Susanna and Graham return to discuss the opening week of the season, Man Utd's excellent start, two big red cards, Liverpool's sterling and deserved win at the Emirates and Jonas Eidevall and his Arsenal team.
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00:00 Welcome back to the Women's Super League show produced for Shots TV. I am your host Susanna
00:08 Seeley for Edinburgh Evening News and we are once again joined by the delightful Graham
00:13 Fork, Scotsman and National World Writer. Today, after several months, we can actually
00:19 talk about the return of the WSL. So we've got lots of games to get through, including
00:24 a shock defeat for Arsenal and a thumping by Leicester on Bristol City. So Graham, let's
00:31 first of all want to start with two main games, Arsenal and Liverpool, and then we've got
00:37 Manchester United's 2-1 win over Aston Villa. Obviously, the main talking point, I think,
00:43 is the fact that Arsenal lost. And even more exciting, perhaps, on the weekend is that
00:49 they were at the Emirates and they had a WSL record-breaking crowd. So what did you make
00:55 of the return of the WSL and that game in particular?
00:59 Yeah, I think really interesting. When Arsenal play at the Emirates, I don't know what it
01:07 is, something to me seems not right with Arsenal. There's a few results where they haven't got
01:15 what you would expect. But at the same time, I think it was a shock result. I think we
01:21 expected Arsenal to win it, if not comfortably, to win the game at the very least. But I think
01:26 Liverpool have shown, like last season they beat Chelsea on the opening day of the season,
01:30 so that's like two opening day shock results in a row. But I really think Liverpool have
01:36 recruited really well. And I think I did a review of the season, a preview of the season
01:43 last week, and I predicted positions. I had them in eighth, which is actually a position
01:49 lower than last year, but that was more so I feel like Brighton have strengthened quite
01:53 a bit. And I also don't think Everton are going to be as bad as people think, although
01:57 they did obviously lose at the weekend. But the reason for that is I think Liverpool have
02:01 recruited really, really well. And if you look at the team that played, a lot of those
02:05 players were within that squad. And I think their back three was just excellent, obviously
02:09 including their goalkeeper as well. I think it won't shock anyone who's watched the show
02:14 before or knows me that I rate Jenna Clarke incredibly high. Yes, I'm biased because I
02:21 know the player from my time at Glasgow City, but I think everything that I said she would
02:26 bring to Liverpool, she did bring on the game at the weekend on Sunday. And that's composure
02:31 at the back, ability to bring the ball out from defence, almost into a defensive midfield
02:37 position. And I haven't really seen a player like a back three before because if Glasgow
02:41 City shows it was part of a back four, I thought it was really interesting seeing on that right
02:45 hand side of a back three because it allowed a kind of push into what I think is a really
02:49 strong position for her, which is almost like a defensive midfield position. But I think
02:53 the standout, if I'm completely honest, was Gemma Bonner. I think we all know that the
02:58 quality that Gemma Bonner brings, and we've all known about her for a long, long time.
03:03 She was outstanding. And I think people have this ability to underestimate Alessia Russo
03:11 and say, "Oh, she's not quite as good as people think." And yes, there's a lot of discussion
03:16 around her, but she's a really good striker. She's really strong, she's really physical,
03:20 she's really difficult to come up against. And even when she was "under par", and I'll
03:25 put that in quotation marks, she scored three goals in the World Cup. That doesn't happen
03:30 if you're not a good player, even if you've got the best players around you. And she kept
03:34 it completely quiet, her and Jenna marshalled it well. And I think Grace Fisk was excellent
03:39 as well on the left hand side of that back three. So they've been playing it in pre-season.
03:43 I've been keeping a close eye on Liverpool to see how they would shape up. And I think
03:47 it's a really interesting back three that has kept out a really good Arsenal forward
03:52 line. But from an Arsenal perspective, if we're talking about formations, I'm not really
04:00 understanding Jonas's back three. It doesn't make sense to me really. I mean, looking through
04:07 the team that he played, he had Jen Beattie in the middle of a back three with Lottie
04:12 Wubbenmooy and Steph Catley on the left hand side. I don't know, it makes sense because
04:17 obviously Steph Catley can play at left back, Jen Beattie is the most centre-half race,
04:22 centre-half you'll ever see and will marshall that back line. And Wubbenmooy is capable
04:27 with the ball at her feet and good at defending and always showed up for me for Arsenal, if
04:32 I'm completely honest with you. But I don't know if I think the formation particularly
04:36 works because when you look across the middle four, you had Lacaz on the right hand side.
04:45 Now Lacaz can play in that attacking position, but I think the way Liverpool played, it pushed
04:50 her all the way back into almost like a right back position, which totally nullified her
04:55 sort of attacking ability and it kind of took her out of the game almost completely. Obviously
05:00 you had up front, you had, I think he sort of played like Manam on the right, Caitlin
05:05 Ford on the left and Russo to the centre. I'm not sure Manam is, for me, that's not
05:12 where I would play her. I know she's got a lot of good attacking ability, but I like
05:15 her in that sort of number 10 role. And I just feel like the back three doesn't quite
05:21 make sense to me. Like Steph Cutley for me is a left back or can push further forward.
05:27 She's got Katie McCabe in front of her there, Katie McCabe's in an alright position on that
05:30 left wing, but then you've got Leah Valtteri and Kim Little in the middle and then Lacaz
05:35 on the kind of right wing back, sort of right back position, Manam up front. And for me,
05:42 the formation didn't really work, especially when you look at who's on the bench. You've
05:46 got Cooney Cross, you've got Black Stenius, you've got Pulova, you've got Hertig, you've
05:49 got Katrine Kuhl, you've got Codina, you've got, yeah, it's a crazy bench. Like the bench
05:57 is ridiculous, but because I've seen it and I was like, wow, that's a crazy bench. But
06:02 then, you know, I actually managed to catch the game. I was on holiday, but I managed
06:05 to catch the game because I wanted to, I wanted to see how Jenna got on in the first game
06:09 to be honest, and I thought it was quite an intriguing game. But when it comes to Arsenal's
06:15 formation and you look at the bench that they had, I think you could have played a different
06:19 formation that would have suited people. For me, it looks a little bit, what's the famous
06:23 saying, round pegs and square holes. And it didn't work because they got beat.
06:32 So it can't be too long until a rather famous Arsenal pairing come back into the lineup.
06:41 I think we spoke a few weeks ago, sorry, I do apologise for my voice. But we spoke a
06:46 few weeks ago about whether Beth Mead would actually get into the England squad, not necessarily
06:51 to play, but just to get a feel around. So like those discussions show that she's sort
06:55 of nearing a full return. When her and Miedema come back, what do you think that setup is
07:02 going to be? Because as we're saying, I mean, it's, let alone the players on the pitch,
07:06 that bench is just outrageous. So how do they fit back into what that bench is?
07:10 Yeah, you're right in what you're saying there, 100%. That's a bench that doesn't include
07:13 Leah Williamson, Beth Mead, Viviana Miedema and Weinrotter either. Like, with all due
07:21 respect to Liverpool and teams like that, Arsenal shouldn't be losing those games with
07:26 the squad they have without those numbers. I like Jonas tactically. I know some people
07:34 don't. I think he's quite good. But I think he got his tactics completely wrong on the
07:41 weekend against Liverpool. And I do think that when Beth Mead comes back and Miedema
07:47 comes back and Leah Williamson's back and Weinrotter's back, you can change that up
07:51 a little bit. My worry would be he seems to like this kind of weird back three formation,
07:56 which for me doesn't really work for Arsenal, especially not in the guise that he had it
07:59 at the weekend. I mean, if you're keeping that formation and bringing in the injured
08:04 players, or you bring in Beth Mead, and then you bring in Miedema, I don't really know
08:09 where you fit Miedema in there because she can play direct to the middle, which means
08:14 that you drop in Russo, which I don't think he will do. He's obviously battled for it,
08:18 it's been very public that he wanted it. The move's been very public. She's going to want
08:22 to play first team football. You could arguably say he could interchange them because one's
08:26 coming back from a big injury, one's played every game for about two years, it seems.
08:30 So you could interchange them potentially, that's an option. But every player wants to
08:34 play every game, whether they're fatigued or not. That's what they play the game for.
08:37 So they'll want to play consistently. You could potentially bring in Beth Mead on the
08:42 right ahead of, well, at the moment it's Frida Mannheim if she's playing a front three. But
08:46 then when you put Frida Mannheim, she was probably their best player last year. You
08:50 can't just drop her because Beth's back. For me, he needs to change formation, like go
08:55 back to a back four. I think for me that the best formation for Arsenal, and again, I say
09:01 this repeatedly, Jonas is a coach, and I'm not. I'm just someone who gives my own thoughts.
09:08 I probably have no idea what he sees every single day of training, every single day of
09:13 the week. I'm most likely wrong. However, this is a show for opinions and which I will
09:18 give. I would go back to back four. I mean, you've got a really good selection of centre
09:28 halves to be fair. You've also got the likes of Kadina can come in. I think Jen Beattie
09:33 is great. I think she's fantastic. I think most people would be happy with Jen Beattie
09:37 there. Although Jen Beattie up front seems to be a thing when they're needing a goal
09:40 recently so you can maybe trick her up front. Wubin Moy.
09:43 Did that not happen suddenly if they went 1-0 down? I was expecting to see Jen Beattie
09:49 come up front.
09:50 Because it works, eh? But I would go back to that back four when those players are fit
09:56 and return. Even when Beth Mead's back, I'd go back to it. Even without either of them,
10:00 I'd go back to it. I'd get the one to play front three of Ford, Russo and Marnham. I
10:06 think you potentially still could, but I think the defence needs to go to a back four. For
10:12 me, you stick Katie McCabe either on a left wing position or left back. You centre halves,
10:18 you've got a selection of choices there and they're all as good as each other more or
10:21 less. Kadina, Ilstead, Beattie, Wubin Moy, there's plenty of choice there. And then you've
10:27 got choices at right back as well. And when Weinroth is back, which is obviously a little
10:31 bit further away, then you can go with that. But I don't 100% know if the formation he's
10:38 playing at the moment suits the players that he's putting within there. And I think the
10:43 addition of Beth Mead and Miedemaar will probably dictate that he'll change that. And hopefully
10:47 it does.
10:52 So the other thing to discuss with Arsenal as well is obviously they're playing at the
10:57 Emirates. We've spoken that they've had some slightly rogue results there. However, they
11:02 were playing in front of over 54,000 people, which, and I can't remember the exact figure,
11:09 but I think the previous record for WSL was around 47,000. That is an incredible achievement
11:16 to get on the first day back.