The Guardian's Women's Football Weekly - WSL title race narrows while Chelsea and City resume winning ways – Women’s Football Weekly

Episode Date: January 13, 2026

Faye Carruthers is joined by Suzy Wrack, Sophie Downey and Freddie Cardy to discuss the WSL’s return from the winter break

This is The Guardian. Hello, I'm Faker others and welcome to the Guardian Women's Football Weekly. Happy New Year, you lovely lot. We've missed you and we've missed the football as well, of course, and the Barclays WSL made its return after the winter break with some new managers in the dugout after Rianne Skinner and Jocelyn Prasert were relieved of their duties. With the transfer window now open,

we've got some exciting new players to keep an eye on as well, with some making their debuts and others trying but failing. Can anyone catch Manchester City this season? It looks like only Chelsea at the moment. We'll catch up on all the games. Plus, we'll take your questions, and that's today's Guardian Women's Football Weekly. What a panel we have today.

Susie Rack, I've missed you as well. How was your Christmas? Very restful. I've had loads time off, and I've got loads time off because I've built up so much during the Euros and the summer and things. So, yeah, I actually have had a very, very nice rest. Well, that was very well earned after what has been a quite bonkers year for you and won for Sophie Down.

as well. How are you? Is that a new hat I spy? No, I've had it quite a well. It's reping the Lakers, which is where my sister lives in L.A., so I've got to rep the home team, sort of. Yeah, it's been really good, thank you. I've become a cat mum, which is wholly unexpected, so we're both kind of learning ropes. Oh, excellent. What are their names? Oscar and Percy, they're two ragdaws, and they're about six or seven years old. Oh, too cute. Freddie Cardi, how are you doing? Yeah, very well. I've had a slightly injured. dog. He's sort of hurt something in his tail. He's a big black lab. They're getting on a bit.

So we've been very much looking after him the last couple of days. But he's feeling better. But that's been a source of worry. But yeah, he's on the mend. But yeah, glad to hear about Sof's cats. I am hoping they disturb the recording at some point. Yeah, that would be funny. That would be funny. Right. Let's crack on, shall we? Because the Barkle's WSL returned on Saturday. I mean, it's fair to say it's a bit more a whimper than a bang. Let's not. Let's not overplay it. Arsenal and Manchester United played out a goalless draw at the Emirates. United played the last 25 minutes with 10 after Jade Riviera was sent off for a second Jello card. Arsenal didn't capitalize on that. So the result basically ends the title challenge for both these sides.

I mean, it felt like a must win, Susie, didn't it? What did you make of the game? And is the title race over for them both? Yes. In this league, it's just important. Obviously it's not technically over, but The likelihood of City in particular, but Chelsea as well now at this stage, dropping that many points is so, so slim. When the league is a 12-team league, the likelihood of that many defeats by one of the teams leading the way is nigh-on, impossible. It's not impossible. It's just so, so unlikely that it's not even worth kind of considering. And, yeah, the game was really boring. I was there. I wasn't working. I was showing a student the ropes. Yeah, I was disappointed in the game as a whole. I think it was kind of a bit of a familiar story in terms of Arsenal, absolutely dominating possession, 25 shots to four, 63 touches in the opposition box, six shots on target. And like, I can't even really remember any of them because they weren't that consequential. A lot of them were quite weak, straight at the keeper, like really kind of nothing to really test Falun Tal and Tullis Joyce at all, like across the game really.

And, you know, a really great save from Bob in the first half to prevent Arsenal from kind of being really, really under the cost as well. So, yeah, something needs to be done about the fact that they can dominate so intensively but sort of lack any kind of real creative cutting edge in the final third. And that seems to be the problem this season as a whole one that they started off the season with and is now continuing into the new year, which is a real shame of United will be frustrated as well. but I think they'd also be kind of happy, given Arsenal's dominance, that they walked away with a point. But at the same time, they could have snatched that game, given that Arsenal didn't take advantage of that dominance. Same old story, it feels like Freddie, doesn't it?

But, you know, they didn't take advantage of that player advantage in the last 25 minutes. But can you try and pinpoint, bear in mind, you watch Arsenal probably the most out of all of us? What do you think the main source of their problems are in front of the goal? Yeah, it's interesting. I had a sort of multi-view Sunday and watch Manchester City, watch Chelsea. It's sort of struck by the range of attacking options that Chelsea have got and sort of the versatility they're able to have. And then Man City, I just think if you compare Alessia Ruto to Bunny Shore, I think there is the gap there in terms of level.

I think there is a striker there who just instills fear in defenders. Sort of like no other has that physical advantage, maybe that the amount of crosses Arsenal put into the box. You know, I think Buddy Shaw probably sticks a couple of those home. I think maybe Arsenal's lack of set piece threat. I'm not putting that on, Alessia Rousseau, but I saw substitute players chatting to the set piece coach, sort of in the 85th minute, almost suggesting ideas. And I know Rene Slager likes that from her players,

but I'm not sure if that's the best look in terms of how poor Arsenal have been from a lot of set piece is. And I just think it was, it's been a weird season, and that Arsenal would win a lot of these Emirates games, sort of four or five nil last season. And this season, they've had three goalless draws, and two of those have been against Manchester United, who they beat four or three on the final day of last season. And I think René Slager sort of went out of their way to credit United. But they just did a job on them.

And I think the bad thing for Arsenal, as teams know, actually, you know what, we might have to sacrifice a bit going forward, as United sort of decided to do. But if we really want to shut up shop, we really don't want to concede, and we do a job on certain players, Dominique Jansen did that on Alessia Russo at times. Freedom Marlin wasn't as effective and I think a lot of Arsenal's problems just stem from midfield in that they really, really don't want to move Kim Little and Mariana Calante from midfield of course Cairo Cunning Cross isn't there

we send her our best of course but Mariana Caldente needs to be playing further forward if Kim Little's injured I don't know what Arsenal do with the midfield and that's an issue and a player of her age you know with all respect is still so heavily relied upon and I just don't think there's enough variety in this Arsenal attack as well

We saw that sort of with the players coming on. Again, in terms of the blueprint teams have against Arsenal, they know Black Stenius is going to come on and Rousseau's going to drop into the 10. It never really works, but Arsenal is still going to do it. And again, comparing someone like Bunny Shore, you don't change things around to drop her into the 10. You play her up front for the 90 minutes. She makes things happen.

And I think because Arsenal don't have that settled number 10 and because they're not quite sure what role they want from Alessia Russo, I just don't think they're getting the best out of too many players. Yeah, you mentioned Cairo Cuny Cross there, thoughts with her, as you said, because she's had to go home in case you didn't know to Australia to be with her mum Jess, who's been diagnosed with stage four bile duct cancer, touching tribute as well from the Arsenal fans in the 32nd minute and players wore shirts showing support in the warm-up, which was a really lovely touch as well. Let's focus a little bit on Manchester United, Sof, because, you know, Susie mentioned they'd be pretty pleased looking at those stats to come away with some. something and he was delighted with the defending, but equally similar as René Slagas, I'm sure he's also concerned with how little they offered going forward as well,

beyond that kind of opening 10 minute spell that they had. Yeah, I interviewed him pretty much immediately after the game, and he was very disappointed in the way they dropped off after the first 10 minutes. They started really brightly, they had a really good press, high press on Arsenal's defence, and then they just suddenly dropped away. He didn't really know the reason for that. He said, you know, you can't give them that much space. You can't leave them.

You have to get tighter to them, and you have to try and close them down. You can't let them get control of the ball, because then they start getting momentum and going forward, and they're a bit like a train. They don't stop once they get started. And they just couldn't find a way to get back into the game. I think they struggled down the left-hand side in particular. The combination of Sandberg and Friedlina Rolfo,

really attacking line up. Both know how to defend, obviously. Rolfo played left back for Barcelona. but they are more attacking the nature, and they were having to handle Emily Fox and Beth Mead, who I think were having a really good relationship down that right side. They kind of knew where to be where the other one wasn't. Beth would invert while Emily would go down and create the width and vice versa.

So that's really developing for Arsenal, I think. And I do think Beth Mead was one of their best players on the day. I know that's probably quite a controversial take, but just in terms of what she does out of possession as well. For Manchester United, there is worries, I think. there are worries. They aren't creating enough up front. I think the decision to play Melvin Mallard and Elizabeth Turland, he normally switches them in and out for each other. There's been a few injuries. There's no Eiltoon. I think you can see that she was missing. She adds so much to that

side in terms of not just what she does in the attacking sense, but in terms of what she does, like sitting behind getting the tackles in, kind of causing transitions and turnovers. And I think that they were clearly missing her as well. Freddie, I'm reliably informed. You're very unhappy about goalkeeper time wasting. Rant away. Yeah, I texted Slope in the second half. And look, before people come at me, my non-league team, who I love do this

and have done it for years, and they had one of the most honest and lovely goalkeepers you'll ever meet. So it is just a football thing that everyone does. And I know René Slagher's talked about it. She was asked about it. She had to talk about it. Mark Skinner was asked about it.

And to be fair, he essentially said, well, until something's done, you know, why would we not do it? to very loosely paraphrase. And I do understand that. I do understand why Arsenal do it, for example. And I think from someone who commentates on games, when it happens, I hate it for that reason,

because you know that you then know the game stops the two minutes, and you have to fill that time from a fans perspective. You know, it's already a 12.30 kickoff. It was a bit of a quiet Emirates, not a great game. It actually whipped the Arsenal fans up a bit. It just seems like a really obvious solution in that. I think the referees need to be given a little bit more power to deal with it, whether that means players aren't allowed to go to the dugout.

But yeah, it's just, it's almost standing up for themselves as referees. And I think, you know, it's perhaps it's being too soft. Perhaps it's just having to remind players what happens. But I just, what I don't want to see is a world where we end up having actual mandatory timeouts in games because we have this sort of basketball style thing where teams then go over to get this tactical information because they're that desperate to go and take it on board. It is killing the momentum.

I think Renee Slager's talking about the entertainment. factor was quite an interesting way of looking at it. Now Sof wants to join me. Go on. Well, I need to just say that PGMO have tried, well, and IFAB, have actually tried to bring something in terms of the eight second rule. I understand going down with the injury, etc. and letting players come over. But they can only really introduce laws gradually. They can't just, you know, throw everything in. And there is the eight second rule which has stopped some of the time wasting in terms of players, oh no, the ball's gone so far over that way and I've got really slowly go and walk over and get it. You know, those kind of things have been, in fact, I was

at the FA Cup at the weekend at West Ham and the QPR goal keeper was penalised for having the ball for too long, eight second rule finished and West Ham were awarded a corner as a result. So, you know, once we kind of see it once, and I haven't seen whether it's happened yet in the WSL and been punished, you know, they will start to really think about it. But the injury one, I agree with you, is problematic. There is one referee in the WSL. I can't remember his name who counts down the goalkeepers to make sure that they know that they have the eight seconds. It doesn't always happen.

And I think the problem with these things is it's inconsistently applied with that eight-second rule. In terms of the goalkeeper time wasting, I think it's when it's so blatant that it really riles people up. There was a moment in the second half after Manchester United had gone. down to 10. And the ball had just gone out for an Arsenal throw, and attacking Arsenal throw. And Letitia, you can see her on the camera turning straight to a goalkeeper and going, go down, go down. Like, it's so blatant. And I think that's what really annoys people. And

this isn't about Manchester United at all. As Freddie said, it happens all over the shop. There is a simple solution. Just don't let them gather with their manager on the side of the pitch. That seems the most logical. That means that they can't get the tactical information. Yes, it can stop momentum still, but you can't have that whole process of, you know, having two minutes out where you're running over, getting a drink, looking at the drawing board again. The most blatant ones where they are clearly like signalling to go down, just yeah, that's the most right, the ones that ral me up the most. It's infuriating and there's so little you can actually do when it like is potentially a player injured, right? Like, I mean, obviously there's some that are really

obvious, but like there's also then the great areas of the ones that maybe aren't so obvious but probably are and how do you even rule on that? I'm like I'm just all in on going like super radical and saying the the goal keep has to leave the pitch and an outfield player has to go in goal for like five minutes or something to like make them go no this is definitely an issue or not and yeah that's penalising a team who has an injured player or something but I don't care like I'm so sick of it I hate it I hate hate hate the goalkeepers going down like this and we've seen it like and it has been blatant for so long we've seen it for so so long and They all use it tactically now, like fairly religiously.

And it is boring to watch. Yeah, I agree with you. By the way, just to note, Rennie Slegger's signed a new long-term contract with Arsenal last week. It's going to be going to be for the rest of the season. Bearing in mind, it looks like the title may have gone. But, you know, this is football. We just never know, do we?

Because it does look like they're battling for third. Manchester United and Arsenal. they're separated by just a point. Arsenal though now 10 points behind leaders Manchester City. We'll get to them shortly. But first let's look at challengers Chelsea because they kicked off 2026 with a five-star performance against struggling West Ham.

An unfortunate own goal from you, Endo, within 55 seconds, set the ball rolling for the holders. It finished 5-0 in the end. Goals from Lauren James, Alyssa Thompson and Sondi Baltimore additionally. Look, we will get to the football in a minute, but let's kind of focus a little bit on West Ham because the big news over the winter break was that they'd sacked Rianne Skinner.

The team locked in a battle with Liverpool at the bottom of the table, as we know. This was the statement that they sent out. Recent results haven't matched expectations and the board of directors believe a change is necessary to help improve the team's position in the Barclays Women's Super League as soon as possible.

Well, that started well, didn't it? They promptly appointed former Italian international and Juventus manager Rita Guarino in her place. Who wants to go on this one? And what do we make of the decision to part ways with Rianne Skinner, Susie? I just struggle because I don't think it's Rianne Skinner's fault that West Ham are rubbish, right? Like, don't get me wrong, she's probably got plenty of flaws as a manager.

And, you know, there may well have been dressing room fall out or just losing the dressing room, right? Like, off the back of not the greatest start of the season. But at the same time, like when you're so unloved by a club, which they quite clearly are, I just think it's really harsh to stick it all on the manager because there's only so much they can do with the resources of their disposal. Admittedly, we've said, you know, quite often that there's a decent playing squad at West Ham to work with. But the thing is, is if they are unloved as a group and season on season, their best players often get poached, then it's really, really hard to maintain any kind of momentum and build. And like, you know, kind of if she's lost the dressing room or whatever,

you know, kind of seen as tactically, kind of not up to it, then fine. But at the same time, I think in this case, for many clubs in the WSL and WSL2 who don't adequately support their women's teams and kind of give them enough to kind of play within the transfer window and fight to keep players and that kind of thing then like what do you expect that's the thing that I've got is what do you expect to happen and what do you expect a new manager to be able to do and achieve with literally the same issues and the same group of players I just I just find it depressing really because I don't I don't feel like it's fair to judge managers on the basis of working in teams like this where they're not getting the adequate support, right? Like judge Rianne Skinner when she's got

resource and time and like consistent playing group and a young, exciting playing group and like then judge her, then judge her on like dressing room harmony and like style of play and things. But until that day comes, I just think it's mean, which is maybe, maybe I'm too nice. But I just, yeah, I think that's a massive red flag for me is the seriousness with which the club take the team. I think it's a statement that kind of protects. They need to be seen to be doing something. I think I'm actually, I'm going to geek you all out right now, I'm afraid. I'm doing an MBA at the moment. And one of the economics modules that I've just done, I've just written an assignment on managerial turnover and performance. And actually, it talks a lot about

decision making when it comes to part in ways with managers and head coaches. And I won't go into detail, believe me, it's 3,000 words that many of you will never get your time back if you read. But some of it is really interesting because it talks about the fact that stability is the most important thing and there's actually not a lot of evidence that changing your manager, it might give a short-term uplift in results, but actually it's a regression to the mean, ultimately, and it goes back to the average eventually. And sometimes it's a political reason and an organisational reason. So, you know, they need to be seen to be doing something and that's what they've decided to do. But, you know, not a great start to life for Rita

Guarino because if you can see that early in the match, you make two big defensive errors, you know, against Chelsea. You probably know that you're in trouble. What is she going to be thinking, do you think, Freddie, is she going to be thinking, oh God, I've got my work more cut out than I thought to turn things around here. Yeah, I think so, especially when one of your key January signings then can't come on, which I think was a masterstroke from her, 4-0 down to Chelsea. Actually, I'll shell my debut for next week. I'll have this earring problem.

You know, you guys can crack on without me. But yeah, I think the issues for her is potentially losing Denton and Tiziac, because defensively, I think there are so many issues there. And I think we saw that against Chelsea is playing out from the back against a Chelsea side. with this fast pace sort of pressing line up the best idea, probably not. You know, they have this front free who we know can score and they just didn't see the ball in that Chelsea game. And I think Chelsea are going to finish this season really strongly.

But having watched bits of West Ham, particularly in both games against Chelsea, I just think there's so many defensive errors, so many individual errors, and the fact that, you know, I think it's a really good bit of business to bring in Estelle Cascarido and she eventually can play. But I think if you're losing a couple of key defenders

when you're conceding this amount of goals anyway, I think that'll be a real concern and whether she can maybe get a little bit of backing to hover for them in the transfer window. It'll be really interesting. Yeah, in case anybody didn't see it, West Ham wanted to bring on their new Juventus Loney, Estelle Cascarino, to make her debut at half-time,

but she wasn't allowed to because she couldn't remove her earring. She taped it up, but no, no, no, not allowed to do that, not in the WSL, and no amount of defence of, She did it in the Champions League is going to make any difference. These are the rules. Jim has emailed in. Hello all and welcome back. Hopefully you feel recharged for the second half of the season.

After Estelle Cascarino was denied her West Ham debut due to an irremovable earring, has there been a time when you haven't been able to do your job because of an unavoidable error? For getting a laptop charger maybe, losing a press pass. Anyone want to jump it? I can tell you mine. As England correspondent, there have been a number of occasions where I have forgotten. my either FIFA or UEFA accreditation, left it in my hotel room and got all the way to a quite remote stadium, only to have to trek all the way back again. Anyone else?

I've done the same thing. At the Euros in the summer, we were staying in Zurich and we went to burn for a game, and I got to burn and realised I hadn't got my accreditation. And it was either facing the drive back or going into the office and paying 150 euro donation to the UaF Foundation to get a new one. And it was the day after my birthday, and the guy noticed, and it's like, well, happy birthday, this is a good birthday present to yourself. I've also forgotten my coat in the winter. That's been very cold.

Yeah, so a bit miserable. Oh, yeah. I've left my coat at a stadium in the desert in Doha. It's still there. RIP. Suzy? I've done the accreditation thing too and had to turn around and go back. But also, like, the recording, not working properly on an interview, there was one I did.

that was quite a long one and luckily it wasn't a hugely important interview and I was able to style it out as actually not needing it but it felt a bit crap at the time is the pit in the stomach feeling isn't it you're like oh no yeah when you realize it only it only recorded the first like 30 seconds of like a half hour and I was just like you you got to be kidding me Freddie surely you're too young to have made any of these mistakes yet No, I have, now this is what happens in my dream, like the week before a game, and that makes sure I will not do it. You know, I've had these dreams where I've missed every train, I've forgotten my commentary notes,

I've had all of this, and then that makes sure on the day I am as organised as I can, but now we've spoken, you know, I'm going to forget my coat or something at Meadow Park. On Sunday, it is my greatest fear, so I think that's why I work so hard to make sure it doesn't happen, but it's a matter of time. Stress dreams. Wait, wait until you get into your 40. and you'll have a string of experiences. Let's focus a little bit on Chelsea,

so if they're ruthless in the first half. And historically, actually, this is the time of year that they come alive, isn't it? This is what Sonia Bon Pastor had to say. It was really important to have the right mindset coming into the second half of the season. We know we have 10 games left. The only thing we can control

is to make sure we put the best performance into every game and make sure we get the three points. We're going to fight until the end to see what happens. they've got Arsenal at home next. Do you think there's six points behind now? Can they actually really start to challenge City's cushion at the top? It's going to be tough, I think, especially with the way City are playing at the moment,

but that's all they can do. They can just take it. It's all cliche, right? One game at a time, try and chasing down, try and cut into that lead. I think they look really, really efficient and it's not been something that they've done particularly well this season.

They've also been kind of blessed with, like, the curse of creating so many chances, not being able to put them away. And sometimes they've scored really early and they're just not kicked on from that. That was different in this game. And it may be because West Ham were defensively absent. But I do think they had some really, really good performances out there.

Eli Carpenter looked brilliant. The suddenly, like, appearance for Alyssa Thompson's goal. She just suddenly, like, appeared at speed. You can see both Elisa Thompson and Johanna Ritin-Canare laughing because she was just suddenly there and she wasn't there a second ago. But she had a really good performance, had assist for two goals. It's a good start for them. They're refreshed.

They've got some players back, Hannah Hampton coming back in goal as well for the first time since November. Lauren James looks lively. She's not obviously had a lot of starts this season. Hopefully she can build some momentum because she looked really, really bright. But scoring five goals, you can't complain about that. And it's what they have to do now. They just have to notch them all off as they come,

tick them all off as they come. So Manchester City's six points clear after returning with their 11th consecutive win in the WSL, they'll be Everton 2-0 at the Joy Stadium on Sunday. Goals from Carolyn and Vivian Medemar. I mean, listen to this for some stats. 32 shots, 13 on target, an XG of 4.27. I mean, they look just dynamic, don't they?

And exciting at the moment, Andre Jurglets' side. Probably the disappointment would be that he only scored two goals from those stats, which I can't quite believe, Susie. Yeah, hugely impressive. And they just like rumble on relentlessly. you can see the benefit of no Champions League football, right? Like, it's evident in the consistency they're able to build up,

the smoothness with which they're able to sort of just get on with things. There's a steadiness there, but then they are also, I would say, far more resilient side than they have been in recent years too. It's nice to watch at times. You know, obviously they've got some hugely talented players, Carolyn one, Middema another, Bunny Shore another, Lauren Hemp another. Like, there's so many. They're really stacked in that sense.

But then they've also got this sort of. of relentless and this grit about them, I'd say, this season that I've not really seen before. They are, they just seem determined. They seem like this is the time that we're going to do it. And they've got a big, big test coming up because, you know, you mentioned Arsenal playing Chelsea away in the next round of matches. But then it's City, Chelsea the following week. And then it's Arsenal City the week after that or maybe with an international breaking between somewhere. I can't remember. But yeah, basically there's three big back-to-back WSL match weekends

where the top three are all playing against each other. And I think that could really kind of either close the gap or cement cities' credentials. And I think that is the likely option, given the way they're playing and this kind of like momentum they've been able to build up across the course of the season so far. Yeah, Carolyn made her mark. Got the opening goal.

and obviously, we haven't seen that much of her, really. She's had injury issues so far this season, but are we kind of seeing the Brazilian back to her best, Freddie? Yeah, and I think she works really well on the city side because they're so sort of orientated to playing on the wings. I think you see it with sort of Kasparai, how she likes to get forward. She makes those overlapping runs.

And so much of their play just revolves around, can we get the ball into Cadija Shore in the best positions possible? She could have scored a hat trick. Courtney Brosnan again. so underrated, made some really, really good saves. But I just think City will always have success if they have these quick wingers who look to get crosses in the box.

They've got sort of Medemar coming sort of back to her best as well and the goal that she scores. And I think importantly, they know their style and they seem to know their best team as well, if not for, you know, a couple of changes. If a Grace Clinton plays, the talk of Sam Coffey coming in, she was obviously there. But there's a real sort of style of play for City that they sort of had when they had that hemp, Shaw and Chloe Kelly front three where they were just pepper crosses into the box and they have a lot of different ways of hurting teams and they're a good watch at the minute.

They are. Everton though, not much really to shout about going forward. So what did you make of their defensive performance though? When you look at those stats, actually keeping it down to just two goals is pretty impressive and Courtney Brosden was fantastic, 11 saves in there as well. Something to build on at least. Yeah, they didn't actually perform badly at all. They gave City a problem in terms of trying to break them down

and they're really good at trying to close down the spaces. I think Honoka Hayashi is a brilliant player as well. Alex Greenwood actually said after the game, you know, they present a really interesting tactical opposition, I guess, in terms of what you have to do to try and beat them because they're so tactically smart defensively. And I have a lot of love for Courtney Brosnan, I think. She is a bit of an underrated.

She's getting more of her flowers this season, But for a long time, she's been kind of an underrated keeper. She is always, always good, always puts in good performances, whether it's with her saves or from her leadership as well. They kind of need to hold on to her. Ruby Mace was really good again as well. I think she made one of the most defensive contributions in the game alongside Martina Fernandez, whose goal also should have stood.

There was that controversial moment at the end of the first half. And I don't know if it would have changed the game, but at least it would have made it one-one. And that gives a different picture going into the second half, so you never know. But yeah, I think everything can build on that for sure. They weren't expecting to win that game. They wanted to keep it tight and see what they could do.

They're big testers against those in and around them and at home where their form has been a bit dire. Yeah, and they look like they're going to have to play a lot of the season without Catcher Snoyce because she was stretched off in the second half, going down off the ball, looked like her Achilles. She's had so many injury problems, really feel for her. Fingers crossed, it's not as bad as first thought. Right, that's it for part one of the Guardian Women's Football Weekly.

In part two, we're going to run through the rest of the WSL games. Welcome back to part two of the Guardian Women's Football Weekly. So Aston Villa returned to winning ways with a comeback win at Villa Park to leapfrog Bryson in the table after beating them by two goals to one. Fouca Sonoda scored her first WSL goal to put Brighton ahead. But two goals in just under two minutes from Rachel Daly and Kirsty Hansen sealed the three points for Natalia Arroyo's side. their fourth win in what has been I think it's fair to say, pretty inconsistent season. This is what she had to say.

We had more chances than them and we could have scored goals but we were paying the consequences of a mistake. It's about what you do after that mistake. We want to be brave. We want to take the risk. The players were showing bravery in and out of possession and we were able to build three important points and actually I'm

sure Susie should be pretty pleased with the character her side showed to fight back and get those three points. Definitely because I think that's been their biggest problem this season is a decent run of consistency in form. And also they've lacked that sort of fighting edge a little bit at times. I think that's the thing that's been sort of holding them back so far in really kind of properly pushing on and challenging for you know, kind of fourth, fifth, even, you know, kind of sitting on the edge of third, which,

you know, kind of given the talent at their disposal in that squad, the, the bringing in a Maggie Murphy in the leadership of the women's set up. You know, like they're making good moves as a club and their position doesn't match that like ambition and thoughtfulness towards the women's team yet. I think it's coming and I think it will come. And I, as we said previously, did a big interview with Latrilo in the latter part of last year and I really enjoyed it and really got a great impression of her as a coach, as a person. as someone that you could see that players could really invest in.

So the ingredients are there for something very, very good, and they just kind of need to find that slightly resilient doggedness to be able to push on, I think. Just a word on Kirsty Hanson, Freddie. Sixth WSL goal. She's in some decent form at the minute. Yeah, and a really, really good goal as well. From an Arsenal perspective, I think, you know,

having drawn with Villa this season, lost 5-2 there at Villa Park last season after in that really weird run between the Leon game and the Champions League final, you know, Villa come to Meadow Park this weekend. I mean, there's probably a few Arsenal fans quite worried about. This FA Cup tie is a bit of a banana skin and again, there's a real style of play. I think they'd like to get the wingbacks forward. They'd like to sort of both Hanson and Daly will sort of stretch wide. They really make the Villa Park pitch as big as possible. I don't know if that's just an optics thing when you see it on TV, but they really seem to.

to stretch teams. They run in behind and I thought Lucia Kendall was really good as well. She's having a really good time of it this season. So yeah, good team to watch as well. But I just like that experience up front, the likes of Hansen and Daly and yeah, really, really good winning goal. Yeah, disappointing though for Dario Vidazich's side. They're now down to eight. So what do they need to do to try and avoid a repeat of the slump that they went on around about this time last year? I think it's really hard. They do need to buy in this window for sure. They're still lacking that kind of number nine who can get them a lot of goals. And I think that's a problem across the league in kind of the lower clubs is that trying to find

that number nine is really hard to come by. But with that injury to Michelle Adjimann, yeah, it kind of messed them up a little bit, I think. I do worry for Brighton because this is not where the board see the club wanting to be, I don't think. You know, they've talked a lot about the investment and they've put into kind of the infrastructure behind them, maybe less so in terms of playing, they're getting there in terms of buying more players and stuff, but they very much see them as a top half side, and they're not performing to that level this season. And we also know that they have a history of not hanging on to coaches for very long.

So I really hope they do hang on to Dario. I think he's a very, very good coach, Darry Viteric. I think he's young. He needs time to really, you know, get his players in, get them settled into the ideas and really develop both himself as a coach but also his players to his style. But I do just, there's like this inkling of a worry in my head that knowing Brighton's history, they don't hang on to people for very long. I meant to mention when we were talking about Aston Villa, actually.

They've just signed Chelsea midfielder, Oriang Jean-Franc-Franc on a permanent deal, £450,000 the fees reported to be. I mean, you'll remember. She joined in 2024 from Paris, San Germain, but really didn't get much regular game time. But she could be a good addition for Aston Villa. Tottenham Hotspur had a really busy winter break in terms of the transfer window. Five players they've added already and Martin Hose's side returned to winning ways with a narrow 1-0 win over Lester City. Please spare a thought because Ashley Neville only signed for Lester last week.

She'd been with Tottenham Hotspur for eight years. She's a stalwart of that club. And there was a little bit of a feeling that she could, you know, get on the score sheet. But unfortunately, it was in favour of her former side, which is the worst. possible start to joining a new club with that kind of proximity. What did you make of her performance, though? Yeah, I mean, I had a kind of a bet that she was going to get on the score sheet. I didn't quite predict that that was going to happen. Very, very unfortunate for her. But I think it's one of those weird, like, things in football where that kind of happens. And it's kind of written in the

stars that you come and face your former club straight away. I think Ashley Neville has been a brilliant servant to Spurs over the years. And obviously under Martin Ho, then moving to a different brand of football a little bit more. He's obviously got ideas about who he wants to bring in and he's done that quite brilliantly over the winter and I don't think they're done yet in that respect. So unfortunately for Neville, she found herself, I think probably if she wanted game time, having to look elsewhere. They had a really nice moment at the end as well where they said goodbye to her And there was a really nice piece of content that they did between her and Bethany, England, about her career at Spurs.

So there was a lot of love for Ashkenha. Probably maybe a little bit more when she scored their own goal. But I think she'll do really well at Leicester. I do think she's a great addition. She brings so much experience. She's one of the few players that have made it all the way up the pyramid as well. You know, we don't have many examples of those these days. So she'll be a great addition and give a lot of experience to Rip Passmoreside.

Yeah. We'll talk about the performance, but let's focus on Spurs for a second, Freddie. Signa Gapset caught the eye. Good debut for her. I mean, what is she going to bring to the league? Did we see a little bit of it? Yeah, I think a bit of physicality, a bit of willingness to drive with the ball and take Tottenham up the pitch. They had 73% possession.

Sort of didn't show sort of flicking between these games on Sunday, but how much they dominated this game. I think the signings they've brought in seemed to be in wide. areas so I'm quite interested to see out that again you know sort of letting someone like Ashnevel goes a bit of a clear maybe departure in the style they're going to look to play but I think Go Upset

is going to cause a few teams problems her and sort of Tanba giving spurs a bit of that physicality that they've lacked in previous seasons and I just think the messaging sort of from the board to actually really recognise this as an opportunity to really push in the second half of this season it might not be

an opportunity that sort of comes around again to really go and cause Arsenal some problems. They're ahead of Manchester United at the moment and to sort of recognise that backing the club at a really important moment, especially in another season where the men seem have underperformed. I won't need to tell everyone that.

But it's been really impressive the Swedish League being raided at the moment, which they won't be as happy about. No, I'm surprised that didn't raise a smile from you Susie Wack. I would have expected a little wry smile then. I'll let you

talk about Lester because fair enough they've brought in a defender in terms of Ashneville but surely they need a striker don't they Lester I mean so does it so are many clubs to be fair yeah I mean first on spurs I actually really like them like I like Martin Ho he speaks really well they're an exciting team to watch I'm excited about their new signings the project they've got going on bringing in fin I think is a masterstroke because he really really cared about Arsenal women's team and investing in that and developing it so I'm actually like really interested in their I just don't have the same hate in the way that I do, you know, the men's game.

It's very separate for me. You know, when you work with these people. No, I know, but that's what I meant because Freddie said, you know, they're underperforming in the Premier League and I thought that that would raise a chuckle from you and I got nothing. Yeah, but, you know, like, it's so separate that I just like, I don't even kind of build it together in my head at all. I very much obviously enjoy their crapness in the Premier League. But from a women's point of view, they're like just such an interesting team at the moment.

and Martin Ho is doing such a great job that like it feels wrong and weird to say that I enjoy it but I do really enjoy it and as you know like when you get to know the players you kind of lose any feeling towards the club in any real way as well in terms of Lester like I think you know looked really well organised in this game unlucky with the own goal you know they hadn't expected to sign agent level for the first game that she were playing defensively they've been pretty solid and I think that is what is actually protecting their position in the league in that you know they've scored the fewest goals of any team in the WSL by quite some margin when you look at the team sort of above them and it's only Liverpool and West Ham at the bottom of the

table that have um that sort of close to them in number so the defence has really been doing the heavy lifting so yeah like attacking options are kind of a must I just hope that they kind of get that support moving forward to be able to do that. Like obviously, you know, bringing in Ashnevel and Emma Janssen is good. It shows willing. But for a team, like, like, as I keep saying, these teams at the bottom need big investment. Like, and when I say big investment, I'm not even talking about huge amounts of money, but like, just give them, like, five players in each window. And they don't even have to be the Jean-François of the world at 450,000s. Like, just give them something to work with.

and they can do well. Personnel, please. We're going to bookend with another goless draw. Liverpool earning their fourth point of the season, holding London City lionesses to a goalless draw, neither side able to register a shot on target. Boring. So actually, the most interesting part of this

is that actually this game was cities first under the leadership of Edom Meister, who replaced Jocelyn Prussia in a shock move by the club. This blindsided me. I'm not going to lie. The board said that they wanted the team to adopt a more Spanish style. Susie, what on earth is going on here?

This is a very well-run club. It felt a little bit strange. Yeah, it blindsided, I think, a lot of people in that they weren't doing too badly. And I think the idea that or the ambition of challenging even towards the best of the rest pack of like four-fifth in your first season in WSL is widely ambitious, even for a team that. have recruited really heavily with that kind of intention. Like before Christmas they were playing relatively well, results were decent. There were a couple of results against teams sort of in and around them and below them that I think frustrated. But at the same time, when you're building something and when you have such a high turnover in the summer,

I don't know how you can expect that to click right away and it feels like a really, really harsh decision. That said, like, we don't know what they're looking. at and what they're seeing in terms of like on the training ground and behind the scenes. Exactly. And the type of style, if it is as simple as we want to have a Spanish style of football, then that feels a little bit naive because you need to give a manager the players that are able to play that. And I don't think they've got that yet.

And it's going to take a lot of time for a manager to either mould those players into players that can play a Spanish style of football, which we know is notoriously difficult to play. and they grow up playing from like the age of two to implement that in your existing playing group or change the entire playing group to players who are established in that style, I think is a huge ask. But if that is the plan,

then they've kind of got to be prepared for like a bumpy ride as they try and implement that and give him proper time to do it. And I'm not sure that the Michelle Kang clubs are the clubs that are going to take the time to do that. I think they want results quickly. They want the money to show results quickly. And that's not necessarily going to happen. You hope there is a strategy, but it doesn't really feel like there is a very, very clear one to the outside eye to be as nice as I can be. I feel like I'm singing, take that's patience

in my head, as you were saying that, try a little. And actually, they did really struggle with creativity, didn't they? Freddie, you were nodding along to Susie there. So that Spanish style clearly hasn't been implemented just yet. But what did you think of their overall performance? No, it's hard to convince fans that you'll change your things stylistically. And then that new manager's first game is a nil-nil-nil-draw against Liverpool, where you don't have a shot on target.

I think if you're trying to back up your argument, that's sort of the worst possible start in a way. And I just think it's a strange squad in that there's a lot of good experience players. and there's a lot of good young players, and that's maybe not the fuse of different players. There's almost some quite big contrasts across that team. I thought it was a huge statement not starting Izzy Goodwin. And I think maybe she's that physical presence who maybe they think actually,

you know, how are you going to incorporate her into this new Spanish style? They went from Nikita Paris at front instead, but I think dropping your joint top scorer, your top scorer last season. Anyway, onto the bench was a bold move in the game where you then didn't register a shot on goal. and I did feel they were starting to get somewhere as well under Jocelyn for sure. They were starting to get to a bit of a style where they were finding good win. She was scoring goals as Lani was playing really well. Frey, Godfrey's coming to the side, scored a couple of goals.

So it just feels like a little bit of a gamble. I think we know that they'll be fine this season, that they will have a mid-table finish. But I just think it sets a bit of a precedent that actually managers coming on and taking this job. They're going to be backed, but whether they're back with time, I'm not quite sure. Yeah, it's like the opposite, isn't it, to most other teams in the WSL. They're actually being backed hugely. One team that we know historically haven't been, have been at least in this window, Liverpool. They did create more than London City and they've got three players in the door so far.

But Garrison Taylor's side kind of still need a lot more sof, don't they, to really bolster this squad. It's going to be a long-term thing where they need to bring multiple people in, I think, to even get it within the realm of what. what he wants as a squad to be able to do what he wants to do on a football pitch. We know that Garth Taylor has that very specific style that he likes to implement. He's not being able to do it so much with Liverpool. I think he's learned a lot in the first three months of the season about himself as much as anything, about having to adapt.

At City, he had the players to be able to do what he wanted to do, so he didn't have to adapt very much. I think he'd probably admit himself that he's learnt an awful lot in the last three months. But yeah, it's going to be a project. He needs to be given three, four windows to really, you know, mold the squad in his style. there are positive signs. I think they really missed Beatta Olson at the weekend. Obviously, she had such a good impact just before the winter break

with all the goals that she scored. And the stuff that she does off the ball as well, she's one of the best presses in the game, I think, certainly this season. So when they get her back, she'll add something else. I want to add just one final thing on London City in the Spanish style. I do always find this quite funny, because why are you trying to implement a Spanish style in England when it hasn't always worked?

be the one place that's really worked as Manchester City, right? But he's even adapted to, you know, kind of a fusion of styles away from the, from the Spanish, just being pure Spanish football. I do kind of find that funny when you come to a league where we are so physical and so, you know, tactical in that, in that response, we have our own identity and why you kind of want to implement that style in here. I understand some, taking some, like, features of it. Don't get me wrong. Some of it is beautiful, but it's just quite a funny concept. Do they own a team in Spain? I'm trying to think off the top of my head. Not sure. Maybe that's the next step then. Right, listen, next week, we're going to be doing a kind of mailbag section in the pod. We have had some emails

from you over the festive period. Thank you so much for sending those in. We're going to collate some of those. And then the rest of you have got a week to get all your burning questions to us that we'll read out and then answer next week. You can send it to us on our main point of contact, which is over email, women's football weekly at the Guardian.com, or on mine, Susie and Sophie's usual social media platforms if you follow us on Instagram.

Not so sure, we'll check X, but send them to us on Insta and we'll try and get through as many as we can. Until then, this is also your regular reminder to sign up for our biweekly women's football newsletter. All you need to do, as you know, is search Moving the Goldposts Sign Up. It's been lovely to see you, Freddie. Take care. See you soon.

You too. Thanks for having me. Sofe, see you soon. See you soon. Thank you. Susie, later's gaiters. When am I going to see you? I don't know. Hopefully very soon. The Guardian Women's Football Weekly is produced by Sophie Downey and Silas Gray. Music composition was by Laura Airedale.

Our executive producer is Joel Grove. This is The Guardian. Thank you.