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.
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