Derby delight for Liverpool and Chelsea, Putellas off the mark and Villa sack Arroyo – Women’s Football Weekly podcast

0:00This is The Guardian.

0:30with me to give her thoughts. Was this a surprise this early in the season, Soph? Yeah, not a huge surprise on my part. I think the results this season have not been good. They haven't offered a lot in attack and that 4-0 defeat to Tottenham at the weekend probably was a sign of where things are going. But I do think it's a real shame. Natalia Arroyo is a young manager. She has a real direct style of attacking football that was really, really exciting in her first full season in charge. She really started to get her messages across. She is also a manager that really, really trusts in young players and that is hard to come by more and more these days and that is a shame for the league.

1:06I think she was also a genuinely interesting human being. She is a former player, she is a former journalist, she really understood her responsibilities in all aspects of her job really well. She was very, very, very good with the media and very, very willing to talk even in hard moments and I think that is a loss to the league as well. In terms of the board, I do think that, or the club itself they need to take some responsibility too. I do think from the outside when you look at the business that they did over the summer the investment in the playing squad was not nearly where it needed to be in terms of producing a squad that could really compete at the upper echelons of the table across the season so I think there has to be some soul searching from the club as well.

1:49Natalia Arroyo of course will front the blame for a lot of the performances this season but I think there is maybe a deeper issue in terms of what the club are expecting from the money that they're putting into the playing squad and what their ambitions are and that is a question that still remains to be answered because I don't think you solve that overnight by just getting rid of the manager. Yeah, so we understand the club told Arroyo of their decision on Monday night and players were told on Tuesday morning. Former Everton manager Brian Sorensen, who's now Villa's women's technical advisor, has been placed in interim charge.

2:23We will, of course, cover this more in depth next week. But let's get on with the rest of the pod as we originally recorded it earlier on.

2:35Hello, I'm Faye Carruthers and welcome to the Guardian Women's Football Weekly. It was derby day in the Barclays WSL with Chelsea coming out on top over Arsenal and Liverpool beating Everton. Questions to answer for both defeated sides. Manchester City were given a tough test by Charlton but took all three points. drama at St Andrews, where Birmingham scored late to draw with Crystal Palace in a six-goal thriller, a review of all those games to come, as well as wins for London City, Spurs and Manchester United. We'll also review the Champions League, find out England's latest squad announcement.

3:06And that's today's Guardian on Miss Football Weekly.

3:12What a panel we have today. Good morning, Susie Rack. Morning. That was a very, oh, this is quite early for you. I'm in Prague at the moment and I've had that extra little hour's sleep So I feel a little extra pep in my step Soph Downey, how are you? I don't have a pep in my step, Susie's all to blame, but I'm good Oh, okay, tell me more Well, she's made us come in half an hour early Oh, right, oh yes Oh, and for the first time this season, Emily Keogh, how are you doing? I'm good, I'm good, how are you? Yes, very well, thank you The last time I saw you, you were walking into Susie's 40th birthday party as I was walking out.

3:53So I got a very, hi, bye. But it is lovely to see you. Look, there's one place to start really, isn't there? Arsenal's poor start to the season continued, suffering defeat in the London derby with Chelsea earning 1-0 victory thanks to a first half finish from Alyssa Thompson. Arsenal now seven points behind Champions Manchester City, who actually they face next. Susie, how severe is the pressure on Rennie Slagers, do you think, with such high expectations on the side coming into the season? And would you say they're in dangerous territory now? Definitely. I think the pressure's high. I think I said it in the pre-season podcast, there's zero excuses for a poor start to this season.

4:34There just was none. No major tournament fatigue, no Champions League qualification games to kind of have to deal with before the start of the season. A decent turnover of the squad in the summer. There was literally zero excuse for this poor start. And a lot of people were predicting them to win the league. I wasn't, funnily enough, which my predictions are usually terrible, but clearly on point this time. It's a long way to go. Well, so far. I don't know. Seven points in WSL is massive. I just, I can't see anyone coming back from that. Like you basically, like the last three seasons in a row, Arsenal have thrown the league within the opening month of the campaign.

5:22It's wild, really. I mean, obviously anything can happen. There's 14 teams, there's extra games. So that changes things a little bit, but it's bad. And the thing is, is you can't see where it's turning around either. Like I can't see how they get out of the rut they're in in front of goal. and every time they have a period of like prolonged dominance and don't get the ball in the back of the net they just look lost and don't have an answer to why that's going on which is concerning I mean I was very very happy from a fan point of view to have boarded a flight that was set to take off at kickoff so that I landed to the score instead of having to you know kind of live through another poor performance across 90 minutes from my team.

6:08But yeah, watching it back, same old story this season, last season, season before for like huge periods. The big question is why? You know, why such a sluggish start to every season? Why is it taking them so long to get up to speed? There's got to be a reason for it. I don't know, right? Like, I mean, you can't even put it all on Sleggers because it was the same under Eideval and that's why he was sacked and she came in. So, like, it's a perennial problem. I don't know how they do it. I don't know why they're not scoring. Like, they're creating chances. And, like, to a certain extent, when you're creating that much and not putting the ball in the back of the net, I feel it's sometimes a little bit harsh to blame the manager because they can't literally put the ball in the back of the net for the players.

6:55That's a little bit of that is on them. but confidence-wise, the fact that they just look so unsure when they can't get the ball in, there's something not right. I don't know what's going on. It's unexplainable to me. Yeah, it must be incredibly frustrating, Soph. I mean, Arsenal actually started the better side, couldn't make the most of their chances again, as Susie said, registered just two on target from the 18 chances they created. that's ridiculous what do they need to do differently in game like scrap the start of the season obviously because it's already happened can't do that but each game from now on what do they need to do?

7:40Well I think to Susie's point it's systemic at this point and it's something within the club that they just can't get going early and whether that's coaching staff or players or combined everything all together on the pitch I felt kind of sorry for them a little bit on Sunday because they did come out all guns blazing in that first half that first 20 minutes they were completely dominant I think it was 44.2 percent of the game was played in Chelsea's defensive third they were creating chances they just couldn't get them on chart target which I guess has been the problem they look so hesitant in front of goal they'll take that extra touch every time rather than just like whereas Chelsea I think were hitting it first time and believing themselves that it would hit the back of the net and that's kind of the belief part of it.

8:27I do think it really didn't help when they hit the bar twice. You could just feel when Mariana hit it the second half time, you could feel the confidence just literally seeping out of them. And then there was a big break in play and Sonia got her team around and was able to instill some advice. And suddenly Chelsea picked up the momentum and ended the half really strong. And I think it was like just finding a way to be able to capitalize to capitalize on those moments where you are on top because you do have good players. Renee Slickers is right. She has good players. You know you. Alessia Russo, when she's in form, is one of the best strikers in the world.

9:05That doesn't go away. It's still there somewhere. It's just not, you know, what's the phrase? Form is temporary classes permanent. It will come back. It's just finally away. I think to Susie's point as well about the season, I'm not quite there yet on the season being over. But I will be there if it doesn't go well against Manchester City. I think if they don't beat Manchester City, then it's over. If they do beat Manchester City, it's down to four points and it suddenly looks quite manageable again. Yes, not ideal, not where you want to be. But the perspective of football can change pretty quickly on a pin or a decision or, you know, whatever.

9:45So there is still hope, I think. But it is dwindling as we speak. And we've had similar questions over Chelsea, haven't we, over the last couple of seasons in terms of not taking their chances? But the difference here, they struggled at the start, but then did take their opportunity when it came and actually were really good defensively as well. Emily, how else did they get the job done? I actually think it's funny because I know Arsenal were dominant in the first sort of half an hour but I actually don't think they had a lot of conviction in their chances I don't actually think the quality of the chance they were creating it was a little bit like let's get the ball in a good area and try and score and I didn't think personally it was that convincing I actually thought Chelsea were really good at playing a bit of a long game I think they let them have the ball they let them get themselves frustrated they knew that if they set up well defensively that even those chances they could defend really well and then let them build up their own frustrations on themselves and then took their chance when they were losing concentration they were getting annoyed at themselves they were disorganized and I actually think Chelsea played a really good game plan I think they play Arsenal played right into their hands of letting them trying to move the ball around not getting anywhere getting frustrated and then conceding I think it was really smart from Sonia Bonpastor I think assuming that was the plan I think it worked really well because like you said they're defensively a game like this a 1-0 lead sort of early on I think would have been their undoing last season they struggled to defend in those areas they can be very haphazard when it comes to it this was an incredibly strong performance from Chelsea I think assuming sort of the plan was to let Arsenal frustrate themselves it worked so well and I think that was a defensive performance that shows Chelsea can be champions again and I think like I say questions have been asked multiple times over last season even the start of this season you know you look back to the Aston Villa game can they win the title are they still dominant I think this is what you want to see four games into the season that yeah they maybe didn't have the best of first game second game you know United was a pretty pretty good game but then you look at it now with this defensive performance sort of keeping Arsenal back and even So they had that flurry at the end when Chloe Kelly came on that seemed, again, like they could get something out of it and Chelsea were all over it.

12:02And so I think it's interesting that, you know, I asked my ESPN stats team after the game and Arsenal's conversion rate so far is 2.5%, which is the lowest in the league ever since Yeovil Town were in the league at 2.2%, which is saying quite a lot. And I think when you've got all of your forwards out of form, you've got all of your midfields out of form, it's not about the individual performance anymore. It's about something at the club that you've got all of these quality performers not performing. That is something to be said for the wider management. And I think that is something they have to address internally because having all of your forwards, Tim Stillman wrote it in his piece really, really well, which was if you've got all of them out of form, it's something bigger going on with them.

12:50That's not something they can control. If we were on video, I would love to show you Susie's face as an Arsenal fan started laughing and then started shaking her head. Soph had her head in her hands at one point. And you want to make a point, Soph? I was just going to say that I do, if I'm not wrong, a lot of Arsenal's coaching staff are pretty similar to the staff that they had under Eunice Ideville. And when you're talking about systemic problems, and it's not to put blame on anyone's head, but there hasn't been, yes, there's been a change at the front. there hasn't been a massive change at the club and when you are having the same issues season on season questions across the board on the pitch off the pitch in the boardrooms have has to be asked um and if they are having the similar problems every year maybe it's time in some respects whichever level that is at to have a change what I don't get is how Renee was able to pull them out of that slump after I'd eval exit I mean yeah you get a bit of a new manager bounce and things like that.

13:50But how she was able to do that then and is not finding a way to do it now, like how different is it? Like what is going on in that dressing room that makes it so different? Because that was a broken dressing room at that time. So what is different this time? That's what I'm interested in. It'd be fascinating to find out, wouldn't it? A quick one on Katie McCabe, Susie, actually, because that was a big topic pre-match. She obviously made the switch to Chelsea in the summer, having been at Arsenal for 11 years before that. She got a pretty frosty reception from the away end, as maybe you would expect.

14:22It depends. How do you feel she handled the occasion? She loves that stuff. That's like fuel for her. That's rocket fuel. No, she lives for it. And it's good banter, I think, between her and the fans. I don't mean there's any particular hatred there per se. I think it's more fun than anything else, although it looks aggressive. I think there is some like fun in that rivalry. But, you know, she's a superb player. And I think like, you know, when you look at Arsenal, you think who are the players that are going to lift that team and pick them up? And, you know, in previous seasons, you would have said that McCabe would have been one of those players that would really like light a fire under them and kind of get them going.

15:05And she's doing that for Chelsea now and doing it very well. And you can like from the minute, the first minute of their first game, she was like directing things like telling people where to go, kind of really instructing that back line, the players ahead of her. Like she's a real leader on the pitch in so many ways, physically, like tactically and technically. She's a driver and they're lucky to have her. And I thought she was superb, like really. Lisa Baum got, you know, kind of had a bit of joy against her, but she did really, really well overall. I thought really, really good game. Yeah, I do love Adeleby.

15:44And the rivalry between these sides has been building nicely. Actually, there's an updated version of a book called Turf Wars by Steve Tung. Many of you might have read it before, but this now has women's football rivalries in it. If you want to go and purchase it, it's a really, really good read. and you were impressed with the Arsenal fans in particular, Emily, at the weekend. Yeah, I think it was a really good show and I think what we've seen from Arsenal fans and from Chelsea is it's a huge rivalry. I think this is the rivalry in women's football and Sonia Bonpastor said herself post-match, like this is the game that, in her words, everyone around the world was watching and I think my favourite thing is that when you've got two really, really strong fan bases sort of going at it in the stands, not in like an aggressive or physical way but sort of giving that I turned around to some of the other journalists in the press box and said I think this is one of the best atmospheres we've seen because the fans knew what boat what all of this meant what Arsenal needed what Chelsea needed and they were behind the teams consistently I was confused at first when I went into the Stamford Bridge and saw the Arsenal fans on the other side and in quite a large section because normally they've been sort of to the left side of the press box but they were sort of spanning the right side and it was really interesting because I was a bit like oh I don't know if I'd love the idea of moving away fans and giving them a bigger section but you know what to their credit they were really really good and I think that that sort of noise and that um sort of backing of their club made the Chelsea fans even more sort of uh I guess engaged in their own and I think it was moments when when Chelsea scored it felt like they just scored in the World Cup like it gave me that sort of feeling because the fans were going mental you know the Arsenal fans were booing there was the um smoky pyro things had gone off like it was it was just insane like the atmosphere of that game was probably one of the best I've seen in in recent history and I really enjoyed it I think we need more of that I want more of that sort of gritty um sort of fans feel what the players are feeling I think even at full time you know when they were sort of booing the Chelsea fans and applauding their fans things like that like it uh it was just so it was just so good like I don't know the atmosphere was so good I want smoky pyro things like as their marketing slogan it's great um I want to shout out uh London City's attendances while we're talking on attendances because they got over 4 ,000 4 ,177 for uh their game against Brighton and they got over four just over four and a half thousand for their opening game against Manchester United which I think everyone thought would be a big attendance it was the opening game of the season it was against Man United like Alexei Bouteis had signed to be doing it a few weeks in with you know a kind of lower profile game relatively like I'm really curious to see whether they're able to maintain it across the entire season obviously it's just the first two games but that's a really good sign for a club that does not have a men's fan base to draw from 4177 for a game against Brighton whilst there's a load of derbies going on across the weekend I just think it's a great great number yeah that's a really good point and we'll talk about the game 2-0 win over Brighton in in part two of the pod but from a London derby to Merseyside Liverpool broke their Anfield curse in style with a 2-0 win over Everton Beata Olsen putting the red in front after four minutes while a late finish from Cornelia Capoc made sure of the win.

19:16Comfortable in the end for Liverpool. Soph, what did they get right on the day? Everything. I just think it was a really, really good performance. It could have been more. It could have been 5-0. They hit the bar. They had two played off the line or one blocked and one played off the line. Really, really good chances as well. I am loving watching Liverpool play. I just think they are such a fun team to watch at the moment. They have such a fresh way of playing about them. They have a really good structure. They're press. I know Gareth Taylor wants them to be the best pressing side in the league.

19:47Maybe they're not quite there yet, but it's getting there. He has the right players in the right places. Beata Olsen is a brilliant forward up front. I think we're going to see more of her this season. Scored a brilliant header to open the scoring within four minutes and that always helps. But I just think they play with energy. They play with a real distinct style and they've proven they can adapt. When you think about last week and that loss to Manchester City in the final moments, they had to deal with not having the best of the possession in that game. This time against Everton, they have the most of the possession and they seem to be able to adapt quite flawlessly.

20:22I think he was loving it on the sideline. He had the massive smile on his face. I think there's a real genuine feel around the club that everything is going pretty well. And Fuku Nagano as well, what a player. Yeah, absolutely. Many predicted that Gareth Taylor's side would be hard to beat this season. against City last week. They had to handle being without the ball this time. We saw them dominating possession. We've talked about it on the pod, but we haven't heard your thoughts on it before, Emily. Has it surprised you how much progress Liverpool have made? Not really, because I think when you look at what Taylor did during his positive seasons at Man City, I think he is a very good manager.

21:02And I think when he's got the right players, and last season he didn't have players really full stop, let alone the ones that he wanted or ones that he could utilise in their best ways that would match his style of play. I think you can now see what his management style with the right setup can do. And I think Liverpool were never a bad team. I think the quality in the team has always been there. I think you've looked at some of the, like I've said, Foucault Nogano players have been there for a couple of seasons, are very, very good players. I think the difficulty they've had over the past couple of seasons, obviously, is it's been a little bit in and out with managers.

21:37obviously last season it didn't have enough players so I think this is probably a testament to what Taylor and the club has done to really make sure that the foundations are there for this to be a good season and I think what is really impressive for me is that like you said they could go from having not having the ball against Man City and still having a really good performance I mean they kept them to 1-0 they had City had to wait for that goal and then have all the possession and really push Everton I think a team that can do both and can be adaptable to both I think as a team that's going to be really strong in the WSL because like you say about some of the like said about Chelsea and Arsenal if you try and play a team as in to basically force them back and to play to your own strengths but their weaknesses you're going to be successful and I think Taylor's had enough experience in the league to know that and to know how to play his game but in a way that it's gonna expose those fragilities in the teams that he's facing and I think Liverpool look really good this season and I had them to finish quite high I think those and Liverpool and Spurs for me were sort of around that fourth fifth sixth with a couple other teams in there but I think I'm really impressed with them truthfully I think that they've laid a really good start and they've got a good run to sort of pick up some points and some gather some form against some of the top and bottom sides they have quite a mix of who they're facing which I think is going to work quite well in their favour.

23:00Yeah we've expressed our worries about Everton already on the pod over the last few episodes but definitely an afternoon to forget for them and actually Scott Phelan had some strong words afterwards if individually we keep failing with simple decisions it's hard for any pattern to appear I thought that was the case too often unnecessary giveaways of the ball the lack of belief that was the main thing what did you make of his his comments Susie I mean they're very strong aren't they um and you know you kind of applaud his honesty but also if lack of belief is the main thing and that's a big concern I mean the other things the um you know kind of simple decisions and you know making sure you don't give the ball away unnecessarily too often that they're things that can be ironed out on the training pitch belief is like a bigger a bigger thing to tackle and a lot of that buck sort of stops with you know kind of him and is calling out belief the way of building belief I'm not so sure you know that I said Liverpool really good so it's tough to kind of be too kind of harsh on them for this game per se but yeah I mean they're really struggling and yeah I applaud the honesty I wonder if calling out belief publicly is the best strategy for a manager to build belief.

24:21This was an interesting game the most dramatic of the weekend coming at St Andrews Birmingham scoring 87th minute leveller to salvage a point against Crystal Palace in a 3-0 draw. First meeting of the newly promoted side since 2019-2020. And two managers who know each other pretty well as well. How did you assess this one, Soph? It was fun. Yeah, it was fun. I think they went all out attack, essentially. They kind of found room to breathe. You know, they've been playing a lot of teams higher above them or more established teams or like Birmingham City played Chelsea last week. Crystal Palace had played Arsenal already.

25:01And I think this was their opportunity to really go for it and show what they could do in an attacking sense. And both teams did that. There were defensive mistakes and things to work on. But I think, you know, we almost had two of the best goals of the season from Ossian Hertray. I can't pick which one. From her two strikes were the better, to be honest. But yeah, a really, really good attacking play. it was two teams that know each other pretty well because they played each other in the WSL 2 last season twice at least but yeah it's a good one and I think Crystal Palace will be kicking themselves that they couldn't hold on to the win but equally Birmingham were well worth the draw as well so it was probably a fair result at the end of the day I mean those two finishes from Ocean Herterer Emily potential goals of the season both of you I'm going to make you choose which was the best I don't know.

25:59They were so good in their own right. I'm going to go with her first one, her opening goal. My big thing is, are women going to be able to hold on to her? Because now I think she's made a name for herself. Are they going to be able to keep her? Because everyone's now going to be looking at her for a transfer. Okay, well, it's still September, so we know that they've got at least another couple of months. Will there be a worry for Crystal Palace, Susie? I mean, that's now chipping 10 goals in two games, having looked so solid at the start of the season. But, you know, they've fought their way back into the game, obviously, but defensively not great.

26:34Yeah, obviously that's going to be a concern. That said, when you're playing a fellow newly promoted side, is that the way to put it? It's going to be a little bit more open because you're going to feel like you can get something from the game and it's a chance to get points. so you may leave yourself a little bit more exposed than you would when you're playing a more defensive structure to take on, say, an Arsenal or an Everton and their last game, the 7-0 against Tottenham was obviously not nice for any defence to have to go through but at the same time Spurs are in such flying, free-scoring form that you can write that off to a certain extent I mean, obviously they'll want to not be shipping 10 goals in two games But in terms of like whether it's long term concern, I'm not sure.

27:23I think it's kind of half the course of what their season will be, which will be one of ups and downs and, you know, kind of trying to identify the games they can get something from and going for it and leaving themselves a little bit exposed sometimes. But I think that's the nature of being a team that's sort of newly into this league is that's going to happen to a certain extent. Yeah, Charlton have just had downs so far this season. But actually, they had a tough test with the visit of Manchester City and the champions actually struggled a little bit, came away with their fourth win from four, ultimately, thanks to a first half free kick from Alex Greenwood.

27:58But it wasn't the swashbuckling City performance we maybe expected against a Charlton side who've really struggled this season. Self-inflicted, do you think? Or did Charlton disrupt their flow? Maybe a bit of both. I think City were clearly tired after their midweek travels to Bayern Munich. And kind of the nature of that draw that they got against them would have expended a lot of energy. And Andre Yegler did ring the changes. Bunny Shaw and Yui Hasegoa, Lauren Hemp were all on the bench. That being said, though, their B team is not really a B team. And Greenwood still started. You still had Mary Fowler on the pitch, Beth Mead, some really, really good players.

28:37and you would still expect them to be a lot more comfortable in this game, just given by how the seasons have gone so far. And they did struggle. I think they struggled with ideas. I put in our media WhatsApp group that after 20 minutes, City had had a 0.1 xG, so they just weren't creating a lot at all. They were struggling in front of goal and Charlton were working really hard for each other and defending really resolutely. And especially in that first 20 minutes, were really taking the game to City. They were pressing City's back line, putting them under pressure. That obviously expends energy themselves and that can last forever.

29:15But they had a couple of chances. Jodie Houghton looks like a real player. She did the business in WSL2 last year, but she looks like she's really making that step up. And they were having some joy. I think inevitably the waves of attack from Manchester City were always going to come. But they also had to turn to their bench at one point and bought on Yui, Hasegawa and Bunny Shaw. and they didn't make much of a difference. Yes, they created chances. They had some big chances. But, you know, Charlton, I think, can take a lot from that defensive performance particularly. And I would just want to shout out Howa Sissoko because she's had a bit of a rough start for Charlton in these opening stages.

29:51Got sent off on her first game since signing for the club. Came back and probably put in one of the performances of the week, especially in that second half, defending Bunny Shaw. There was a sublime tackle that, you know, had to be perfectly timed otherwise it was a penalty and I think she managed it really well yeah um another loss Emily but but perhaps as Soph said something for Karen Hills to build on I think yeah it would be a lot worse if they were conceding heavy and suffering really heavy score lines and especially against Man City who are I know they've got a fair few injuries but they haven't dropped points they are pretty much as much informed as you can be at this point despite not having a lot of creativity and a lot of free flowing goals but they've had fairly decent performances but I think like they've said they've been panned back to defensing to defending and I think that's really tough when you have to set up with the defensive mindset to then move into trying to attack and I think the risk to them is that they go forward they get exposed and they get hit hard at the other end so I think it's almost that balance of like how much do you sit back and defend and how much do you let yourselves go forward and potentially suffer the damage or really trying and honing in that running back you know sort of defending off the from trying to go forwards like I think that's probably somewhere that they need to look to develop a bit more because if they are wanting to sort of climb the table I mean like there's two there's two points behind but both of those have come from draws for sort of Villa Birmingham so that's sort of what they probably need to be aiming for to sort of keep pace with that is maybe not necessarily going for the wins right now which sounds sort of counterproductive but at least trying to get points where they can and you know for for some of those games if they can sort of just go forward a bit quicker and get a goal and sort of level the tie I think there's not much separating them from Birmingham from Villa at the moment so there's going to be a lot of thought and I guess the international break will be a really good time for them to sort of reassess and see where they're at and what they can do but we've seen teams before go from no points at this point of the season to sitting safely and looking at Liverpool last season so it's not all dead in the water for them but I think some some small tweaks and potentially just a little bit of a change of setup might be really beneficial for them you know get through this next game and then use the international break to really um figure out what what's going to be the best like mode for them because this is this is a whole new challenge for all of them being in the WSL and I think can probably give them a bit of grace that that this is a whole brand new league.

32:25It's a brand new setup for most of these players and for Paran. So there's a, they can only really go on an upward trajectory in theory. So hopefully that comes for them. Yeah, I've got Yaz in my head. The only way is up. Right, that's it for part one of the Guardian Women's Football Weekly in part two. We'll continue to look back on the action from the weekend.

32:56Welcome back to part two of the Guardian Women's Football Weekly. Manchester United earned their first three points of the season with a 2-1 victory at home to West Ham. Elizabeth Turland and Andrea Medina gave them the lead, with Vivian Asahi pulling a goal back for the visitors in the closing stages. It was a much improved performance from United, Susie, wasn't it? They'd scored 10 in the League Cup in midweek. It looked like they had a lot more energy and creativity. just a matter of time maybe for Ava Ollard and her side? Yeah I mean they had a really tough start to the season in terms of the the way the fixtures fell for someone who had only been in a job for three weeks or something prior to the the first game not a huge amount of time to kind of settle in obviously United didn't do a huge amount of business in summer either so it was always going to be difficult and I think most people were aware of that and thought that their time would come once those kind of first well everyone fought three games but obviously they got the point against Arsenal which I think was a bit of a surprise yeah I think this is the the kind of point in time where people thought that we would start to see something from Man United and get a feel for the kind of way Evolid is going to be able to work with this existing crop of players and implement maybe some of her style not all of it to kind of allow for um the the type of player she's got and the people she's got at her disposal to implement that so yeah I think it was expected that we'd start to see a turnaround around now um the 10 goals in the league cup I think was a huge like mental relief as much as anything that really kind of got them flowing and back on track in that sense and this will only help like I think things are broadly speaking looking up but they should do well against teams like West Ham like we should we expect that from a team with the quality of players that Man United have at their disposal um so yeah it's starting to tick and patience I think with any new manager is important right like for a certain degree of time yeah always um and you know had to be a little bit patient with Rita Guarino for West Ham as well back to back defeats now for them.