High fives for Arsenal and Manchester United – Women’s Football Weekly

24:32What does she take from that, Rhianne Skinner? Was the scoreline a bit harsh? Give us some positives. I'm sure she's taken some herself, but see what Tom Gary can give her.

24:42Faye Carruthers:Well, I think the reality is that the squad, you know, and the level that it's at and the operating budget and all those sort of things that they're playing, is sort of like bottom three, bottom four. So that's where they are. Realistically, they are going to lose these kind of games unless they can have their best day and someone at Arsenal can have a really off day. But I kind of agree with the way you phrased that question totally because it's the forwards that I kind of expected to be the stars, right? They've got the attacking... The best thing about their squad is the attacking options, right?

25:15Faye Carruthers:You know, with the say and Martinez, and they had so much success with those combinations in the second half of last season. So that was sort of the bit you'd have expected to be outperforming. And yeah, they haven't quite clicked yet. It was similar when I saw them play at Tottenham on the opening weekend that things just weren't quite cohesive in the final third when that was the one area you kind of expected them to be the most dangerous. They've got time to kind of get things going. I would judge them more on the games when they go to say, I think in October, they're going to London City, for example, away from home.

25:51Faye Carruthers:You know, they've got matches coming up before then where they'll try and get some points. Attempt to offer positivity is probably not. It's probably more depressing. It's just this is just the reality of where they are. They're not, I don't have them in the same category as Aston Villa who I think looking, even though they lost to Chelsea, are looking like a side capable of a top half strong finish. I just think this is where West Ham are. I think that's just the honest brutal reality of it. That's a fair point, a fair assessment I would say. Right, that's it for part one. In part two, we're going to look at how some of the other teams got on.

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27:19Welcome back to part two of the Guardian Women's Football Weekly. Let's continue with the rest of the weekend's Barclays WSL action. the other Friday fixture saw Andre Jurglet and his first win as Manchester City manager his team coming from behind against Brighton to win by two goals to one Brighton started well Susie didn't they energetic in their press as well but you know trying to keep that up for 90 minutes particularly against a team like Manchester City it is pretty tricky yeah it's always going to be tough defending against City's attack isn't it that's the reality but I thought them really good count of themselves Brighton in that first half in particular.

27:56Second half, it got a little bit difficult for them. I'm not sure why, they just lost their shape a little bit and seemed to struggle a little bit more. But yeah, first half, I think it's a really solid performance and reflective of the potential that they have to do something. It was nice to see Adjomang force the save that led to the goal and things like that. Some nice play from those forwards, some nice linking up. Frank Kirby on the score sheet is always great to see from someone who feels increasingly old with as every player edges towards their retirement but yeah I thought it was a decent performance in the in the first half but just sort of you know when you're up against a team like Man City with the strength players they have the depth they have and the fitness levels and ability to rotate they have then then you know you're going to struggle.

28:45Talk to me about these stats Tom 19 chances created for Manchester City, but eight on target. Wasteful in front of goal again. Vivian Amidemar could have had a hat-trick, Bunny Shaw as well. What is the reason for this, do you think?

29:02Faye Carruthers:Do you know what? I'm not concerned about those stats at all. I'd be much more concerned if they weren't creating the chances. And players of that calibre, forwards like Bunny Shaw, Hemp, Amidemar, they will score. The statistical reality is that they'll eventually, they'll be converting those so I don't think that's a worry at all that will click with a little bit more match sharpness maybe as the the autumn rolls on so if you're a Manchester City fan don't worry the goals will come you're creating so many chances and I really liked the the way well the fascinating thing about them right now is that their Hasegawa is being deployed in this much more forward looking role she's being allowed to roam forward more Jägerlerts has spoken about wanting to kind of find a balance of using her in a more attacking way while also not losing the things that made her so good last season in that deeper role.

29:57Faye Carruthers:And it's worked in the sense she's come up with the winner. That sort of seems to be the big difference in the way their midfield is set up now. So they found a way to win it. And I think there's positive signs for the way they're playing with the ball as they go forward now. So no, that may not be the answer you're expecting, but my message would be don't worry that the goals are going to come that they're creating so many opportunities and that's got to be a good thing I don't pose a question expecting any answer in particular Tom I like you to guide me in the direction with your expertise which you have and actually producer Sofa's reminded me that before this season Lauren Hemp Viviana Miedema and Bunny Shaw had actually only played three times together in the league because of injuries between them all so you know it's going to take a little bit of time isn't it to click like this.

30:47Whereas Yui Hasagawa has been given a more fluid role in this city set up than she had under Gareth Taylor. Got her goal as well. Lovely finish. We may be starting to see her attacking qualities come to the fore again, Emma. I'm absolutely obsessed with that. I'm so glad Tom brought her up because I've loved watching her in these first two games. I mean, I've loved watching her for her entire career, but particularly in these first two games because I completely agree. And actually, I think it's been a bit of a mastermind move by Andre Jurglitz coming in and seeing that and seeing the fact that I think people are clocked on, while they were a large portion of the time still not able to stop it.

31:27But I think people are clocked on that City were so dangerous out wide because of the forward players that we've just said. When you've got someone like Dijishore in the middle, then naturally you've got to use your wide players to put those balls into the box. But I think what they have now with Hasegawa in that more attacking position is they have someone with such high quality, like she genuinely is one of the best players in the world, with that intelligence, that really good agile skill set movement in those small spaces. so you're now adding I think another dimension to your attacking game where it you know defensively you can't just set up quite narrow and kind of push them out wide and just deal with the crosses you've really got to watch you know those those small spaces right on the edge of the box where Yui Hasegawa will will really like to operate and I think so far she's taken advantage of that because teams they don't really know what to do because you know if you try and push them out wide then you're giving the ball to Lauren Henn.

32:27If you try and stop that attacking threat out wide, then you're opening up spaces for Hasegawa in the middle. So I think what they've done is they've opened up another branch, if you like, of a really good attacking threat at Manchester City. And I'm excited to see what she can do this season when she learns that role a little bit more and she plays in that role a little bit more. But I think she's a fantastic player for City. I think Joab Lutz has basically come in and realised that she is a player that can win games and that can turn games for him. Yeah, and we saw that for sure. We weren't sure whether either of these two teams were going to win or if we were going to get a boring goalless draw, Leicester City and Liverpool.

33:09Both clubs that started the season with several question marks over them for various different reasons. And it felt like a crucial encounter at King Power Stadium on Sunday. And it finished Leicester 1, Liverpool 0. Rick Parsmore's side taking home the three points. And that was despite being down to 10 players because Shannon O 'Brien saw red for a second bookable offence. But Emily Van Egman's goal saw them get their first victory of the season. 26 % of the ball Leicester had, actually, Susie, scored with their only shot on target. I mean, look, those stats don't lie. We talked about creativity with some of the other teams.

33:45Sometimes you just need one goal and you get the three points. But what did you make of the defensive display? they've got a real resilience that they've kind of built up over the last 12 months how impressive was that oh yeah very impressive I think they've got a little bit of consistency now in their starting 11 there's obviously a new manager in which changes things and can give you a little bit of a boost regardless of sort of who it is and when it happens like I think it's inevitable that you get that a little bit sometimes any change can be beneficial even like even if it's just short term I'm more concerned about Liverpool and like their lack of cutting edge in this game than I am about Leicester I think you know Leicester's resolve when they went down to 10 players and the sort of I suppose you know when a team feels a little bit hard done by regardless of whether that's accurate or not they can find a little bit of fire in their bellies in a way that can can sometimes get you over the line so yeah for me the bigger concern in this game was the state of Liverpool.

34:48Emma Sanders, the state of Liverpool. Wow. How are Liverpool fans going to be feeling about that? Yeah, it's definitely a concern. I completely agree with Susie. I think when you go into the club and you speak to the club, Gareth Taylor, I think, has been quite open about it. I think there was always an understanding that I think it would be a really gruelling few months up until January because they haven't got the squad debt. They haven't got enough quality in the squad and I think he's a manager that's obviously come in with such a stark different style of play to what you know local have been used to and he wants to play that possession based football he wants to play out from the back he wants to dominate the game as that's a showing against Leicester the problem I find though and you know we I think it's fair to say that we found this a lot when Gareth Taylor was at Manchester City was that when it's not working it is just so stale and I think at the moment because local have got nothing coming off the bench and there's an argument they haven't got enough quality already in the squad that you know they're they're dominating games you know they dominated against Everton in the first half and we're 2-1 down like you just you can't you can't win football matches when you just keep the ball but do nothing with it to be blunt about it so I think I think it is it concerning because of the manner in which they've lost the first two games.

36:11And actually, I was quite positive for them after the Moisai Derby in a weird way, because Everton were the favourites in that game. They brought in some real quality in the transfer window. They've got a really good record at Anfield. And that first half, a lot of people were saying, and me included, that that was the best I'd seen local women play in, I can't remember how long. But like I say, they were 2-1 down. So I think going into the game against Leicester, I think people were like, okay, I think they showed enough that even if it's not clicking yet, you know, you need to be getting results against Leicester, who a lot of people think will be really struggling this season.

36:50And yet Leicester come away with a win. So it's all well and good saying we need time. You know, we need to build this. We need to build that. We need to get through to January. You've still got to get results. You know, the Football League isn't just going to stop for half of the year. So to come away from Leicester without anything when you've dominated 80 % of the possession, I think it's a bit unforgivable, really. Interesting. Tottenham backed up their opening day win with a comfortable 2-0 victory away at Goodison Park. Things seem like they're looking a little bit brighter, Tom, for Martin Ho's side creatively.

37:28I could think of Tamberg's stunning goal first for the club. It was an absolute beaut, wasn't it? was the icing on the cake for them. How different do they look from last season?

37:38Faye Carruthers:Yeah, I was at Goodison and very impressed with Tottenham. This was a performance that really built on the opening when they were much better than they were against West Ham. Another clean sheet as well. Two clean sheets in a row, which is really rare for Tottenham in the WSL. And the new front two combined really well. Tamburg and England. England essentially in the number 10 role, a little bit deeper, but she led the press so well and was just such an energetic forward in that game. Both the goals came from essentially Spurs pressing and winning the ball off Ishikawa who was quite upset at the end of the game but I really liked what Brian Sorensen said afterwards.

38:23Faye Carruthers:He said essentially, you know, that's football. She played really well in the first game at Liverpool. She was young and she was learning and they were fully supporting her for kind of making a couple of mistakes. But they weren't just about mistakes. Look, Tottenham deserved the win. They were creating more. They linked up really well. And Tamberg, let's just applaud Tamberg for the audacity of shooting with a first-time strike from around 35 yards, seeing the keeper off her line. And from what Martin Ho said straight after the game, she had actually done it in training just a few days beforehand.

38:57Faye Carruthers:And I know from talking to somebody at Hammaby that she did it last season in the league there. So I think we need to find the footage of that and maybe put the two goals together. Really encouraging for Tottenham. Really encouraging. Another good performance from Koga as well, who we mentioned on a previous pod, I think. But, you know, one of their summer signings who's still really young, Japan international, a centre-half who I think a lot of clubs were looking at. And she's, you know, she started, despite being 19 years old, she started with two clean sheets in a WCAL, so fair play. Are you trying to be an analyst as well as a journalist?

39:32Faye Carruthers:No, I'm really not a very good analyst. Giving them all a clue. Don't give away her superpower if other people haven't done their research. Look, disappointing for Everton. Their first game at their new home, particularly after last week's Merseyside derby success, didn't register a single shot on target. We actually had a message in on X from Han Solo 1918. Can Everton do what many have failed to do and bring in the numbers to Goodison Park? Not sure performances like that will do that, Susie. But what do you reckon going forward? I'm just really happy that Star Wars characters are taking an interest in women's football and the Women's Super League.

40:18That's really doing it for me. In terms of Everton, I'm actually feeling quite good about their season. and there's going to be games like this in that sort of mid-table pack that they sort of have the rub of the green of and don't. I mean, it's disappointing not to get a single shot on target, obviously, but they had 19 touches in the opposition box to Spurs' 25. So it's not that they're not getting into the spaces in and around the box and creating moments, if not them directly leading to shots. So I'm not overly concerned with them across the course of the season. They've got huge talent in that squad.

40:54If they could just play Liverpool every single week at Anfield, they'll be fine. I'm not sure if the fixture gods are going to provide that for us, I'm afraid. It was a busy weekend in the Barclays WSL 2. Eye-catching games around. Charlton Athletic, the only team to win their first two. Southampton and Crystal Palace shared the spoils in an eight-goal thriller. That was brilliant. Four-all, fantastic. Birmingham held by Sunderland. Newcastle held by Sheffield United. Nottingham Forest, though, got their first WSL 2 win. But actually, speaking of Sheffield United, Tom, news this week centring around that club.

41:28They've had a busy week, it feels, men's and women's. But you reported that Ash Thompson had been suspended from his duties as head coach. What more can you tell us about the situation going on up in the Steel City?

41:39Faye Carruthers:Well, there was a bit of mystery around their first game of the season when they played on the opening night and Ash Thompson was described as simply being unavailable. as we understand it that's because he's been suspended from his duties exactly what has triggered this we have to be you know honest and say that at the moment we're not able to report that right now but clearly uh you know this is not just some kind of absence for for for personal reasons we understand it that you know this is this is a matter that's sort of an internal process. So for the time being, the club are under the interim leadership of Luke Turner, who has done it three times before.

42:20Faye Carruthers:And I think he's seen as a relatively steady pair of hands. They picked up a good result at the weekend. He's experienced of having to step up into the situation, but it just feels as though club just sort of can't catch a break. They kind of seem to have lurch from, from one problem to the next. So the players and the fans will hope for a kind of speedy resolution. I guess and a bit more clarity because it's a bit of a difficult situation at the moment for everyone involved but when we can report more we will but this is not the start to the season that I think Sheffield United would have wanted off the pitch on it I think they look good on Sunday so that's some encouragement for them amidst the uncertainty so we'll see how they can get on over the coming weeks Yeah we will keep you posted England have announced a series of homecoming fixtures for the autumn.

43:12They're going to face Brazil at the Etihad and Australia at Pride Park in October. Then they're going to round out a successful 2025 against China at Wembley and Ghana in Southampton. A variety of opposition, Emma. How important are these friendlies going to be in preparing for the 2027 World Cup, which seems a long way away? Yeah, it's just straight back at it, isn't it? I feel like the Euros have certainly last week. Paul Serena's probably not had any time off. I've seen her all around the country at WSL games over the last two weeks. So it will be important because, you know, they need to build on the success of the Euros, keep up that momentum.

43:50You know, it's just as much about kind of, you know, traveling around the country as well, building the connection with the fans. Those who might have watched the Euros that now want to go and watch the Lionesses in action. I think the opposition is really interesting. I'm absolutely delighted that there's a game in Manchester first and foremost that was what I took away from the fixture announcement so I don't have to travel too far for that one so that's good I also thought it was interesting that they're going back to Pride Park after the whole you know Women's League Cup final saga I think is how I would describe it but yeah I'm interested to see you know how they got on against you know like an African opposition I think that's just It's rare that we get to see European teams play African teams.

44:32So obviously in the build-up to a World Cup, they're the type of fixtures that I get quite excited about because it's just something a little bit out of the ordinary. Looking forward to it. Yeah, me too. And actually you've stolen the thunder from Minty 83, also known as Amir Alipour. England going to Derby after the pitch at last season's Sandwich Cup. Let's call it properly. It was the Subway Women's League Cup final. But do not worry because they have relayed the pitch. So hopefully not the same kind of issues that we saw and rightly criticised last season. Finally, I just want to read an email that came in from Jim, following on from Alex Ibaseta's piece in the Guardian's Moving the Goalposts newsletter.

45:14Have a read of it if you haven't had a chance. Hello all, following Alex's piece, could Barcelona be the next club to sell off their women's team? It would seem to make sense for all parties. After all, the hundreds of millions that Femeni would bring in for the men's team would be a huge lever to help their finances. For Femini themselves, they wouldn't be held back by the financial mismanagement of the club as a whole anymore. While any investor would benefit from buying into one of the biggest brands in football and a team that is still fixable, if it's left too long, the team could end up losing more of its stars and lose its competitiveness in Europe and maybe even Liga F.

45:49Jim, what do you reckon, Susie? I mean, obviously they've got huge problems, but I'm not sure selling off the women's team is the answer. I mean, that's a short-term fix, right? They'd get a little financial boost for one year on their accounts for the sale of the women's team. But what about season after that, season after that, season after that? I'd far rather see them properly investing in the team and recognising the commercial future potential of women's football. Looking at what Arsenal are doing around big stadium and attendances and things like that. and going, hang on a second, this is a way that we can bring money into the club that can offset that on a year-on-year basis rather than a one-off sale of the women's team.

46:31I think these little short-term financial loopholes that clubs are finding, which has involved them offloading their women's teams to help balance their men's books, I think is not a healthy long-term solution. I'd love to see women's teams split from men's clubs, generally speaking, financially and things like that in the right way when they're ready to. And when they're like on a financially sustainable footing, I think that could be a healthy thing to have happen. But this feels like, yeah, the women's teams being used as a bit of a financial pawn by clubs who want to prioritise their men's.

47:12Interesting. Another one to keep an eye on for sure. We have packed in so much in today's pod. I hope you've enjoyed it Emma lovely to see you as always nice to see you all have a good week thank you Tom Gary superstar

47:24Faye Carruthers:see you soon mate great to see you it's Tilly time Susie Rack see you later alligator happy to have Sam back should I go and practice a backflip or all that like cure me please don't be very very careful the conditions outside aren't great slippy it's been raining just be safe please someone's just running to do a risk assessment for The Guardian straight away. Without a doubt. They'll start rewriting my contract like they do for players and have like no skiing, no sanker backflips. Extra insurance for Susie Rack. Keep having your say. Send in your questions via X or email us at womensfootballweeklyattheguardian.com.

48:05A reminder as ever as well to sign up for our bi-weekly women's football newsletter. All you need to do is search moving the goalposts sign up. The Guardian Women's Football Weekly is produced by Sophie Downey and Silas Gray. A music composition was by Laura Iredell. Our executive producer is Joel Grove.

48:25This is The Guardian.

48:35As a small business owner, you're the CEO, the marketing team, and the customer service rep all at once. I was recently talking to a shop owner who told me their worst nightmare isn't a slow day, it's the vanishing act. It's that moment you're inches away from a deadline and the Wi-Fi just disappears. We've all felt that pit in our stomach when the connection flares up right when it matters most. Your business is only as strong as your connection. AT &T Business is the reliable provider built for that exact brand of hustle, so you can stay focused on the work that builds your legacy. Powered by AT &T Business.

49:10Built to work. Get AT &T Business at business.att.com. All right.