The Guardian's Women's Football Weekly - WSL returns with derby delight for Toone and a big win for Arsenal – Women’s Football Weekly

Episode Date: January 21, 2025

Faye Carruthers is joined by Suzy Wrack, Emma Sanders and Emily Keogh to discuss the action as WSL returns

This is The Guardian. 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. Hello, I'm Faye Carruthers, and welcome to the Guardian Women's Football Weekly. The WSL is back and so is Ella Toon. It doesn't get much better than a hat-trick in the Manchester derby to kick off 2025 for United fans. Arsenal have finally decided their new manager was under their nose the whole time and Rene Slager's side celebrated with a 5-0 win over Crystal Palace.

Chelsea hit five against West Ham too and there were wins for Spurs and Liverpool. We'll discuss all of that plus we'll take your questions and that's today's Guardian Women's Football Weekly. Susie Rack, it's lovely to see you. I wish I was still in the sunshine. However, back in miserable, miserable London.

How are you doing? How has your week been? Welcome back. I'm delighted that your fun is over. Yes, thank you for that. Cheers for that. So menacing. Emma Sanders, we can't see you, but I know you're here in spirit and voice how are you? I'm good thank you it was a nice 5.45 exit from my house this morning and that's why you can't see me because I'm just in the middle of moving to London actually like I'm just moving everywhere today so I'm about to get on the train but I'm here in spirit. Are you physically moving to

London as in you're picking up your possessions and moving to London or you're just travelling? Absolutely not. You wouldn't catch me dead doing that. Sorry. That's what I thought. I thought, wow, that's a revelation for a Tuesday morning. That's quite incredible. Oh, we have another debutante today and it's a wonderful one as well. Emily Keogh from ESPN. How are you? I'm good. I'm good. I'm not as good at mornings as Emma Sanders, but I'm getting there. I'm awake. So positive start. Yeah, well done. Well, none of us are either. We're just going to let everybody know we had a nice, like chilled late start today. And Emma Sanders went, no, no, get up early, all of you. My bad. Sorry, team. Unbelievable.

If it was anybody else, we'd say no. Now, listen, it was a weekend that saved the best who were last, wasn't it? Up in Emma Sanders' wonderful Manchester, which is why she's not leaving. The first Manchester derby of the season, living up to the hype. It was a six goal for the Germans

to beat the neighbours comprehensively on their own turf. A course aided by a hat trick from Ella Toon, Leah Galton on the score sheet as well. This is how it panned out. Mark Skinner's side went into a 3-0 lead before Viv Miedema and Rebecca Kanak struck to put the hosts back into it. But Toon's third at the start of the second half

sealed the win really and saw United leapfrog their rivals to third in the league it finished Manchester City 2 Manchester United 4 and it was quite fun Susie I mean yeah for for any neutral watching it was great I imagine if you're a Man City fan it probably wasn't too enjoyable. Yeah, I thought Man United were brilliant. Like the pressure straight from the whistle, the decision to sort of really put that back line under pressure and Keating as well, obviously making a few mistakes. You know, no Alex Greenwood, meaning that, you know, Rebecca Knack comes in and is, you know,

straight away kind of tested to the max. So, yeah, like really smart play, really fun to watch and, yeah, dramatic. Dramatic. Huge night for Ella Toome, wasn't it, Emma? I mean, everyone knows that she's a United supporter, came through the academy, but she'd never actually scored in a Manchester derby before, which must have been really special for her. Yeah, it looks really special for her. You could see when she was celebrating the goals,

just how much it meant to her. You know, after she scored the first goal, she almost sort of looked like she couldn't believe that she'd scored it, really. She was like, finally, a goal in a Manchester derby. And obviously, to do it at the Etihad as well, you know, on your rivals' turf is is something else too but yeah she sort of ran away to the corner all of the teammates came along and you know they they gestured a love heart up to the sky which you presume is in tribute to to her father so yeah a really nice

moment for her and then obviously when when she then got the hat trick she was doing the whole knee slide and in the corner in front of the away fans as well. So afterwards, I think she got a little bit emotional when she was talking about the last couple of months that she's had. She's obviously had to deal with the death of her father, but then also having that calf injury that meant she was out for two months as well. It's just been a really difficult time for her. So it's great to see her back in some form and just enjoying herself.

And I think you know any England fan watching that not just Manchester United fans but England fans will be watching that thinking let's hope she stays in that you know space to get to the Euros because you know we've seen she's a really important player for England when she's in top form like she was on the weekend. Yeah we mentioned it last week didn't we so for her to come out and score a hat-trick was just brilliant for her. I mean, she obviously gets all the headlines, Emily, but actually a really key area of United's success was their midfield. And, you know, Hinata, Miyazawa, Dominique Jansen as well,

really key to their success ultimately. Yeah, completely. I thought Miyazawa, it's a really difficult task to handle Yui Hasegawa for 90 minutes and I thought she did it incredibly well obviously national teammates they know each other pretty well but to be able to kind of hold Yui Hasegawa and take her out of the game at moments was really crucial and I think where City don't have Alex Greenwood Hasegawa is so important to kind of keeping that defence held together and taking her out and being able to run through that defence

is so important to them. But yeah, that midfield, I think everyone was just in a really good place with United. They started really quickly and they, for the first time, I think this season really held off and held that stamina for 90 minutes to keep that pressure on. And obviously City came back in. But yeah, I thought the midfield was incredibly talented and same with everyone on the pitch I think everyone took a bit of a step up

really. Not the case for City as Susie you mentioned Chiara Keating's errors a couple of them leading to goals they look pretty fragile at the back as well she was obviously absolutely distraught at the end but her manager G Taylor, said no blame on her shoulders at all. But how does he go about picking her up? Because we know that goalkeeping is all about confidence. And how does he even start to fix their defensive issues? I mean, well, she's sort of been there before in terms of having confidence knocks and picking herself up.

We saw it in the two games against Arsenal at boreham woods where you know first one absolute mare second one player of the match performance really turned it around so i think she's got the ability to sort of do that herself to a certain extent like you know she's a really talented young keeper i think the decision to play her was a weird one when you know she's barely played all season i mean i get it you've had a break you've had some time to sort of you know kind of get her ready and things but when you're you know she's not been your first choice for a significant portion of the season you know I think you need to be a little bit careful in laying the blame completely at her feet in a sense because yeah like I say she's she's not been. So that for me was a strange decision to like throw her in this massive game

after, you know, sort of a few appearances here and there. They need to settle on a keeper quite badly, especially when you've not got Alex Greenwood in front of them. You sort of need to pick someone that the newer players and the less experienced players, for want of a better way of putting it um you know really start to build a relationship and the understanding between them because she looked lost like the goal conceded just after the break that really really killed things

looked like it was a coordinated thing you know she was up really high it was played back to her from the middle like it she just looked a little bit lost to what to do next or where to play it and like you know if you've got the relationships and you've you've practiced those things enough then that that just should not be happening in a million years so yeah like it's um yeah that like i don't think she should necessarily be herself up too much about the mistakes because i think that's maybe a error in selection judgment um but yeah in terms of what they can do to sort of improve themselves defensively obviously bringing in Rebecca Nack is a really strong signing she got a goal like you know really really great record in um in Sweden so like I think that is a good start whether that's enough because they were already

pretty weak defensively um at centre-back in particular before Alex Rubin got injured um I'm not sure so like if I was them I'd be looking to be even busier in the transfer window but whether they are planning that or not I don't know um Sue Klesnik's um sent us a message on x actually saying uh surely Chiara Keating should have been replaced at half time despite pulling two back. Clearly confidence gone even at 2-0, which is an interesting take. I think maybe that would have made things worse, actually, in terms of her confidence. City, of course, still missing key players. Emma, Susie mentioned it earlier, Alex Greenwood, Lauren Hemp, Bunny Shaw.

Any team without those three in would struggle a little bit. But maybe their lack of depth is the worry. And Susie's mentioned the recruitment strategy in terms of who they've brought in. But is there a problem with it overall, do you think? I mean, you could argue that there is, yeah. I mean, they've lost a lot of big players over the last three, four years. You know, you look through the list and some of the ones that they've allowed to leave is pretty astonishing, really.

I mean, obviously, Lucy Bronze, Keira Welsh, Georgia Stanway, a whole host of Lionesses within that. There's a lot of names that are leaving and then the ones that are coming in. Are they any better? You could argue the likes of Kirsten Kaspari have obviously had a huge impact since she's come in. But because they're constantly rebuilding the team because players are leaving, then it takes time for players to come in, especially when they're not from the WSL and they haven't played in the league before, and especially when they're young players.

So you could argue that the recruitment has been done at the wrong time as opposed to it being the wrong recruitment, maybe. I also think, as Susie alluded to, in terms of that defensive structure, quite clearly there needs to be more experience in there. They haven't really addressed that properly. And I don't just mean experience in terms of how long they played in the game, but experience in those big games, experience in those high you know how long they played in the game but experience in those big games experience in those high pressure moments and also the way that Gareth Taylor wants them

to play he wants them to take risks on the ball at the back so you need to get players that have done that before you know you look at the likes of Alana Kennedy who they signed and you could argue that you know that's not really her strength so why are they bringing someone like her in and then not using her in the way that plays to her strengths so yeah it has all been a little bit muddled I don't think they've got it right and they can't keep doing it basically muddled is a good word um and Emily I'm not sure if you heard our pod last week but we we we talked about Chloe Kelly and what the issues are there and Emma's just mentioned a load of lionesses you know having left over the last few years

another looks like they're heading out of the door Chloe Kelly very conspicuous in her absence Gareth Taylor saying that she'd picked up a knock that age-old injury the knock that that that tends to be a knock for something else but you know she has been heavily linked with a move to Manchester United which would be controversial what's the latest on that do we know yeah obviously all kind of came up before the game which I think when Gareth was talking about Kelly's absence he didn't seem entirely sure um he left it very ambiguous as you said and I don't know whether that was more because he just didn't really want to talk to media after they lost or whether you know he actually wasn't really that aware of of what was going on and potentially

that kind of reflects perhaps some some disconnect behind the scenes but I think if you if you look at it as a whole a player of her caliber who's only had one WSL start at the first half of the season there's no doubt why she would want to be looking at a move away I think City have had sort of a pattern where a player has has probably had a very good reason for wanting a move or a loan and they've kind of held on to that player and had them on the bench and for both parties it's it's never really seemed to be the best situation so I think at the minute obviously City won't want to let a senior player go given their injuries and given actually up front Chloe Kelly might have had a really big role in that derby but obviously we'll never know whether it could have been any

different if she had played so I can I can see it from both sides. I still think Kelly's team will be pushing for a move. I'm not entirely sure the updates over the weekend. But it wouldn't surprise me if we did see Kelly stay. But I think she would be very unhappy with that if she wasn't being guaranteed game time. But then again, with the injuries, Taylor may have changed her stance and she actually might become a really important player in this side with with Lauren Hempout and potentially a bit of disconnect as they try to build in their new their new signings which obviously there's

been several links um which can't have been easy for for Kelly to see either knowing that potentially if you're adding the likes of of Carolyn potentially to your squad that's another play you've got to compete with for game time so it's a really tricky situation and I think what's the kind of the big reflection here is that probably there's a lot more going on behind the scenes than any of us are really aware of and potentially that's that's fueling a bigger problem at City that you know might come to light in the next couple of weeks but I think it's a really tough time to be Chloe Kelly, really, especially with her Euros placed potentially on the line if she can't get more game time.

So I do feel for her, but I'm not entirely sure City will be willing to let her go at this point. We shall see, which is something that we've been saying for the last few months at Arsenal, isn't it, Susie? We shall see whether Renée Sleggers will be appointed the permanent head coach. Well, she't it, Susie? We shall see whether Renée Slaggers will be appointed the permanent head coach. Well, she has been, finally, and her team continued the good news on the pitch as well with a 5-0 win over Crystal Palace. Williamson, Russo, Meade and two goals from Mariana Caldente as well saw Arsenal move up to second in the WSL.

Their unbeaten run as well has gone to 12 in all competitions. Brilliant performance from them. Made it really comfortable in the end. Look, we've covered this situation to death a little bit, Susie, haven't we? But she has finally been rewarded for her work as interim coach after Jonas Eidevall left. An 18-month contract, though, is all they've given her. What do you make of that?

Yeah, I think it's right that she got the job. Like, obviously, it's been a long wait. And they say, you know, a far extensive, whatever word you want to use, process to reach this point. But, you know, given the work she she had done I think it would have been difficult for anyone else to come in and pick up the job like when she had such uh goodwill amongst fans and players um like it'd be a really hard place to come into so I think it's it's the right appointment and um like also I think it's quite telling that no one's really reported on other names that were on the shortlist or the longlist or anything like that.

And I think that kind of speaks to how few sort of top quality managers there are actually available in women's football or are in women's football full stop, right? Like of a certain level. Well, Nick Cushing was the only one really, wasn't it? That was the only one that came out. Yeah, but I'm not even sure that he was you know we would not really heard whether he was in it till you know sort of the final rounds or not like or if he was out of it early doors so it's a really difficult one because like I say the availability of top managers in women's football is the put that hall is tiny minuscule so you know when you've got someone who is performing and uh you know has really brought together the dressing room and things like that then i think they

deserve a chance still like as i've said every single week pretty much like there are huge tests to come like she's not properly being tested and the back-to-back games against city and chelsea first at the end of this month and start next is the first like for me like big big test of her credentials for the long term but I think you know 18 month contract you know when you've got someone who isn't necessarily kind of tested or known at the top top level like this I mean that's fine you know they can extend it it's not a not a big issue and yeah like it's it's great that she got it because i think like you know fans are delighted at the match they were all singing uh we've got super renee sneggers and things like that and like you

know there's a real kind of feel-good factor back at the club again they've scored 36 goals conceded five in the 12 games that she's been in charge um only one of those goals conceded in the league so like the numbers speak for themselves and it's just you know it's average of three goals a game if they can keep that up then you know they've got a really good chance of being the main challengers to Chelsea but like I can't see anyone catching Chelsea so that's a bit of a moot point but yeah you get my drift yeah I do get your drift absolutely it's not a snow drift either it It makes sense. It was a comprehensive win in the end, Emma,

even if it took them a while to get the second goal. Another clean sheet as well. And a pretty impressive scoring record, as Susie just said, under Rene Slagers. What did you make of their performance as a whole and how much confidence is it going to give them? Because actually, you know, they could be the challenges to Chelsea and they play them next week, of course. Yeah, I thought it was a really good

performance. I think what we're seeing now from Arsenal's players is a bit more confidence individually. And I think that's maybe what they were lacking at the start of the season, obviously, when things weren't going well under Jonas before he left. I think you could see individually players weren't you know they weren't really enjoying themselves they weren't expressing themselves obviously the likes of you know Leo Willis and Alessio Russo were given a bit of a hard time when they were kind of on England duty as well because they weren't performing well so you know they're two of the individuals for example that I think are really are really informed now you know they're playing some really good

stuff so obviously both were on the school sheet on the weekend as well. I think, you know, Arsenal's starting to get the best out of the likes of Mariana Caldenti again. We're seeing her sort of given a bit more of a freer role. So yeah, I think it's those small tweaks.

Arsenal have always had a good team. There was no doubt about that. It was just about getting them back to their best and making sure that they didn't feel like they had the shackles on them. I think that's what Renee's done. She's just reminded the players individually how good they are and it's all

starting to come together. Not so for Crystal Palace, although they probably wouldn't have marked this one down, Emily, as a W when they were going through the plan for the season. It's not going to define their season, that's for sure. And actually, they defended really well for large parts of the game until that flurry of goals towards the end.

What do you think they can take from the performance going into a big game against Tottenham next week? I think that's the big frustrating thing with Crystal Palace is that they start really, really well and they just really struggle to hold off. And I guess there's an experience and an ability to kind of keep the same momentum up for 90 minutes and I think we saw that in the Chelsea game right at the start of the season that it was really hard to break them down and then they kind of just had the the wind knocked out of their sails and there was that

flurry of goals at the end and I think it's the same sort of pattern with teams I think teams know that Crystal Palace can't hold off for 90 minutes so they know that if they kind of keep at them for you know an hour at some point they will lose concentration or or they will just not be able to hold off and you'll be able to get those extra goals so I think it's it's quite a difficult time for Laura Kaminsky at this point because how do you change that how do you rectify that and it's obviously there's multiple things that will feed into that but I think teams know that they just need to to kind of keep that press going and keep the pressure on and again ahead of Spurs it's a similar thing where they'll need to to be strong and I think Spurs have had a difficult time in front of goal at the minute it's a little

bit disconnected it has been a little bit all season so trying to really hold that defence and trying to prevent them from having chances will be really key I think there's a lot of positives with Crystal Palace and there's a lot of positives in the side and with individual players but I think it's that team effort of being able to hold off and and defend for 90 minutes when you've got teams that have very very well worked attacks coming at you for a very long time so I think there's going to be a moment for for Kaminsky to kind of reflect and go how do I approach these games um but I think just trying to to keep together in defense will be really key against Spurs who also haven't probably had the season they want so they know that these games the the lower table teams are going to be what

they're looking to target to pick up some points so I think it's a it was it might be a tough couple of weeks for Kaminsky but I think just trying to keep togetherness in that defence will be really key. I think the hard part is that like it's you know the the gap between the WSL and Championship right like I think we're going to see this with every single team that comes up, is that, like, there is a physical performance gap between teams that means that they're going to really struggle to close that gap and, you know, hold out for 90 minutes against WSL side every single week. Like, that's going to take a season or two to get used to at least really

because the reality is is like the players in playing in the WSL on the whole have been playing professionally for a lot longer than most of the championship players so you're basically asking you know these championship players to come up and then like physically kind of compete for a certain amount of time against uh against players that have been playing, in a lot of cases, longer than them and more hours a week and things like that. And I just, you know, until the championship is like fully full-time professional and they're given that time, I just don't think we're going to necessarily see a team be able to sort of come up and mount a challenge. And I think Crystal Palace is like an example of that

because obviously you see that you saw we saw it with Bristol as well but you know they also just didn't play particularly well whereas Palace are a really well coached side like you see the potential you know like like Emily said for that like what it was it however many minutes until they got this till Arsenal got the second goal they were in that game and they had a couple of chances obviously you know Arsenal completely dominated but they were really well organized and yeah that's the issue right like it's that gap between wso and championship that that isn't their fault no it is a gap you are correct uh we'll catch up on the championship in part two by the way uh that's it for part one we'll also in part two look at the rest of That's it for part one. We'll also, in part two,

look at the rest of the weekend's action and catch up on some significant management changes. 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. So Liverpool secured their first league win since November, beating Brighton 2-1 to move up to seventh in the table many have called it liverpool's best performance of the season to date with olivia smith mia enderby and leanne keenan all stretching brighton's faltering defense feels like suzy things are starting to look up in merseyside yeah i mean like a great start to the second half of the season like they really really needed it and it's not been the easiest time for them after like such a great season last year but I mean that's partly not their fault I mean they've not beaten had sort of a huge amount of money coming into the side like they've not been able to spend big in the summer compared to some

other teams um so their backs were sort of against the wall from the off in that sense so to get a win and a performance like this you know kind of so early on in the second half of the season I think is really significant uh I thought they're everywhere um like the pressure uh they just seem like really energetic and up for it and like forward thinking in a way that you know I think we haven't maybe seen for a while it looks a little bit timid I'd say in the first half of the season they just they just look like they've shaken that off obviously they've brought in a couple of players on loan as well which I think is going to help help them in this second phase um but again they're sort of doing business constantly

on the back foot like trying to sort of hang on to the coattails of all of the other teams that are investing far more significantly those sort of in and around them in that sort of middle of the pack section of the table uh which is a real shame because you think you know given what they did last season there was a real opportunity to like really kind of go for it and invest and at the moment i think they're very much reliant on matt beard's skill as a manager and like ability to kind of find sort of you know players who are very very cheap because no one's really heard of them but ends up being like a superb gem the team very much relying on him to do that you know they've brought in scottish samker on loan from by munich and julia bartel on loan from

chelsea but like loan deals aren't gonna sort of sustain you for the long term so they're good like additions to the squad for this second half of the season but like in terms the long term. So they're good additions to the squad for this second half of the season. But in terms of long term, Liverpool just need to up their game and actually give a damn about the women's team. That would really help. I'd love to see Matt Beard be given a shitload of money.

I really would. I think he really deserves it. She must just get so frustrated with having to completely have a new prefix to her name all the time. Scottish Sam Kerr rather than just Sam Kerr. She was just cursing, wasn't she, when Chelsea Sam Kerr, Aussie Sam Kerr arrived in the league. Olivia Smith opened the scoring, by the way. It was a superb solo goal.

Nikita Paris levelled the game in the second half but it was an unfortunate own goal in the end from Jorlin Karabali that saw Matt Beard's side seal all three points late on. Let's focus on Olivia Smith's performance because she's only 20 years of age and she caused Brighton's defence so many problems

particularly in the first half but she had to go off in the second half with a knock to her ribs and then Matt Beard came out and kind of called for more protection from the referees for her this is what he had to say at some point she's probably going to get hurt if it's not dealt with they should be penalized the rules are the rules um firstly Emma what did you make of her performance and what did you make of her manager's post-match comments as well? Yeah, I mean, firstly on Olivia Smith's performance. I mean, what a player, you know, talk about investment in the Liverpool squad.

And she's the only one really that they have invested in over sort of the last 18 months or so. Club record signing and she's been absolutely phenomenal really this season. She tore Brighton apart. They just couldn't handle her. The goal itself was kind of a summary of all of her traits in one move, really. She had the strength, the tenacity to hold them off. She had the pace. She had the intelligence running behind. And then the finish at the end was just fantastic. So I think that was a demonstration of who she is and what she can do. And like you say, she's only 20 years old. It's quite scary, really.

The comments afterwards were, you know, they were interesting. We kind of weren't really expecting them. We'd spoken to Olivia, you know, literally a few moments before and then Matt Baird walked in and he wasn't prompted in terms of, you know, a question or anything. He brought it up himself. So he was obviously very keen to, you know, make it known that he was unhappy about it.

It's not the first time he's mentioned it. I remember being at Anfield for the defeat to Manchester City, where again, Olivia Smith tore Manchester City apart in the first half and had to come off injured in the second half. She was a bit battered and bruised in that one and Matt Beard raised question marks about it then. So I think it's really interesting comments

I you know whether you agree with them or not what I do like is the fact that he's coming out and he's defending his player and sort of you know being the kind of the typical father figure if you like and sort of saying you know leave my player alone and you know fighting for her so I actually I really like that I that. I like that in a manager and he's done it off the back of a victory as well. So I think whenever you're complaining and it's off the back of a win, there's a little bit more to it, I think.

So yeah, it was interesting comments and certainly one that I think a lot of people maybe were sort of agreeing with. Yeah, I see what you mean in terms of the context of when he makes the comment, without a doubt. I'm not quite sure. I mean, I understand the context of Brighton manager Dario Vidozic's comments, but I'm not entirely sure whether this is the best way to describe your team's performance. Unacceptable and toothless, Emily.

Was it a correct analysis? And is that too far to go? Really? How's that going to inspire them? I think it's really hard when like a manager's personally frustrated about a performance, because there's obviously what you do behind the scenes. And then there's obviously the execution on the pitch. So I can understand. I mean, I've seen it before with other managers where, you know, they've probably been a little bit dramatic, I'd say with some of the comments. I think he's got really high standards with Brighton. And we've heard him say, you know, they've probably been a little bit dramatic, I'd say, with some of the comments. I think he's got really high standards with Brighton and we've heard him say, you know, he wants to be pushing for that top four. And for ages, you know, they were in that top three bracket and they'd had some really good performances. I think with it being after the

break and the first WSL game, and it's not an easy WSL game either, Liverpool, it was those kind of internal frustrations that probably came out a little bit I would be really interested to know kind of what war whether it was any different at halftime because I think they they didn't play badly I think they've they played better but I didn't think it was an overall you know shockingly bad performance and they still would have probably walked away with a point if it wasn't for those last 15-20 minutes where they really lapsed in concentration. So I think he may reflect slightly differently

with a bit of hindsight. But yeah, I thought it wasn't the best of performances but I didn't think it was the worst of performances that we've seen from Brighton before. So yeah, I'd be interested to know on kind of on reflection, whether he still stands by those comments. And maybe that was a little bit of his game plan didn't really work. And it was more frustration himself than at the players. But I did think it was quite strong comments for it to be the first double-cell game back after quite a long break. And it not being an easy game at all. It's

the first time Liverpool have won at St Helens. So, you know, you weren't walking into that game expecting to walk away with a win. So I did think it was quite interesting and would be quite keen to know whether he's changed his approach or I guess his opinion of that game with a little bit of hindsight. Both Everton and Aston Villa

will have been looking to leave a difficult first half of the campaign behind. They came into their fixture at Walton Hall Park, both looking for a win, but it finished Everton 1, Aston Villa 1, late Sarri equaliser, Rachel Daly heading the visitors into the first half lead, but Viettriki Sarri struck in the final minutes to make sure that Brian Sorensen's side salvaged a point.

They've made moves in the transfer window. We discussed it last week, Susie. It actually meant that they were able to name nine subs on the bench. It felt quite important, actually, for kind of changing the course of the match and getting themselves a point. Well, yeah, I mean, the fact that Beatrice Casari came off the bench in the 75th minute

and then goes on to score the winner shows that they've got a little bit more depth than they've had there before. Obviously, she is not new, like just in terms of you know kind of who they start and you know who kind of is on the bench and available um and having like different options available depending on who you're playing and the game plan like so significant right like and i think it's great that they're finally getting a little bit of money i mean obviously they've brought in kelly gago from uh nantes the hayley lad in from man united martina fernandez barcelona emma watson

you know young talented player from man united as well on loan uh lorna ribadera or ribadera uh in from chelsea on loan as well so like you've got some like solid moves being made obviously like i said on liverpool like the loans aren't necessary for the long term but in terms of kind of helping them handle uh all their injuries and just giving them a little bit more depth on the bench it's hugely significant and i think it's no accident that you know you then see a substitute come on and make the difference and get them a point you know just being able to rotate like that is hugely significant you know they made one two three four five changes during the game when was the last time Everton could make five changes during a game when was the last time they

had more than five players on the bench like yeah it's um hugely significant and you hope you know with an ownership at the club that they're actually gonna kind of get a little bit of money thrown their way hopefully we don't see a Man united where the new ownership come in and then forget about the women's team almost entirely or or say they're not the focus um hopefully we don't see a situation like that but um but yeah at the moment the signs look good i meant to mention that earlier when we were talking about manchester united how's that working out then the women are getting the results and the men aren't interesting yeah I need to mention uh Courtney Brosnan because we always give her a little bit of love on the pod um for her

performances and and Brian Sorensen praised her performance as well keeping them in the game during a tricky first half and she kind of flies under the radar sometimes for her heroics Emma but she was brilliant wasn't she yeah I like that you give a love on the podcast because I completely agree. I don't think she gets anywhere near enough of it elsewhere. What a brilliant player she's been for Everton. Every single time I cover them, you know, Courtney Brosnan will make an important save

or have an impact on the game. And I think she was so important to them to keep them in and keep the scoreline down. Because as we've just said about the depth coming off the bench and that was obviously what Brian Sorensen was calling for it's you know there's obviously a risk element to that that Everton is sort of playing the long game they're playing the game over the 90 minutes as opposed to obviously trying to sort of get the job done in an hour. But they can do that because they have someone like Brosnan who can keep things at bay for an hour and then they can make those impactful substitutions,

which they did. You know, I thought Mel Lawley was fantastic when she came on as well. Obviously, the new signings helped in that too. And Gago was just absolutely brilliant. I mean, she, you know, she really, really hassled and I think a lot of the fans are excited to see

what she can do going forward. So I just think it was fantastic that Brosnan sort of gave them that sort of standing point to go from. And yeah, look, we know how important she is. We know how good she is.

And I think Everton need to keep hold of her over the next couple of years. That's the most important thing for them. Yeah, I agree. Sean Goethe said that his side need to be more ruthless. He's still in interim charge of Aston Villa,

but has said that he would love the permanent job. What do you make of his comments about their performance, Emily? And would it be a good shout to take over permanently? Yeah, it feels like we're in the interim managerial saga pot too. You know, will he stay longer what happens I think given how they started the season it's really it's really inspiring to see the bit of change in Aston Villa and undergo so they seem a lot happier on the pitch and they seem to be enjoying their football a little bit more which I think is really nice to see and obviously they've they've

had a pretty good record under him the past four games so I think he's giving himself a little bit like Rene giving himself all the reasons why Aston Villa could appoint him. I'm not too sure. Obviously, it was slightly different, I think, in an Arsenal sense where Rene had been there for quite some time. But yeah, I think it's the more Aston Villa are producing good performances and looking connected to what Gota's doing, I think it just works in his favour towards potentially having that job.

But yeah, I think it's a little bit of rebuilding. I think it was a pretty tough start to the season for Villa. But obviously they're expected to have a couple of departures, which is slightly unfortunate with those being key players. So I think it's a really kind of telling couple of weeks for them. And obviously the more they can build on how they've started under Gota, the better it will be for both the performances and for his potential ability to take the job full time.

So I think it's another one of those we'll have to wait and see, as we've been saying with other things. But yeah, I think it would be a positive move. I think they clearly are responding to what he wants to do. So I think especially at this point in time where they're still, you know, kind of navigating this change, he's probably the best person to stay until potentially someone else comes up. So maybe until the end of the season, just study the ship a little bit and then look to rebuild in the summer. I wouldn't be surprised if they went with that option.

Yeah, you mentioned some departures. Anneliette's gone, but Kenza Dali announced her departure after two and a half years at the club. Emma reported on Saturday that she's set to sign for San Diego Wave, but we've not heard official confirmation of that yet. Right, a couple more games to get through. Chelsea put any fear of the mini blip to bed. They swept away West Ham in Dagenham, winning by five goals to nil. Katerina Macario, Erin Cuthbert, Aggie Beaver-Jones, Sandy Baltimore and an own goal from Ambas Tisiak as well. I mean, it was just a dominant performance,

wasn't it? Chelsea are up to 31 points at the halfway stage of the season. They're seven points ahead of Arsenal at the top of the table and they were pretty impressive, weren't they, Susie, on Sunday? Yeah, just copy and paste anything I've said about Chelsea in any of the previous pods. Like, the consistency is ridiculous. I'm bored of superlatives about them.

I loved Kat Macario's goal in particular. I just, like, could eat that all day long. It was brilliant. They're just so unbelievably rampant. It looks too easy, which is what is scary. You know, I think it's routine for them now until the end of the season like obviously they've got to get past arsenal like next weekend but you know even if

they don't why is it still four points it's it's kind of yeah meh um like for me the only interest in chelsea at the moment is champions league i just can't wait to see what they do in that that's where the excitement is in the league i think they've got it wrapped up already pretty much um if they don't it will be the like a colossal sort of collapse or injury crisis that really kind of takes them under but um the exciting part for me is Champions League I'm struggling to get excited about them in the league because it's it's become that routine that's testament to them like that's praise like it's just yeah it's death taxes Chelsea winning yeah frustrating from an Arsenal fan point of view slightly boring from a neutral fan point of view as well they definitely you know needs to be a little bit more competition a quick one on West Ham Emma I mean how does Rhian Skinner

look at this does she just park it what do they learn from it anything? I think it's difficult to learn from it because you know as we've just said Chelsea are just a class

above everyone aren't they I think West Ham know that that's going to be difficult I think I remember watching them at the Joy Stadium earlier in the season

they put in a really good sort of hours performance against Manchester City and ended up losing I think it was like know, 3-0 or something like that. And the scoreline didn't reflect kind of how they performed. But I think this game was different. I think Chelsea were quite clearly, you know, just sort of 10 times better, really. So, yeah, very much one to park. And I think West Ham know that, you know, they've got bigger problems and it's about sort of beating those teams in and around them

to stay in the league. And so far, they're doing a good job of that. They've got a little bit of a cushion, a very tiny cushion, but a little bit of a cushion in that relegation spot. So it'll be those games that they'll be looking to. Right at the top of the pod, I said the Manchester derby,

we saved the best till last in terms of the games of the weekend. On this pod, we've most definitely not saved the best till last in terms of the games of the weekend. On this pod, we've most definitely not saved the best till last. And, you know, criticise me if you like Tottenham and Leicester fans, but this was a shocker of a game. And actually it was Spurs who edged it. Slightly fortuitous circumstances as well.

It means they're three points behind fifth place Brighton in the table now. Tottenham won, Leicester City nil is how it finished. The only goal of the game, a fourth-minute own goal from Leicester goalkeeper Janina Leipzig. Spurs are going to be counting their lucky stars, Emily. They registered zero shots on target in the game. Their first shot of any note came deep into the second half. I feel for both these sides, it's just a case of let's move on.

We have talked on this pod quite a lot about Leicester's attacking issues, which, you know, clearly this game shows needs addressing. How do you even sum up this 90 minutes? Yeah, I think it's sort of one of those games that you kind of just, you're like, it happened and everyone collectively

just kind of moves on from it a little bit. Everyone got cold and went home. Yeah. You know, I think there's always those games in the season when nothing really goes to plan, and everyone's got a little bit of, whether it's the hangover from the winter break, and I think, yeah, it's kind of one of those games,

when you look at it, you can kind of see where everything went a bit wrong. But at the same time, it's like I'm not entirely sure where everything went a bit wrong. I think obviously Leicester have a lot of injuries up front and they've kind of been without a forward line for quite a while. So I'd be surprised if we didn't see them trying to bring in some reinforcements in this window. Obviously, it was a debut for Lisa Kopp, who'd moved from Leicester to Spurs, which, you know, when she had opportunities to defend, I thought she played fairly well. But she kind of didn't have a lot to do. I think it's one of those situations where for both clubs, it will probably be a little bit of a learning curve in terms of what we don't want to do but it's again it's so early on in in this bit of the season that I'm I'm a little bit like they will probably just put it to bed and look to move on because as they as they grow into it as they come back together I think you know these sorts of results slightly become few and far

between but I think that the slightly more worrying thing for me with Spurs is that something just really isn't clicking with them this season. They had such a positive run last campaign and this season. It just something just doesn't seem to be to be working so well for them. Maybe that they've just really can't replace Grace Clinton and Celine Bizet, which I think plays a big role. But after, you know, six months of trying to try new things putting new players in those places you know I'm not too sure then at what point does things start to change so yeah I think it's for me it's a little bit more worrying for Spurs than it is for Leicester I think with Leicester you can kind of forgive

them with the injuries but for Spurs I just I'm not too sure what's not clicking for them this season and I think they want to be battling for mid-table and I'm slightly worried they may slip out of that race if they can't seem to figure out how to get the best out of the players that they have got. Where we've said that the WSL at times is quite straightforward and to quote Susie meh I still think that that's coming from more of an Arsenal point of view than anything else, mind you. The Barclays Championship is just absolutely brilliant. Again, it returned this weekend, but the eight-horse title race potentially looks like it's become a six-horse title race. Falling, falling at hurdles as we go along.

Birmingham City opened up a one-point gap at the top of the table. They had a 3-1 win away to Portsmouth. London City beat Bristol City by a goal to nil to leapfrog them into second. Really touching scenes at Ashton Gate, actually. Over 2,000 Robins supporters. A bit of fond farewell to Abby Harrison after six years at the club she spent. Charlton pulled themselves back into the running with a 2-1 win away to Durham meanwhile Sunderland beat Southampton in front of 7,000 fans at St Mary's to move up into fourth but it was that was a result obviously that saw

Remy Allen's side potentially drop out of the running finally Newcastle rescued a point at Bramall Lane thanks to a 91st minute goal from Rachel Furness. Sheffield United will have been desperate for the win, but it could prove to be a valuable point for them. They've extended the gap between them and Portsmouth, at least at the bottom of the table. The championship still continues to be the gift that keeps on giving. Right, some manager announcements for you. We covered Casey Stoney going to Canada last week and obviously René Slager's to

Arsenal earlier on in this podcast but there was really big news for one of our very own guests and friends of the pod last week as well. Carla Ward, named as new manager for the Republic of Ireland. She's going to take over the side with immediate effect. Her contract's going to run through to the end of their 2027

World Cup campaign. This is what she had to say. This is an unbelievable opportunity, not just with the national team, but helping to add to the fantastic work being done to develop women and girls football in Ireland. I've worked with Irish players before and their personalities maybe match a bit of mine.

I think we stand for the same things in terms of our values and principles. I felt it was the right match. I've been in club football for a long time now and I've had a fairly successful career so far. Work-life balance was number one. Stepping away from club football, the next step was to step onto the international stage. And it's funny, I feel like everything that we've spoken about last week has kind of come to fruition this week because that's exactly what we were saying. It just feels like the natural step for the work-life balance at the moment.

What did you make of the appointment, Emma? A really big opportunity for both her and Ireland, I feel. Yeah, fantastic appointment, I think, for both parties. Like you say, not surprising the slightest. I spoke to Carla for an interview, November time maybe, and she said, you know, she was looking at international football. So pretty sure she would have had a name in the hat for the Scotland job as well. I'd imagine a lot of the managerial candidates up for the Republic of Ireland were also on the shortlist for the Scotland job.

So they've got their hands cut out, really, I think, to try and find someone at the same level. But yeah, I think it works. I think she's worked with quite a lot of the Republic of Ireland players before as well. Sort of, you know, through her time in club football, she's quite familiar with the way that they play. I think in terms of a cultural identity, she's really good. She's the type of manager that, you know, she likes being an underdog. She likes sort of getting the players to dig in and sort of, you know, fight. And I think that's what Republic of Ireland are kind of all about as well so um yeah I just think it's a really

good fit and I tell you what she's got some good away trips as well hasn't she in the Women's Nations League so she's gonna have a great time I love that that's the first thing you look at always the journo where are we off to um look we've made quite a lot actually recently of the opportunities that young female coaches get or or don't get obviously is more more to the point there's still a lot of work to do emily but it feels like a positive week in that respect with all the announcements that have been made yeah totally i i did a bit of work with some of the fa with their their cohort of players who are current players and ex-players who are going through their coaching license and the big theme that was coming up for everyone was

opportunities and having opportunities um because you can do all your training do all your licenses but if you're starved of opportunity you're not going to be able to to achieve those goals um so yeah I think it's so positive and I think it's so important we say all the time about having role models and having people in those jobs that you can look at and say because they achieved it I can um and I think sometimes we think it's a little bit cheesy and corny but I think it's it's so true that we need to we need to see women in these roles we need to have that visibility um so yeah I think it's so important that you know Arsenal have a female manager again they haven't had one for quite some time so it's you know it's great and I think similarly with with Ireland I was so excited about Carla Ward's appointment I think it's

it's a great appointment for both the club and person and I'm very excited to see what what she does with them and yeah I think it's across the board it's a really positive appointment and similarly with with Casey Stoney as well we're looking at three really really capable managers in three really really good jobs and it just goes to show kind of when those those opportunities are available then we're able to kind of fill them with with women who have the talent and have the ability so I think it's so exciting and I think it's it's great for for the younger generations looking at at three new managers that are all female that go, well, that could be me in 15 years time. So really positive.

Yeah, where there's positives, there's also, you know, an interesting story behind it, Susie, isn't there? And you and I are both mothers as well. We know that the juggle is real. And that's not to take anything away from anybody who's not a parent. You know, the juggle is real for everybody. I understand that. But I think it's quite interesting that both Carla and Casey mentioned the importance of having that work-life balance as mums and how it actually factored into their decisions. Emma Hayes has talked about it in the past as well. Renee Slagers is also a mum and she's gone into the domestic game.

But how urgent is it, do you think, for organisations to really start thinking much more about how they can best support managers who are mothers as well? So we don't lose the talent from club football. It's something that, you know, the corporate world is looking into as well. Tanya Roxtoby is another great example about Northern Ireland. Her little boy is not that much older than my little boy. It feels as if something needs to be done to make this support more possible because there's obviously only a certain number of international jobs that are appealing for people. What needs to be done? What can be done? A lot needs to be done emma hayes has spoken about it a few times that we like sort of put managers on pedestals and expect them to

kill themselves a little bit uh for their craft you know like with men's managers too in the men's game you know like the the manager who you know sort of completely rejects their family and their their sort of life is the one who is sort of you know championed the hardest like when you know you kind of see managers starting to prioritize sort of their own mental and physical health you know they're maybe you know not necessarily considered to be doing the best job so like I just feel like our attitudes towards the role needs to change entirely as a society as well as then there being changes made to make it a more like family-friendly job with a better work-life balance for everyone involved in it right like you shouldn't be having to give up absolutely everything to to do the job no matter how much you love it like that's not healthy um and it's not going to

make you a good manager so yeah like I mean Emma Hayes has put out various different like solution possibilities like uh job shares and things like that you know that coaching duo is a bit like you know Karen Hills and Juan Amos when they were both at Tottenham. And I think that makes a lot of sense. And then, yeah, like, I just, I don't know what other sort of key solutions there could be, but we put a lot on the individual in a way that we don't necessarily need to, you know, Rene Sledgers has talked about, you know, kind of how much of a, of a like staff team they are and how important Aaron,

um, the other assistant coach who's been there since Joe Montemuro's time is to things at Arsenal. Like it's so far from just being a manager. They're the face of it, right? Like they're the front of the, of, of a, of a team of people. And I think we need to sort of have a little bit of a shift away from the focus on the individual um as much as they are sort of you know the the focal point but yeah I don't know what the answer is and I think there's probably plenty of like you know you put put this way I think if you stuck all of those like manager mothers uh in a in a room and possibly a lot of the manager fathers as well and said how could we make this better for you they would possibly a lot of the manager fathers as well and said how could we

make this better for you they would have a lot of ideas um very very quickly but is that conversation ever had are those questions ever asked probably not but i think that there should be some kind of like forum for that i don't know who would take charge of bringing that kind of thing together maybe the lma maybe the fa like but i think someone has to sort of go hang on a second the culture here isn't a healthy one yeah you're exactly right um it's a debate to be had for sure um a couple of other bits of um job news as well Michael McArdle's been named interim head coach of Scotland while they search for a permanent manager uh after the departure of Pedro Martinez-Losa. And another big departure, Kay Cossington is leaving the FA as Women's Technical Director after eight years.

She's going to become the head of women's football at investment firm Sixth Street and chief executive of Bay Collective. She's going to be a huge miss at the FA. And actually, I think it will be interesting in a few weeks' time, maybe if we assess that towards the FA. And actually, I think it'll be interesting in a few weeks time, maybe if we assess that towards the end of the season, because she's going to leave before the Lionesses head out to Switzerland

for the European Championships. So we'll discuss that further. Big news from there. But it's been a pleasure to have you all on. Emily Keogh, what a fantastic debut. I hope you'll come back again. Definitely. Yeah, if you'll

have me excellent um Emma Sanders I'm very sad you're not permanently moving to London yeah it's never gonna happen mate never ever ever ever boo boo boo uh Susie Rack always a pleasure to have an hour in your company see you soon soon. See you later. Keep having your say by sending in your questions via X or emailing us at womensfootballweeklyattheguardian.com. As ever, a reminder to sign up for our weekly women's football newsletter as well. All you need to do is search Moving the Goalposts

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