Leah Williamson returns to the England squad, but why is Nikita Parris missing?
Graham and Susanna return to chat the long awaited return of Leah Williamson to the Lionesses squad ahead of the clashes with both Austria and Italy next week. How important can it be too England? We also chat McCabe vs Kelly and discuss the importance of Jane Ross' return to the Scotland squad.
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00:00 [music] Welcome back to the Women's Super League
00:05 Show with myself, Susanna Sealy, and Scotsman and National World Fighter Graham Thorpe.
00:11 This week, we haven't had much WSL active in the past week or so, but we do have a Lioness
00:16 fixture coming up at the end of the week. Straight away, I want to get into the squad.
00:22 There is, of course, one name that we are all buzzing to see back. Leah Williamson has
00:28 been named in the squad. She's obviously been out for several months with an ACL injury.
00:34 I feel like that time has flown by, but I don't know if that's just me. I feel like
00:39 with Beth Mead, we were waiting for ages and ages, but actually, Leah Williamson, her recovery
00:43 seems to be quite quick. I think it's because we maybe saw-- because
00:48 she got injured just before the World Cup, so I think it was April, May time, so we resigned
00:53 ourselves to her not being there. Whereas, there was a little glimmer, tiny smidgen of
00:58 it was never going to happen with Beth Mead, whereas we sort of knew Leah wasn't going
01:03 to be in the squad. Great news, isn't it? I don't want to be the typical fanboy here,
01:09 but she's so important to England.
01:11 Yeah, what will she bring back?
01:15 I just think she's really important to how we play. If we look at before we discuss her
01:21 mindset and what she brings as a personality, I think the way she brings up the ball from
01:25 defence, I don't think there's anyone better in England's squad and what Serena wants the
01:30 team to do than her doing that. I think we reverted to a back three at the World Cup,
01:37 which allowed Alex and Jess to get forward a little bit more and push Lucy more onto
01:43 the wing. But I think if you look at the Euros run and the games that she played after that,
01:50 the majority of the games she played after that, the finalism and stuff like that, her
01:54 ability to be like the... This sounds like a derogatory comment towards Millie Bright,
01:58 and it's really not, but Millie's like the brone and Leah's like the brains in terms
02:03 of she brings the ball out, is really important at distributing things on the back, whereas
02:09 Millie's just like, "You're not getting past me whatsoever." Millie's actually really good
02:14 at bringing the ball out as well, fantastic at it. I just think Leah adds that extra dimension
02:17 and allows Millie Bright to be that kind of brick wall at the back. But unfortunately,
02:22 we're not going to see Millie Bright because she's still injured at the moment. But I think
02:26 in time, when we see those two back together, I think they're two of the most important
02:31 players for any national team and two of the... Potentially one of the best centre-back parents
02:38 in the world, if not the best in Europe. And I think her mentality... Leah has a lot of
02:45 media attention on her because she was the first England captain since 1966 to lift a
02:50 trophy and naturally she gets attention because of that and probably will forever more. But
02:57 I think because of that, we see a lot of Leah in the media, so we get to see a lot more
03:00 of her mindset and we get to understand because of the documentaries that have been made what
03:05 her mindset was going into that game against Germany in the final and the tournament itself
03:11 at the Euros. And I just think Leah's mindset's great. Look, I don't know the woman, I've
03:15 never been lucky enough to interview her. If you are listening, Leah, I'm totally open
03:20 to that.
03:21 Actually, yeah, just come on the podcast.
03:24 Yeah, just do that. Just like, come on. We've had like Lisa Evans on, Kirsty Hansen, we've
03:29 had people that are great on here as well. Just add your name to the list. But I think
03:34 with Leah, her mindset's really good. From what I know of her and what I've seen from
03:37 her, her mindset is like brilliant for a captain of a national team. She encapsulates everything
03:43 that's good about that England team for me and everything that was fantastic about the
03:46 Euros win. And I think there's a lot of chat about being back for Arsenal for me. And this
03:51 might be a bit of an outlandish comment and it might sound a bit weird, but I think she's
03:54 even more important for England than she is for Arsenal.
03:56 Yeah, I mean, I think that's probably a very fair comment. I think as well, like the whole
04:02 captaincy thing, we probably really underestimated how important that was. Her as a figurehead,
04:08 we had Millie Bright during the World Cup, but bless her, she'd only just come back from
04:12 Italy. She was like struggling enough to play, let alone captain the entire squad. So yeah,
04:18 no, it was really exciting to see her back. And some of the other names, once again, Grace
04:23 Clinton, we've spoken a bit about her on the show. We're big fans, excited. Obviously,
04:29 whether she gets... Actually, before we do move on, so we've got England, Austria on
04:35 Friday and then they're taking on Italy. How much time do you think Leah Williamson will
04:40 get?
04:42 I think we might see something similar to what Beth got potentially. Although Beth did
04:46 start the Scotland game and I think Beth was maybe a little bit further ahead at the time,
04:50 so maybe a bit less. I'd be happy with a nice 20 minute, 30 minute cameo. For me, get her
04:56 in amongst the squad. She's fit and she's ready to play a game for Arsenal, so she can
05:00 contribute to the pitch. It's not like when Viv got called up for Holland and she hadn't
05:04 played a minute at the point. I think 20 minutes, 30 minutes here or there, these games are
05:09 sort of test new things out ahead of the campaign coming forward. And it'll just be nice to
05:14 have it in and around the squad. I think even if she doesn't play either of those games,
05:18 having her within the dressing room and around the girls and around the squad is going to
05:22 be just absolutely massive. I also just really want to point out that I feel quite bad because
05:27 I've just woken up with my haircut this morning. I'm just back from a run and I don't want
05:31 to dishonour Leah Williamson's return by having a rugged, almost half asleep look. So I've
05:37 just been on a run, haven't just woke up. If you are watching Leah's look before, I
05:43 didn't mean not to kind of dress for the occasion. So do forgive me, Your Highness.
05:48 Yeah, that's true. If you do come on, obviously we will all be wearing a proper shirt and
05:53 we'll all look as smart as possible. Also, sorry, I did just make an error. So it's England
05:57 and Austria on Friday the 23rd of February, which not this week, which I'm absolutely
06:03 buzzing about because I'm going to Arsenal Manchester United this weekend. And so I was
06:06 suddenly very stressed that I wasn't going to see some of the main players. Hopefully
06:11 that'll all be in action.
06:13 Read the small print.
06:14 Yeah, I know. Sorry, that was really stupid. Anyway, so yeah, some of the other players
06:20 in the squad, obviously Grace Linton we've spoken a lot about and Jess Park back in the
06:25 squad. She's only on five caps so far, but one player who isn't and she's been on the
06:33 fringes and even when she was in the squad, she very rarely played sort of like 90 minutes.
06:39 But Nikita Paris has missed out and she scored seven goals in her last six games for Manchester
06:44 United. Why do you think she's missed out this time?
06:50 I always start this conversation in the same way. Serena Wigman knows miles better than
06:56 I ever do. But I am paid to comment on these kind of things and give my opinion and that's
07:01 the maximum I can get. It doesn't even mean I'm right or wrong. It's just my thought process.
07:05 I don't think United have been great this season, but I think Nikita Paris has been
07:11 and I think she's been really, really, really unlucky not getting that team because I think
07:17 in total she's got eight and 12 across the season in the Super League. I think if you're
07:21 looking at the Conty Cup, she's got five and four. You can see where I'm going with this,
07:26 but she hasn't really been a regular starter in the England team since the World Cup of
07:30 2019. Now, maybe if you're judging a season that she had at Arsenal, the time she had
07:35 at the club before that, I can maybe understand that. I can get that. But I think recently
07:42 she's been really good. She's not old. She's 29. She feels like she's been around for ages
07:48 because she's been one of the...
07:49 She does touch, doesn't she?
07:50 Yeah, she does, doesn't she? Because she's been one of the... I was lucky enough to chat
07:54 to her just after the World Cup and I referred to her as an OG of the WSL and I think that's
08:00 sometimes why you think she's maybe mid-30s or something, but she's definitely not. She's
08:04 29 and that's a peak age in many ways. I think we all get upset when a player... Not all
08:13 do, but we all kind of get frustrated when a player who's been in form for a club team
08:17 doesn't get picked for the international team because you buy into that player and you back
08:21 them and you see that in the men's game, you see that in the women's game. There's a lot
08:24 of Man United fans who are perplexed by her omission, but this is one where I don't think
08:30 Claude Bias comes into it. I do think they have a really valid point. I think she's looked
08:35 really good. She's broken into a Man United team and become a really pivotal part of a
08:39 Man United team when I think, if we're honest with you, when she first signed last summer,
08:44 or the summer before, sorry, I don't think people expected it to have the impact she
08:48 had even last season, let alone the one she's having this season. I mean, what options do
08:53 you have on that right-hand side? Beth Mead's your first pick, but I think on current form,
08:57 Nikita Parrish has got to say, "Look, I can play either wing. I'm deserving of some time
09:00 in these games, which realistically are just friendlies." But it may... I hope it doesn't.
09:07 I really hope it doesn't. And I don't think Serena writes anyone off, but there is part
09:12 of me that thinks she hasn't picked her because she just doesn't see her as part of the squad.
09:16 Yeah. And I guess if you're looking at... So, 29, as we said, is the peak age, but it
09:21 is a point where you're like, "She's been good at bringing in the new blood, if you will.
09:28 And so maybe it's not time to suddenly bring back those players that were part of arguably
09:36 a different era that was pre-Wiegman." So the other options that we do have up front,
09:42 and when you look at it, it's like, who actually do you drop? You've got Rachel Daly's been picked
09:47 as a forward, Lauren Hemp, Lauren James, Chloe Kelly, Beth Mead, and Alessia Russo.
09:52 That's a joke, by the way.
09:53 Like, who are you putting... Who's coming on as your subs in that scenario? I mean,
10:00 that's a team in itself.
10:02 I don't know if I'm going to get wrong off people, or I'm going to get praised by people
10:07 for this, but if you're talking about my starting forward, Alessia Russo, every single time...
10:11 And I know people are going to not like that. I know some people are going to agree with me,
10:14 but for me, Alessia Russo is more than just goals. She's got absolutely everything. She's
10:18 got room to grow, and I just think we're a better team when Alessia Russo's up front.
10:23 I'm a huge fan. I know she hasn't scored a bag load of goals this season, but I think
10:29 she brings different things to the England team.
10:30 One thing I would like to see is Chloe Kelly get a starting berth. I think it's difficult,
10:38 because you've got Lauren James, who is from another planet on one wing, and you've got
10:41 Lauren Hemp, who is just also from another planet on the other wing. But I really think
10:46 Chloe Kelly's had a really good season. I think City are having a good season, and I'd
10:49 like to see her get a little bit more starting time. But do not ask me who for, because I'm
10:54 not risking the wrath of, A, City fans for saying she should get in over Lauren Hemp,
10:58 and B, Chelsea fans for saying she should get in over Lauren James. Because to be honest
11:02 with you, I don't even know if I can agree with that myself. And then I haven't even
11:08 discussed Beth Mead.
11:09 Yeah.
11:11 I don't know. It's nice and a good headache to have.
11:13 It's an excellent headache to have. And when we come back after the break, I also want
11:17 to mention briefly, we'll talk about it after, some of the fixes that took place last weekend,
11:22 including a very small encounter between Katie McCabe and Chloe Kelly. But on that note,
11:28 we will come back after a short break.