the ref kind of thought that they'd made a mistake with the corner initially, but once you've decided it's

a corner, you've just got to stand by that because there was no, I didn't see a foul happen when the corner took place. I think the goal

should have stood. I don't think it was a corner, but I think the goal should have stood. But you can't backtrack to the step before last

and say it wasn't a, like, there was definitely not a foul and it wouldn't have been called a foul if the corner was given legitimately in the beginning. But Brynna's daughter, I don't understand that. It's like I've blinked and she's almost top goal scorer. And in the Euros, you can see how much of a threat that could be. But I feel like this has taken it to a whole new level this season.

It feels as though she's getting space on every single corner corner which makes no sense because everyone knows she's the biggest threat aerially but maybe she's just inevitable that might be it maybe it's not them maybe it's her I find it just absolutely bizarre most of her goals have just been identikit and yet still it's happening week in uh week out obviously the, the opening goal wasn't, but she was there and ready to pounce. And Tim, it was Jordan Nobbs who got the equaliser after Kim Little had to go off injured, which is a big worry for Arsenal fans. But Jordan Nobbs on the score sheet as well in the Champions League midweek. And it felt as if she really invigorated what was a sluggish Arsenal performance in the first half.

Yeah, absolutely. I literally just wrote like a whole analysis piece about this yesterday, but I'll spare you the 1500 words on that. Needless to say, basically what was happening was Arsenal were a bit sleepy at the beginning. They'd had a Champions League game on Thursday night. And, you know, 1-0 down and losing Kim Little kind of should be a bit of a crisis but Jordan has all the qualities that Arsenal needed in that moment because she does and sees things really really quickly and Arsenal really needed someone to pick the pace of the game

up and there was something a bit more tactical about it as well West Ham were really clogging up that right wing around Beth Mead. They'd clearly identified that area and Jordan just stepped into it and really kind of loosened things up for Arsenal. But I'm just delighted for Jordan. I've been conscious about not patronising Jordan Nobbs because

there's been this big outpouring from Arsenal fans because she's so popular and she's been at the club for so long and she's struggled for minutes and we all know what's happened for her on the international stage and she hasn't got what she's deserved and I've been really conscious about not patronising this player who has nearly 300 Arsenal appearances and loads of league titles but I am just delighted for her and particularly to get that time in the number eight position which I think is her best position and I still don't understand why Serena Wiegmann, Jona Seideval, Arsenal, England undervalue her in that role. I

still don't entirely get it because when I see her play there she just brings so much quality and I just don't understand why over the last couple of years several managers have decided she can't play that position. I wonder if part of it is because it's such a position that requires tenacity, but also needing a little bit of cotton wool put around a player that picks up injuries left, right and centre because you're just going in, breaking up play all the time and that's how you're going to get injured.

And it feels sometimes if Jordan Nobbs is made of glass and it's how you're gonna gonna get injured and it's it feels sometimes if Jordan Nobbs is made of glass and it's been really difficult for her and I want to talk about some really interesting comments from Jonas Eidevall Susie and bear with me on this because it's about squad size he says if you're going to compete in Europe and you have a squad size of 23 that allows for more players to be in the match squad than the WSL that will put you into a dilemma when you're building a squad to compete domestically, because if you have a squad of 23 players when you play in the WSL, you need to leave three of those players off the bench. But in Europe, we could travel with 23 players. With a tight playing schedule, I really think we

should have bigger squads, but we should have the ability and availability to have all those players involved in exactly the same way in the Champions League as we have in the domestic competition. So Arsenal only have a squad of 21. Is this him saying that he can't incorporate 23 players just because he would have to leave some off the bench if everyone was fit? I think that is essentially what he's saying is that you'd have a situation where you're picking players to travel with you in Europe that then you can't even have on the bench at home. I don't know what the impact of that is, but I imagine on morale of the players that travel with the squad

and then are out of the matchday squad on the weekend and just sitting behind the bench out of contention like that can't be the greatest feeling in the world it also can't be great for them as players in sort of confidence of their manager in their ability to go out and perform it's a like you know if you've got the possibility of coming on in the women's super league and being a part of that squad that's a certain level of football and then if you're being asked to play that role at champions league level which is a level above then you know that's a big difference and there's no sort of like in between so i can

sort of understand what he's saying i think it's slightly moot given pretty much every squad has injuries at some point and no squad is fully fit at any one time so two or three players is it a big difference not significantly at the moment because the idea of a squad being fully fit throughout the season and being able to be included in every single match day squad is not that realistic but I can understand the frustration squads aren't big enough to allow for teams to compete across four competitions with the amount of games they've got full stop in the Women's Super League or the Champions League. Yeah, Monica wants to know, Tim, are Arsenal going to invest in the winter transfer window?

If you hear Jonas Eidevall then, you would suggest not. But Susie makes a good point. Yeah, so I asked him at the beginning of the season about that and I know Arsenal tried for a couple of players around the deadline but I think work permits were an issue he said he would definitely sign at least one player I think he's after another forward I also think the situation with Gio Kieros on loan at Everton she's not really getting many minutes I think we're at the stage now where she probably would have got more minutes by staying at Arsenal.

If that situation persists, I imagine Arsenal will revisit that situation in January and whether she goes back out on loan or stays with the squad. But I am absolutely certain that Arsenal will sign at least one player in January and maybe two. Well, we shall see.

Manchester City 2, Liverpool 1. The City avoiding a wobble against Liverpool. Hayley Rasso with the winner after Katie Stengler drawn Liverpool level following an opener from Bunny Shaw. I mean, it seems every week, Tim, that Bunny Shaw gets better and better. Another player that we're highlighting on the pod

which just shows the quality of the WSL this season. A goal and an assist for her on Sunday. And she's showing that she's so much more than just a target player as well. Yeah, definitely. I think she's probably really benefited from Ellen White retiring, which is not a slight against Ellen. But I think what was happening last season, there was lots of chopping and changing.

And obviously Ellen and Bunny Shaw are quite different players. And I don't think Man City really got used to Bunny Shaw and her qualities. I think they definitely are now and particularly with that service from wide from Hempan Kelly and obviously Chloe Kelly wasn't really fit last season so the service from the right probably wasn't quite the same but just look at a list of the top scorers in France over the last seven years. It's either Hegerberg or Katoto. there's only one player that's broken up that list and that was Bunny Shaw at Bordeaux

so not one of the big two so you already knew her pedigree before she came into the league and I think she's just really benefited from perhaps Ellen White stepping aside and City having to make the decision Bunny Shaw's our striker and we play to her strengths now. And I don't think we saw that last season. Interesting point, Moyo. Manchester City announcing this week that they're not going to be wearing white shorts from next season to try and help players feel more comfortable while they're on their periods. Aside from the fact that actually putting my clothing guru head on quite clearly as I sit here in my hoodie and jogging bottoms.

Burgundy shorts actually look very nice with the blue kit, don't they? But it's actually a very important initiative, which we've already seen clubs like West Brom and Stoke adopt as well. Yeah, because I think moves like this just indicate and show that brands are trying to make the players feel comfortable, which is the most important thing when going into something like this but like also you don't want players to have to think about other stuff other than football you want to maybe take care of the ease of that and then make sure that they can just focus on football as opposed to thinking about football and okay it's just going to happen is that going to happen so I think it just makes it a whole lot

easier but also for clubs to be able to focus on what they're there to do, which is to play football. Yeah, I think we'll see that happening more and more, I'm sure. Right, over in the Championship, some interesting results. A big 1-0 win for Crystal Palace at Durham, despite Durham's midweek Conte Cup heroics against Manchester United. London City still second. They drew 0-0 with Blackburn. Lewis beat Coventry 1-0. And Southampton won 1-0 at Sunderland. Lucy Quinn got a 97th minute winner for Birmingham against Sheffield United. Whilst Bristol City are continuing their unbeaten run. They beat Charlton 2-0, keeping them top of the league.

London City, Lionesses and Southampton, of course, who were promoted last year, are second and third on 14 points whilst at the bottom Coventry are still pointless with seven games played. Right moving away from the top of the pyramid now we want to draw attention to something that Helen Hardy founder of Manchester Laces raised on Twitter the other day. Last week we talked about the importance of the Rainbow Laces campaign and how women's football has been such an inclusive space over the years. But it doesn't mean it's always inclusive for everyone. And Helen has actually highlighted a really important issue. In August, I reached out to the FA and our Manchester League to support my club with

guidance about a player who IDs as non-binary and has a female passport but visually presents in a more traditionally masculine way i wanted to ensure that they'd be safe and ask for any advice that they might have the league and the fa didn't support the club but instead removed the player from our online squad after weeks of playing this person regardless we've now had a notification that our game has been forfeited by the league and we may receive further punishment because we had this player in the game. Susie, we want and we all believe and talk about extensively the fact that football should be an inclusive sport. The FA, clubs up and down the country, all been promoting the Rainbow Laces campaign to show their support for

that. But this seems like a case where actions are speaking way louder than all the words. Yeah, I mean, they've massively balled up, haven't they? Like, to be frank, just the whole way they've reacted to the situation is completely unnecessary. And to not go into dialogue with Helen at Manchester Laces to discuss it further and talk about policy for players that identify as non-binary and things like that, that is madness in and of itself. But then a huge debate has exploded around whether this player should be allowed to play.

And we're talking about amateur football here. What is it for if not fun? And shouldn't anyone be able to play in the space that they want to play in depending on how they identify for me like at amateur level that should be the case and i know it's the case that mixed sex football takes place in a number of other countries around the world completely successfully at amateur level basically it's almost like there's an implication that we're going to get a whole wave of men identifying as non-binary or

trans trying to play in women's football to work their way up to a professional level and like I feel like it's being taken to the extreme conclusion that somehow there's going to be some big controversy like that in any sport the likelihood of that happening is like 0.0000001%. Like it is tiny, the likelihood of that happening. So we should need to firstly stop considering that as like the norm and just talk about what is football for and why we play it and should people be able to play where they want and how they feel comfortable. And for me, that like is a no-brainer.

But the idea that the fa have not engaged on it and have just kind of come down really heavy-handedly really unnecessarily and really unjustifiably is madness yeah something we'll keep an eye on and see because you know the fa have to come out and and say something for sure and i know suzy rack you are the person that will keep banging that drum and and asking the right questions right that's everything from us this week

Susie how is your week panning out at the minute off to St George's Park later for Sabina Vickman's press conference which should be

an interesting one and then a relatively quiet week working in the background before the games next weekend yeah very exciting

some crackers next weekend Tim I assume it's the exciting call of the Midlands for games next weekend. Yeah, very exciting. Some crackers next weekend. Tim, I assume it's the exciting call of the Midlands for you next week at Leicester? It certainly is on the National Express due to the train strike. So the glamorous lifestyle rolls on. Oh, love the train strikes. How amazing. Is that going to affect your late night trip to Leigh to watch United-Chelsea, Moyo?

Fingers crossed, no. Hopefully I'll be at that game. So I'm kind of excited. That'll be my first game this season. So yeah, super excited. And then we look forward to speaking to you to find out whether you are still excited about Manchester United's season. Until next time we speak.

Fingers crossed. Right, we'll be back next Tuesday to round up everything from the weekend's WSL action. The Guardian Women's Football Weekly is produced by Lucy Oliver and Jesse Parker-Humphrey. His music composition was by Laura Iredale

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