Spain dazzle, Ada delivers and England prepare for France – Women’s Football Weekly

22:10Were you expecting it to be as competitive as it was? Yeah Italy a really interesting team coming into this tournament They can kind of switch formations and they've undergone a bit of a rejuvenation under their new manager. But I think with this game in particular, I mean, the thing Italy lacked, they don't have a lot of ball playing midfielders and neither did Belgium really. That kind of showed up again in this game. It was quite attritional, probably not fantastic for the neutral, particularly once Italy had the lead and there was lots of kind of drawing fouls and breaking the game up and staying down.

22:47And then Belgium got frustrated and committed more fouls. I mean, if you're Italian, you'd say they saw the game out brilliantly and they completely kind of, I think they played Belgium a bit. But watching it as a neutral, when the nine minutes for stoppage time went up, I kind of, I had this dual thought of, I'm glad the time wasting has been added on. But at the same time, I kind of don't want another nine minutes of this because, you know, Italy, they saw it out very well, but it wasn't particularly entertaining for the neutral. But I think definitely second place is very up for grabs in this group.

23:21And I think Italy very, very much in the driving seat for that. Yeah, there are quite a few people's dark horses, Tom. We had a little bit of debate, didn't we, in the Guardian Women's Football Weekly WhatsApp chat. people jumping on the bandwagon of Italy and then all of a sudden saying, no, it's not because Emma Hayes chose them as her dark horses. No, I'm joking. Soph and Marva did actually choose Italy. But was there anything in that display that you saw the other night that convinced you they can go all the way?

23:49Faye Carruthers:All the way? No. Could they be the team that gets through sort of that section of the draw where a semi-finalist is going to emerge from? you know, themselves or Norway, then yes, you know, they could get somebody, as we spoke about on the preview pod, you know, somebody is going to go really deep from this section of the draw. And their game management impressed me quite a lot. They, that was the most mature Italy, but I've seen quite a lot of naive performances from Italy at tournaments in the last sort of few years. And I believe this is the first time they've won their opening match at Euros for 16 years.

24:23Faye Carruthers:So that will give them a good platform to go on. Can they go all the way though? So no, I don't see them being in that conversation. Could you really see them having enough to beat somebody like Germany and then somebody else in a final? Not for me. My own view now is actually that they should finish second in the group, at least because of the fact they'd be in Belgium. I felt it was between Italy and Belgium for second. And the games come at the start of the group. But you would now sort of expect Spain to get nine points and Italy to get six. and they could both be on six after the next round of games because of the way the fixtures are falling and Spain and Italy don't meet each other until the last match.

25:02Faye Carruthers:So I might be wrong. I'm wrong often, aren't I, with these predictions? But my prediction now would be that by the end of the second group games, Spain and Italy should both be through. Yeah, OK. I want Sophie to wax lyrical about Ariana Caruso because you got very excited about her. So if you called her the puppet master in your report.

25:23Tom Garry:Yeah, I just loved watching her play. I thought she was absolutely integral to everything good Italy did. She is kind of an all-round midfielder. She can play further forward. She links the play and then she dropped back in at the end of the game and was sort of playing the six, I think. So the defensive midfield role. And that's my kind of player. A player who can just do it all. And I think the way that she read the movement for the goal, Belgium was so structurally sound in that first half. But she dropped deep to pick up the ball. and it kind of sent them all of a helter skelter, I think, and they couldn't quite pick up the movement of her.

25:57Tom Garry:So she just ran into the space to pick up the return pass and the finish was absolutely glorious. She's had a really, really good career at Juventus. She made the surprise move to go on loan to Bayern Munich and now she's, I think, permanent at Bayern Munich from next season. So she's spreading her wings a bit, but I think she is going to be integral to Italy's chances. And Italy do have these really creative players who can turn it on. I do think part of it in the first game for me was just getting the result of the line. They knew that if they won this game, they had an absolutely superb chance of making it through to the quarterfinals.

26:31Tom Garry:So it's going to be a bit gritty, a bit tricky at times, a bit scrappy. But I think you'll start to see them against Portugal really start to spread their wings. Just finally, Tim, on this game, tough one for Belgium to take. What do they need to do to try and improve? I mean they had a really good chance in the first half for Tessa Wuliart at 0-0 and if that goes in it could be very very different of course I think Italy kind of because Italy can go between a back three and a back four they matched Belgium up and went with a back three and I think that contributed to the teams cancelling each other out but Belgium again they're a bit like you know Portugal with Jessica Silva they're a bit like Iceland they've got that kind of one elite attacker really in Tessa Wuliart and clearly their game plan is to try and get her into the game as much as possible.

27:19A lot of back threes in the tournament as well, and Belgium played a back three. I like the way they use their wing backs and bring them into midfield. I do think Belgium can do something in this tournament, in the next game perhaps, but I think losing this game was really critical for them, particularly to lose it and not even to draw it. I have to say, I don't think there's just quite enough there going forward other than give the ball to Tessa Woolley or Erlings and hope that they can do something. And that really had to work for them in this game and it didn't. And yeah, I think that might be it for them, to be honest.

27:54I have to just say one quick thing. For years and years, we've called her Tessa Woolart or Woolart. And now all of a sudden, everybody has changed the pronunciation. And I'm sure this is what her name is and how she pronounced it. But every time I just hear people say Woolart, I just think of that Scottish cow art print. That's all I can think about every time. Sorry Soph, go on, bring it back to sensibility please.

28:20Tom Garry:No, I'm not sure this is much more sensible but I was just going to give a shout out to Vicky Sparks of the BBC who came up with my line of the tournament so far about Justine van Hevermaet who said she towered over the Italians much like the mountains of Sion. And if you saw the screen, the mountains really surround the stadium. It's the most picturesque stadium and Justine van Hevermaet is incredibly tall. So I just thought that was a perfect quote. Excellent, excellent. I love Vicky, but I think I still prefer wonky numbers. Right, we then moved over to Bern, which is the country's capital.

28:54The world champions taking centre stage over neighbours Portugal. And it was such an emotional day for football on Thursday and for Portugal in particular, after that awful news that Liverpool and Portugal forward Diogo Jota and his brother Andre Silva had died in a car crash in the early hours of Thursday morning. Our thoughts, of course, are with their family and friends. There was a minute's silence at the game, some special tributes as well from the Portuguese fans. And actually, it was a tough evening on the pitch for Francisco Neto's side, as you would have expected. Regardless, Spain running riot in the first half.

29:31In terms of the football, it finished Spain 5, Portugal 0. Four first-half goals, including a brace from Esther Gonzalez and strikes from Vicky Lopez and Alexia Puteas. Cristina Martín Pietro added a fifth with the final touch of the match as well. It was just a dominant performance from Spain. Tom, what did you make of it overall?

29:50Faye Carruthers:Really enjoyed watching Spain. The technical skill level was as high as you would expect it to have been with Spain. And the likes of Alexia Piteras were really on song. The game, I think, probably also busted a bit of a lazy myth that we've got in Europe that just because Esther Gonzalez doesn't play for Barcelona, that maybe she's one of the weak links in the side. Clearly not the case at all. She's, of course, the top scorer in the NWSL this season. So, you know, with 10 goals in 13 games. So they come into the tournament with a good in-form number nine in front of all those technically skillful midfielders.

30:23Faye Carruthers:And they look good. I won't get carried away by the performance because I think Portugal looked a bit off their best, which is very understandable. I think given the hugely challenging circumstances of yesterday day and the difficulties and the emotion of that awful news. So I'm not going to judge Portugal for the way they played, but they weren't really at their best. So it flattered Spain a tiny bit, but nonetheless, Spain's technical illability with the ball really shone through, even with Bon Mati on the bench. So encouraging for Spain, they will be as good as we've all been imagining that they will be at this tournament.

31:02Faye Carruthers:You know, you'd expect them to be right there in the very, very lesser stages deep in the tournament. We'll talk about Vicky Lopez, who came in place of Bon Mati very shortly. But actually, you mentioned there Tom Esther Gonzalez and Soph has been one of those people that has never not talked about how brilliant she is just because she doesn't play for Barcelona. You actually picked her as one of your shouts for golden boot, Soph. So you're on your way.

31:30Tom Garry:Yeah, I'm feeling very vindicated right now. I'm so glad she popped up in the first minute almost. or the second minute to score that goal. But I think she adds something different, a new dimension to the Spanish side that maybe they haven't traditionally had over the years. You know, that kind of out and out forward. Yes, Jenny Homoso at times was that player. But I think she is that kind of natural number nine. And it means that they can use that, utilize those long balls, which is kind of not what you really think of when you think of Spain playing football, right? They play through the centre.

31:58Tom Garry:They kind of pass their way through the thirds and then into the box and then have a shot. So I think the first goal particularly showed that extra dimension to the Spanish side. You know, Olga Kimona's long ball forward, the deft touchdown, and then the really, really kind of dirty finish, I think, filthy finish. It was so good. And then to get the other one is kind of like a poachers finish in a way, just being there at the right time. But she is very good. She's having a wonderful season at Gotham at the moment. She's scored 10 and 13 games. She's leading the golden boot race there. Yeah, she's in the form of her career at the moment at 32 as well.

32:33Tom Garry:I know she had a good season a couple of years ago as well, but I think she is looking very, very bright and very, very potent for the Spanish. Yeah, Vicky Lopez looked really bright as well, Tim. Just a quick one on her. She was one of the stars of the show, as I mentioned, came into midfield in place of Itana Bonmati and scored on her major tournament debut. Did she show exactly why everyone's quite excited about her as a prospect? Yeah, absolutely. And it just shows the depth Spain have that they're able to leave out the current Ballon d 'Or winner. I mean, effectively, the story of this game is both teams are missing probably their best player from Barcelona, Kiko Nazareth for Portugal and Bon Mati for Spain.

33:13And I think we could see who that was a bigger problem for. But because I thought that maybe, you know, Spain would start Salma, drop Mariana back into midfield where she's been playing for Arsenal. But no, they trusted Vicky Lopez and were very, very vindicated by that. And the way Spain play, honestly, there was a chance in the first half where it was all just completely one touch. I think the ball fell to Lopez and it was saved. Nobody looked at any point. Everyone just knew exactly where each other was. I think you can see Spain are going to be really, really formidable, particularly with the depth that they have.

33:52I don't think they have to trouble Itana Bonmati in this group stage at all If I were them, I'd let her get over her illness and I wouldn't start her in any of the group games because they just have the depth to deal with it, particularly against the opponents they're going to come up against in this group. Yeah, Belgium up next. Portugal will face Italy. That's in Geneva. But how do Portugal pick themselves up for that match against Italy, Tom?

34:18Faye Carruthers:It's going to be challenging because when you have such a heavy defeat, you know, that's a massive blow to your morale and they're going to need to regroup very quickly. you don't get very much time in between these fixtures. Italy next clearly now becomes a must-win game for them. And my overwhelming feeling with them is just the sadness, the disappointment, first of all, for this women's team, that Kiko Nazareth is not there to play that game. You want the best player available. And then you add in a tragedy, wider tragedy for Portuguese football at the moment, and it just feels like everything's kind of going against them in so many different ways.

34:54Faye Carruthers:and I feel very sorry for them. You never know. Sometimes you can galvanise this group, can't you, in adversity and maybe they can surprise us and become that sort of really lovely, poignant story. But yesterday they just looked a little bit out of their depth, a little bit against the high calibre that Spain had. So I worry that their tournament could be over a bit quicker than we wanted, which is sad because they showed in the Nations League home game against England that the potential is there when they can click it together. But you really need all your best players available for a tournament like this.

35:33Tom Garry:I think I would just add that their defence is awful. To be perfectly frank, it's absolutely terrible. And yes, Spain were very, very good at times and they look good. But I think you just clarify that with the fact that there were so many holes in that defence. They've shipped 25 goals in their last five games. That is not a defence of an elite team, you know, and they have to really be a bit more mature about things. I think they approached the game a bit wrong. I think the way that they set up against Spain, they wanted to try and play their football. They didn't do what, say, England did in February against Spain, where they kind of sacrificed their style and made sure they defended the Spanish out of the game, didn't let them operate in those midfield areas.

36:14Tom Garry:So I do just think that we do have to mention that defence because, yes, Spain were very, very good, but they will come up against a lot of sterner defences than what they faced in that opening game. Yeah, without a doubt. Right, that's it for part one. In part two, we're going to have a look ahead to a big Group D game between England and France, while Wales will make history against the Netherlands.

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38:27Welcome back to part two of the Guardian Women's Football Weekly. So while Group C kicks off this afternoon as we record on Friday morning, Denmark taking on Sweden and Germany facing Poland, We're going to look ahead to Saturday and Group D, with England beginning their title defence in a captivating encounter against France. Tom, you've been amongst the England camp all of this week. Tell us a little bit more about the camp itself. How is everybody feeling? What have you got to report?

38:56Faye Carruthers:The mood's quite good amongst England camp. As it stands, everybody in the 23 is fit and healthy for the game. we spent a bit of time with Serena Vigman on Wednesday in England's hotel which I have to say is the most luxurious hotel in Zurich on the top of a hill overlooking the lake you couldn't imagine a more serene environment for these players to be staying in for the next few weeks but yeah Serena Vigman was in was in quite quite relaxed and seemed quite at ease with with things understandably you know she's in her fifth major tournament now as a head coach and reach the final of all the others so uh she's probably got reason to be calm yeah we had a really interesting conversation with serena bigman about about particularly about some of the things that she feels she's adapted and changed since she took charge of england she gave some examples for example that when she first came in she had quite a few more rules she banned briefly jewelry and a few things like that but she's she's really relaxed those now she she said when she was a school teacher she used to kind of insist that people sat in certain places at dinner time or rotated around for mealtime so you socialise with people but she says she's much more relaxed about that now just lets them all kind of just have the headspace that they need I thought that was quite interesting that she seems to be less strict is that is that the right word um but not that she was ever necessarily strict beforehand but she certainly seems to be mellowing and easing into this now and England England do seem cautiously positive I think there's an awareness in the camp of how good France are.

40:26Faye Carruthers:There's a respect for them, but there's also this feeling that, you know, England have got Hemp back, they've got Samway back, they've got Greenwood back, and Lauren James looks raring to go against Jamaica and they've been training well. And there's a sort of a quiet, calm confidence, I think, in the group at the moment with belief. I like the sound of that. We need a little bit of calm after the chaos that's been the past few weeks, I feel. The game itself, Soph, I'm so excited about it. Mostly because actually, it's really difficult to predict France all of the time. And it's kind of been difficult to predict England of late as well.

41:06So I don't kind of quite know what we're going to see on Saturday night. We've seen, you know, some fascinating results over the years. But what do England need to do to try and control this encounter? We talked about the fact that they changed their style of football against Spain in order to get that win. What are they going to need to do against France?

41:26Tom Garry:They're going to need to definitely protect the back line a bit. I think the direct running of the likes of, you know, Diani, Katoto, Baltimore as well, Sandy Baltimore. She's on the, you know, having the season of her life at Chelsea and she is such a threat because she plays higher for France than she did for Chelsea for most of the season. So I think they have to be really, really wary of that pace of attack and it might mean that Lucy Bronze has to be a bit more controlled in terms of her breaking forward. maybe be more responsible defensively and kind of control that. But I think England dictate the play the best when they dictate it from the front.

42:03Tom Garry:I think that press of Lauren Hemp, Alessia Russo, Beth Mead or Chloe Kelly, whoever starts, is so, so integral to their performance. It sets the tone for them. Alessia Russo is one of the most intelligent players at reading a press and when to activate it and when to jump and when not to jump. And I think she is going to be absolutely key in this because if you pressure that French back line, You've got some really good quality defenders in there, but I think you can get at them and start to take control. If you can win the ball back up high and then get the chances from there, that's going to be key.

42:34Yeah. What about France, Tim? High quality on paper, but how are they going to get success over England? Yeah, I mean, they come into the tournament in quite good shape, actually. And obviously there's been a lot of talk in the run up to the tournament with England, like with big players not being there like Mary Earps, Fran Kirby, Millie Bright. Obviously, France have made two very big decisions in not bringing Eugénie Le Sommet, which perhaps is a bit more, I say, understandable, but they've left Wendy Renard out, which is a really, really big decision, not least because she's still starting and playing for Lyon.

43:09And also she's a really good source of goals as well. And as an England fan, I'm quite relieved that I'm not going to have to face her from corners in particular. But I think the area I'm really interested in, I think So did a good job of describing a lot of France's kind of the threat they have going forward, particularly in transition. But in midfield, I think that's going to be really key here. The kind of Guerra and Toleti against kind of Walsh and Stamway. I really see that as the critical area because I think those players are really, really well matched as individuals, first and foremost.

43:45it's perhaps in terms of the squad England's weakest area as well and I think it'll also be really fascinating to see whether England start Lauren James actually and and if they do where they start her as well because if you start her as a 10 then maybe you lose something in that midfield and France can really dominate that area or do you start her from out wide but then France have so many wide threats as well you know do you really want Lauren James on the right for example when you've got Baltimore attacking on the left. So I wouldn't mind betting that England do spare Lauren James and use her as a bit of a super sub for this game.

44:22But I think France in midfield, look, that's the area I think that will really decide this game. I do find the Wendy Renard thing so strange. I was watching Arda Hegerberg in the Norway game and she had this steal about her. She has this, right, we are going. Do you see her face? She was like a proper, right, game mode on. Even when she scored, she looked like she was going to kill someone. I know. But Wendy Renard has that about her. And when you need somebody on the pitch that's going to do that with everybody, gather everybody in like we saw Hegerberg do. I don't know. Maybe it's because I'm a little bit old school, but those kind of players, you don't see those natural older leaders as much anymore.

45:04And we'll see whether or not that's going to bite France in the backside, potentially. I wouldn't usually use a phrase like that. I don't know why I chose to right then. Anyway, let's head to Lucerne, shall we? Because emotions are definitely going to be running high for Wales. You know, finally ending a series of disappointments and stepping out at a major tournament for the first time. And it seems like they've settled in well as well in their new home in Switzerland. Tom, they've been doing lots of media, brilliant stories that are coming out of the camp. I've really enjoyed. I love it when there's a tournament newbie and you get to learn so much more about them as a team.

45:43Do you get the feeling that they're actually quite relaxed coming into this? You know, they haven't got anything to lose, really, have they?

45:49Faye Carruthers:I think you summed it up perfectly. They do seem very, very happy to be here, probably the happiest to be here of any of the teams. And they seem to be, I've had a very warm welcome up in their training base in Weinfeld, which is kind of in the northeast of Switzerland. Some of the players, we believe, have had a bit of a nice day off up in the Alps at one point just to get a bit of that mountain air and just sort of see some of the scenery and training hard as well, of course, as well as all that. But they really seem to be trying to soak up every minute of the major tournament experience. Everything you hear from that is it's a very united group.

46:26Faye Carruthers:They don't seem to have any of those kind of splinter groups that you get with some of the more longer established major tournament national teams, shall we say. It seems quite a united front and I'm looking forward to seeing that kind of red wall against the orange wall in Lecunne tomorrow. But yeah, I'm with you. I think it's a really refreshing thing for the tournament to have new faces. I'm seeing another one of those tonight when I see Poland play and I think that that's good for the tournament. I just I'm still still worried for Wales that they have the three toughest opponents that I think anyone has ever picked up in a group stage so I hope the feel good feeling will last for Wales but you never know okay so it's great that they're in a good place Wales but they are facing former European champions the Netherlands in their opener which is a daunting prospect what are they going to be focusing on to try and get something out of this game I think their defensive

47:23Tom Garry:of ability more than anything. You know, they have to control as much as they can the Dutch attacking players, right? And that's going to be tricky. But I think they can take a lot of courage and belief from their Nations League campaign. Until the last game, they didn't concede more than two goals. So I think, or one goal, Rian Wilkinson has really brought that kind of defensive solidity into them and really made them hard to beat, hard to break down. So that's going to be super important for them. But by God, it's going to be hard. Yeah, it is. We don't even need to say that the Dutch are stacked with quality, Tim, do we?

47:57But you know firsthand the quality of Viviana Miedema, currently on 99 goals for her country. How does that defensive unit go about nullifying her threat, if it's even possible? And who else should we be watching out for? Yeah, I'd say first and foremost, I really hope this is a good tournament for Viv because obviously she missed the World Cup in 2023. The last Euros was a write-off for her because she got such a nasty bout of COVID and we didn't see, I think, the real Vivian Miedema. And it feels like time we saw the real Vivian Miedema at a tournament again. And of course, she scored in the warm-up and she's been a bit in and out with injury this year, but I think that might play into her advantage a little bit, that maybe she's a bit fresher at this tournament than others.

48:47And the answer is if we get prime Vivian Miedema, there is no stopping her, quite frankly. But I think really other things to look out for for Netherlands, again, with my Arsenal hat on, Victoria Pilova, who plays a bit more of a wide role for Netherlands because they're so stacked in the middle. Really, really interesting. And obviously she missed most of last season with an ACL. So she's coming into this maybe a bit fresh as well. But I think the other thing to kind of keep an eye on, obviously Netherlands have so much turbulence with their coaches. Since Serena left, Mark Parsons didn't really work.

49:21Andrus Jonker's here, but he's going to leave after this tournament. And it feels like this Netherlands team is still really the team of 2017. But I think we had a bit of a clue on social media. Leo Valti left some flowers for the Netherlands team in their hotel and addressed it to Viv and team, which slightly suggests that Vivian Meaderman might be the captain and if that's the case it means Sharida Spitzer who's played over 200 games for Netherlands might not be a starter anymore which I think has been a discussion in Netherlands for quite a few years now and it looks like Andra Shonka is finally going to make that decision that she's not going to be a starter so I think Netherlands have the quality definitely to move on from that player but it's a big deal because she's been in that team for well over a decade.

50:11And that might be a bit of a talking point, certainly back in Netherlands. Yeah, well, it's going to be one of those things, isn't it? Are they still going to be a united front? Choices like that, I think, should be made way before a tournament and announced way before a tournament, if that is indeed the case. Right, we'll be bringing you all the reviews of the Group C and D games on the pod on Sunday. So watch out for that. Few bits of news, though, to bring you from outside of the Euros. Tom, I think I'm going to call you our manager slash head coach correspondent because we've got a little bit of news for you.

50:50So earlier on, well, in fact, it wasn't even earlier on. It was a bit weird, actually. Manchester City announcing current Denmark manager André Jeglets as their new head coach. Really strange timing because the news came out at 6pm right in the middle of a Euro 2025 match and actually 24 hours before Denmark are due to play theirs. What did you make of it all?

51:13Faye Carruthers:Yeah, it also came out half an hour after Denmark's press conference with Jäger Lertz had finished for the pre-match, which was interesting timing. And you were just talking with Tim about things that could have been announced way before the tournament. I'm surprised this wasn't announced earlier. We wrote in The Guardian in the first week of June that we understood this was really close. But putting that aside, I think I can really see why Manchester City have gone with this appointment. Jiglertz has got a couple of things on his CV that really stand out. One of them is a European title from 21 years ago, something that Manchester City would love to achieve in the future with their women's team.

51:47Faye Carruthers:And secondly is that he's got a reputation for playing sort of possession-based passing football that Manchester City admire. So those things have really worked in his favour in this regard. He's come with good references. He's got a lot of great experience. and it'd be fascinating to see how he gets on. It's not going to be a huge shift in, massive shift in style from what Man City produced before under Taylor. My only very small question mark would be that for the people that I've spoken to about, yeah, let's say kind of, they've thrown a lot of praise at his attractive football, but they've maybe said occasionally he's not been flexible to sort of adapt to different games tactically and kind of one of those coaches who will like stick to the principles of, if I'm being a little bit lazy with the comparison, it's a little bit like watching Southampton men over the last two years, like when they had that sort of wonderful passing style that got them promoted and then they kind of carried on to do the same thing.

52:48Faye Carruthers:Now that's very lazy, but that's the sort of examples that people have given me about his style of play. Like you'll like watching it, but will it actually win you a game against Chelsea? We wait and see. I'm really curious. Very long on. Do you know what? A friend of mine is a Southampton fan. And when I tripped that out about Russell Martin, additionally, he was very quick to jump in and said, Russell has adapted his style since that. I was like, OK. Yeah. And I've been very unfair there. But I've tried to do a terrible segue there to talk about Southampton, who we understand that Southampton's women's team are really close now.

53:23Faye Carruthers:And maybe even by the time this podcast is out there for listeners, it might be confirmed. We believe they were on the verge of appointing Simon Parker as their new women's team head coach. He was, of course, the Blackburn head coach in the Women's Championship for the last couple of years. And yet our understanding is that that is pretty much almost there now. That's almost done that Parker will move to Southampton. A coach who I think had a lot of goodwill from the way he performed at Blackburn on a very, very small budget. So I'm sort of pleased to see him get a chance with a club that hopefully will give a bit more resources.

53:56Faye Carruthers:and the other news on managers at the moment is that our understanding is that Martin Ho has signed a three-year deal at Tottenham to be the replacement for Robert Villahal of course went to the quarterfinals of the Women's Champions League with SK Braan last season has the Norwegian club second in the table at the moment in the top tier and so he'll, as we understand it, be going to North London so lots of changes I think I'm right in saying that leaves just Liverpool now with the vacancy and then the summer managerial merry-go-round can conclude in the English top two leagues. But maybe there's another one I'm forgetting.

54:35Faye Carruthers:There's been so many changes in the last six weeks. Maybe it can stop and get a bit of an oiling, the carousel. Been going round for a little while, hasn't it? He was also former Manchester United assistant, by the way, Martin Hoke. He's a member of Mark Skinner's coaching staff until he left in 2023, but knows the English game really well, having been an assistant at Everton and managed Liverpool's under-21s as well. So, of course, we'll let you know if that gets done and dusted by the beginning of next week. Elsewhere, some headline signings domestically in terms of players. Chloe Kelly's made her move to Arsenal permanent after that successful loan spell at the club.

55:13Chelsea have signed Australia full-back Ellie Carpenter from Lyon. And young Japanese defender Toko Koga has joined Tottenham Hotspur from Feyenoord as well. will keep you up to date on all of the transfer lines, making the headlines. But of course, we're focusing on Euro 2025. And as I say, the review pod for Groups C and D's games will be on Sunday. Tim, see you later. Ask Tom and Sophie. Well, Sophie hasn't even tried any yet, to send you some cheese. I will. Thank you very much. My pleasure as always. I'm very sad. I can't have... I can have sheep's cheese and goat's cheese. I just can't have cow's cheese.

55:56But anyway, send me some cheese, Tom Gary, please.

56:00Faye Carruthers:I will try. If anyone's having cheese over here, it needs to be in a fridge. It's too hot. I know I said at the start of the pod that I made that prediction about the weather that it was going to cool down now after that storm. I was totally wrong. It's now just gone 10 o 'clock here and it's already too hot. It's sweltering. In the time we recorded the pod, it's just become unbearable in this room. So I'm heading out to get myself underneath some sort of tree somewhere. We'll see you soon. I'd go and find an air-conditioned mall if I were you. They don't seem to have a lot of air conditioning in anyone's apartments or hotels.

56:35Faye Carruthers:Everyone's got like a fan. I've got a fan here. But generally across all the journalists I've spoken to in Switzerland, no one seems to have air con. No, well, it's understandable. It's Switzerland. So I do get it. Soph, take care of yourself. Listen, get some sleep, please.

56:49Tom Garry:Yeah, I've got to drive to Geneva first today and do the Sweden-Denmark game, but then hopefully some sleep over the weekend. Excellent. Right. I look forward to your report on that match. Keep having your say as well. Send in your questions to us via social media or email us at womensfootballweeklyattheguardian.com. As ever as well, a reminder 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. Music composition was by Laura Iredell. Our executive producer is Salamat.

57:27Tom Garry:This is The Guardian.

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