Graham, Georgia and Susanna go over a weekend filled with news as we react to Arsenal's Conti Cup win over Chelsea in extra time, that spat between Jonas and Emma, the worrying sight of Frida Maanum collapsing and everything else that happened in a crazy weekend of women's football.
Category
🥇
SportsTranscript
00:00 Welcome back to the Women's Super League show with myself, Susanne Seeley, Scotsman and
00:08 National World Riker, Graham Ford and National World Riker, Georgia Godding. It's been a
00:14 quiet weekend in the WSL park, so let's kick straight off. We've got Arsenal winning the
00:20 Conti Cup. We've got Steph Hortons' retirement announcement, which if you want to take a
00:26 minute just to, you know, reflect, cry, whatever we want to do, let's talk about it. And of
00:31 course, as we dig in to Arsenal and Chelsea's dramatic final, there's plenty to discuss
00:38 in that. So let's kick straight off. Georgia, first of all, Arsenal lifting the trophy.
00:44 They are notoriously triumphant in this tournament. However, they previously lost 3-1 to Chelsea
00:50 about, you know, just 10 days or something before. So first of all, what did you make
00:54 of Arsenal actually lifting that trophy?
00:59 There was a lot to unpack, as you say. You know, I think one of the main talking points
01:04 before we get on to the football was Freda Marneham's collapse off the ball, which was
01:09 people watching at home didn't see it because it was, the ball wasn't anywhere near her.
01:15 Everybody in the stand was saying, you know, it was gut-wrenching, it was harrowing. And
01:18 it was one of those where, you know, you were so frightened as to what this could potentially
01:24 lead to. But thankfully, reports have come out and said that she's conscious and she's
01:30 stable and she hasn't needed hospital treatment, which is amazing to hear.
01:35 Yeah, quite quickly, we saw that. It was, they were able to release something saying
01:40 she was, as you say, still conscious and talking. So yeah, as you say, it was absolutely terrifying
01:45 to watch. But yeah, all the reports are fairly positive from it.
01:49 Yeah, it was honestly awful. And that kind of thing really can overshadow a match completely.
01:54 I think after that, I didn't really care about the football because it was just so sickening.
02:00 But yeah, thank God she's OK. And then Arsenal go on to win, which will be even sweeter that
02:05 it's, you know, for her and with Black Steney scoring the winner as well.
02:11 Winning on Chelsea's parade for sure. I think that's going to be extra sweet for Arsenal.
02:19 And we will unpack obviously the post-match drama and also what led up to that. But great
02:26 for Arsenal considering they are out of the WSL title race. And it's not being made easy
02:34 for Emma Hayes in her final season with Chelsea. I think everybody was like, oh, she'll have
02:38 the dream quadruple and it's well and truly off the cards. And also the WSL race is not
02:44 being made easy either. So yeah, it's a tough run. But I'm sure we'll dive into what happened
02:52 when Hayes gave Jonas Eidevall a shove. There's so much to delve into with that chaos.
03:00 Yeah. So, Graeme, I'll come straight to you. Just as we're leading on to that, obviously
03:08 depending what order, because I think everyone sort of got into this drama from a different
03:15 order of events. So my sort of first foray into this drama was some comments that Emma
03:19 Hayes had made post-match. I then go back to see, like the next thing I see about it
03:25 is that Emma Hayes has shoved Jonas Eidevall. And then I found out sort of in complete reverse
03:31 what had been happening throughout the match of sort of this supposed aggression that Eidevall
03:36 had sort of come across against Chelsea players. He then obviously received a booking. So what
03:42 did you make of this whole drama?
03:46 I don't think either manager conducted themselves very well, to be honest. It seems to be a
03:53 lot of like taking sides of Jonas did this and Emma did this and this is bad because
03:58 I don't think either manager conducted themselves very well. I think it's a really passionate
04:04 game. Like we all know that, be it men's football, women's football. And I think they're two
04:11 really passionate managers in very different ways. Like Jonas is very animated, Emma's
04:15 passionate but in kind of her own way. But I just, I thought it was not, I don't know,
04:22 I don't want to say it's a poor reflection of the game because it's not, but it's not
04:25 really what you want to see. But then I suppose at the same time, it's the thing that's made
04:31 the headlines. For me, I think it's been brewing for a while between Jonas and Emma. There's
04:38 obviously a dislike there. And I think it was just waiting for someone to just go, you
04:43 know what, I've had it. And I think that's come from Emma and Erin beforehand. I found
04:50 the conversation around the multi-ball thing quite interesting. Like, because it was just
04:56 a bit wild that one wanted to play with multi-ball, one didn't. And that kind of got thrown into
05:01 the argument. I think ultimately for me, the best thing would have been for both managers
05:06 to come out and be like, look, it's a really passionate game. We've both probably gone
05:11 a bit overboard with it. And I apologise for that. It feels a little bit like one's blaming
05:17 the other. And I just don't think that really makes anything any better. And we touched
05:23 on Frida a little bit there. I think the fact that Emma and Jonas are arguing kind of took
05:31 precedent over that a little bit for even a short period of time is kind of not great.
05:38 I mean, I don't know. I'm not in their positions. I haven't got the same pressures as they have.
05:41 But I just thought it was poor. And I think it could have been quite easily squashed if
05:45 they both came out and just went handshake at the end or even in the post-match just
05:49 went, you know what? Yeah, we've both probably gone a bit too far with that. Like apologies.
05:55 And they didn't. And I think that's a bit disappointing, to be honest.
05:58 Yeah. Jonas said in one of his interviews that he thinks it's okay. And it was a heat
06:05 of the moment thing. But obviously, as you said, Susanna, I think a lot of people got
06:10 the timeline mixed up. Like I saw the shove and thought I had no context to it. And I
06:17 thought that, oh, she's just livid they lost. But it's so much more than that. Yeah, the
06:24 whole single or multi-ball system. You know, it looked like it stemmed from Aaron Cuthbert
06:31 trying to take a quick throwing with a spare ball. And Jonas said in his interview that
06:36 he was I mean, nobody was on the touchline with them. So just have to take what other
06:42 people's accounts are saying. But the Arsenal manager had said he was saying, no, you asked
06:47 for this system, go and get the ball. You can't just change the rules to fit you because
06:54 you need a goal. And then obviously there was a coming together between Cuthbert and
06:59 Eidevor. And there's people saying he was actually shouting at the officials, not Aaron.
07:05 And then obviously there's people then saying, well, Emma Hayes then came in to protect her
07:08 own because she is, you know, she looks after her team. And her post-match comments saying
07:16 that, you know, she doesn't stand for male aggression in the game. Jonas got booked.
07:22 She feels he should have been sent off. There's so much to unpack. And while I agree with
07:27 Graham, I don't think either really carried themselves in the way that they should have.
07:32 I don't think you should be shoving anybody no matter who it is. And I do think that had
07:39 Jonas shoved Emma, there would be a different narrative. However, there's been complaints
07:47 about Jonas in the past and how animated he can be on the sidelines. You know, I know
07:51 there was the issue where he kind of approached Martha Thomas when they played Manchester
07:55 United. Gareth Taylor's also called him out for speaking to fourth officials a certain
08:02 way. So if that's been brewing and then it's taken this for somebody to kind of have a
08:10 pop basically. But I agree neither behaved admirably at all. But it's taken the shine
08:21 off the loss. So there are a lot of people saying, was that the intention? And you know,
08:26 it's just a different sport. There's a lot of heat and just, yeah, crazy.
08:32 Yeah there's a phenomenal amount of heat. And I do think it's unfortunate that Emma
08:36 Hayes is, from where I'm standing, it seems unfortunate she's come out of it having said,
08:42 oh I don't stand for male aggression. When actually she was arguably the more physical
08:48 aggressor in the instance. Obviously, as we're saying, there's a lot of backstory to it.
08:53 It's not just a sort of one-off moment. But yeah, and it's also taken the shine. I think,
08:58 you know, emotions are going to be high. It's a final. Jonas has just had a player come
09:04 off having collapsed. And I think, you know, we should be talking about, as we have done,
09:09 you know, the focus should be on Frida Marnum, whether she's okay and all that. And while
09:14 it has been, obviously there then has been this whole cloud over the managers that essentially
09:21 just seem really bitter and seem, you know, they can't make it out between them. Anyway,
09:28 I guess there is a sort of element of Emma Hayes being, oh she would have wanted that
09:33 final win and it's unfortunate that she didn't for her. You know, Alessia Rousseau, I think
09:37 it's also worth pointing out, she obviously moved to Arsenal and she said when she did
09:41 it that she did it because she wanted to win trophies. She's obviously now got that. How
09:48 exciting is it for her, Graeme?
09:52 Well, she wanted to go for trophies and she's won her first, I guess. I don't think it's
09:59 much of a secret that I'm a really big fan of Alessia. I don't think it's been her best
10:02 season.
10:03 You're not so quiet.
10:04 I know. I just think she's got everything in her locker to be one of the best in the
10:10 world. I don't think she is at the moment, but I think she has everything in her locker
10:14 to be able to do that. I think she probably doesn't quite score enough goals at the moment,
10:18 but her ability to bring plays into play, her running down the channels, everything
10:24 about her. She has every bit of potential to be one of the best all-round strikers in
10:29 the world, in my personal opinion. I don't think it's been a great season for her. I
10:34 think there's a combination of things behind that. I think a lot of people are saying,
10:38 oh it's a wrong move and yada yada yada. I don't know if I agree with that. I think historically
10:43 Arsenal win stuff. They have won something this weekend. She's come off the back of a
10:47 World Cup. She's played a lot of football. She hasn't really had a rest because we all
10:52 have discussed what the World Cup was like and then straight into that. Now Arsenal are
10:56 going over to Australia in pre-season, so I don't know if she'll get much rest in the
11:00 summer either. But I think it's big for her. She didn't win anything in Manchester United
11:07 and that'll have been a source of frustration and annoyance for any player who sees themselves
11:12 as an elite level player, which I'm sure Alessia does. It's a one-tick duffer, but she'll
11:18 want bigger than the Conte Cup. I think she'll get it, be it at Arsenal or somewhere else
11:26 in her career.
11:28 Well on that note, let's head to a quick break and when we come back we'll discuss Horten
11:32 and obviously Ellie Roebuck as well.