00:00 Welcome back to the Women's Super League show with myself Susanna Seeley and Scotsman and
00:09 National World writer Graham Faulk. Once again, there is lots to discuss this week as we head
00:14 into another international break. England have got two must win fixtures as they take
00:19 on Belgium this weekend and Scotland next week. So let's get straight into it. There
00:24 are quite a few, before we even look at the fixtures, there are quite a few discussion
00:29 points around the squad. So firstly, Millie Bright, what on earth are England going to
00:36 do?
00:37 I've kind of got used to England players having injuries, haven't we? But I thought we'd do
00:46 all right without Leah and trust me, like getting to the final of the World Cup is not
00:51 doing all right. But if we look at recent form, I do think having a Leah Williamson
00:55 in there would really help. Millie Turner has come in, which I think is well deserved,
01:01 if I'm honest with you. Her and Maya Letizia were the best defence in the league last season
01:07 in terms of goals conceded. I think she's done really well. She's kind of been in and
01:11 around the squad previously before Serena. She's experienced, I think she's 27, 28. She'll
01:17 give you everything that she's got. But Millie is the captain at the minute with the year
01:22 out. So you've got your captain and basically your vice-captain out there as well. I know
01:28 some people don't rate Millie Bright as highly as I do, but I think look at her trophy cabinet,
01:32 look at what she's won and look at who plays her every single game, Serena Vigman. Emma
01:36 Hayes, to me that speaks volumes. I think she's a massive miss, but what do you do?
01:43 You've got to kind of get on with it. I think we spoke an awful lot during the summer about
01:48 how surprised we were that Maya Letizia hadn't really been picked for the squad based on
01:53 the season that she'd had. So for me, that's who comes in. That's where the opportunity
02:00 is, I think, to be honest with you. I think if we go back four, you'll probably see not
02:06 two unfamiliar faces. Personally, I think it'll probably be Lucy Bronze, Jess Carter,
02:11 Alex Greenwood, and Eve Charles across the back. But for me, I'd go with Maya. I think
02:18 she's the future of the defence. I would have her alongside Alex Greenwood, vastly experienced.
02:25 But yeah, I mean, look, I'm trying to mask the fact that Millie Bright's not a massive
02:31 miss. I just think the one thing I would say, and I don't like saying this, it's going to
02:36 sound so negative, but I don't think England are going to win the group.
02:41 Well, that's just it, because I mean, of all the players that you... I mean, no one wants
02:45 any injuries. But as I said earlier, these are two must-win matches if England have any
02:50 hope of securing a Team GB qualification for the Olympics. You don't want one of your more
02:55 experienced defenders out when you're coming up. Also, sorry, I said Belgium. I meant the
03:01 Netherlands they're playing this weekend. So I apologise. But when you're coming up
03:06 against that sort of firepower. Also, she has such a wealth of experience. You've spoken
03:11 about the, like, trophy cabinet that she's got. How important, aside from talent, is
03:16 that experience at the back if now you're relying just on two out of a potential full
03:22 back line?
03:24 I think it's massive. I mean, if we're looking at players like Center Half that are in the
03:28 squad, you've got Alex Greenwood. She's got 86 caps, massively experienced 30-year-old.
03:33 Jess Carter, you know, 27 caps is quite a drop. But at the same time, Jess Carter has
03:38 got experience there, but it's nowhere near what Millie Bright is at this level. Outside
03:42 of that, you've got like Esmé Morgan, five caps. May Letizia, two caps. Millie Turner,
03:47 no caps. And then I think one player that never really gets mentioned, but is always
03:51 in and around the squad, was part of the Euros squad, didn't play a minute and stuff. But
03:54 I think everyone spoke about how important she is in terms of in and around the dressing
04:00 room. And I spoke to Jonas Idoval a few weeks back, and he touched on her leadership and
04:08 how he sees her growing and growing this season. I think she's been really good. It's Lotta
04:11 Wubbenmooy. I'm talking about May Letizia as being sort of the future of England, but
04:18 you know, Lotta's still only 24. She's got 10 caps. There's an argument to be had there,
04:22 but I mean, look, if I put together the caps that Jess Carter, Lotta, Esmé, Maya and Millie
04:29 have got, I don't think it even goes close to the total amount that Millie Bright has
04:33 got. So without going in depth, I think the speaks volumes, doesn't it, that she's going
04:38 to be a massive miss. But it's an opportunity. Look, I'm sounding like I'm speaking like
04:41 a manager here, or a coach, like she's a massive miss, but with every injury, it's an opportunity.
04:46 And there's plenty of players there that deserve a bit of a shot in games that, you know, look,
04:51 you can't say England's got them, it's not important. You can't say any of the games
04:54 are not important. But I think, you know, Holland's a tough game. Let's get one of our
05:00 more or less experienced players in there, like Maya maybe, or Lotta or something like
05:04 that and see what they can do against a team that's as good as the Dutch are. But yes,
05:10 ideally I'd prefer Millie Bright to be there.
05:12 Oh, 100%. And you're talking about Lotta Wubbenmooy. Why is it that we haven't really seen her
05:17 on the pitch for England? We've seen the likes of, as you say, Neve Charles, Jess Carter,
05:22 they've all sort of had their shot at, well, not just had their shot, they've had much
05:26 more than that. But Lotta really hasn't had that on the pitch in the same way.
05:32 I think she's probably just victim of circumstance. You know, we've just had a good solid sort
05:38 of five, six minutes there on how important Millie Bright is, and we could probably do
05:42 10 minutes on how important Leah Williamson is, and that's your back two. Jess Carter
05:48 was excellent during the Euros, sorry, during the World Cup. And Alex Greenwood is, well,
05:55 for me Alex Greenwood's Alex Greenwood, one of the best defenders in the world in my personal
05:58 opinion. And then after that, you've got Maya Letizia who's coming through and looking like
06:04 she could be the future of England. I think it's just victim of circumstance. I think
06:08 one thing that, you know, if she's wondering the same thing herself that she can probably
06:11 take from this is that she's always in the squads more or less. I know she's been out
06:17 of one or two or came out of one or two, but she always ends up getting back into the squad.
06:21 And I think her personality speaks volumes. I think you just see the stuff she does off
06:26 the pitch. I can imagine she's great around the dressing room, but I really wouldn't be
06:30 against Lotta being given the chance with the injuries we've got. But for me, I would
06:35 go with Maya and Alex. Sorry, Jess, I feel really bad because I really like Jess Carter.
06:42 I would just try Maya alongside Alex. Even if you went Alex Greenwood at left back and
06:48 Jess Carter alongside Maya Letizia. I think there's opportunity and I'm going to try and
06:52 be positive with that and say that, you know, positivity going into it would be that there's
06:59 players getting an opportunity there. But I think at the same time, I don't really want
07:02 England to get another bad result because I don't think we can really afford one.
07:09 And another defensive talking point that we've seen is obviously Ellie Roebuck is now not
07:19 in the squad. I mean, it's highly unlikely she would have been given the gloves anyway.
07:26 I think Mary Earp would need to be in a hospital bed to not be on the pitch. However, that
07:33 is still a figure that we have seen in and around the squad for quite a long time. Now
07:38 not in it. She hasn't really had many minutes for man city either. What on earth is happening
07:44 to poor Ellie?
07:46 I actually don't know. Look, I think to be honest, I think Keating's done really, really
07:53 well. I think she is the number one. I don't think I think if you look at Man City's performances
07:59 this season defensively, I think a lot of the games have done really, really well. And
08:03 I think when you look at why, like there's been a lot of big saves from Keating. So I
08:07 think she's fully deserved another place, both at Man City and also with England.
08:14 Then underneath that, you know, recently with City, you've been seeing you've had the likes
08:17 of Sandy McIver, who's obviously now a Scottish international and could be facing us in a
08:23 couple of days. She's now obviously on the bench as well. But I think Ellie's out of
08:29 contract at the end of the season. For me, she needs to be getting the move come January.
08:39 And I think there'll be plenty of clubs that would be willing to take her, but she's obviously
08:41 not in the plans. She was on the bench at the weekend against Spurs, but it seems like
08:46 he's, Gareth Taylor's alternating between, you know, two backup goalkeepers. It's either
08:51 Sandy McIver on the bench or Ellie Roebuck on the bench, but Keating plays. I don't disagree
08:58 with who he's starting and in any way, shape or form, but for Ellie Roebuck, who's been
09:02 in the England squad for what, months, years, seasons, she needs a move. And there's a couple
09:09 of teams that I imagine would take her. She just probably needs her confidence back because
09:12 I imagine it's a bit biased.
09:13 Yeah. Well, I mean, we've seen in the men's game with Arsenal, they've got sort of two
09:19 number one goalkeepers and you see the confidence, not that it has, like on someone like Aaron
09:25 Ramsey, who had long been considered one of the better goalkeepers in the league. And
09:30 now suddenly he's not playing whenever he does come on. It's a bit hit and miss for
09:34 a while. So it's hardly surprising. So I mean, Ellie Roebuck, hopefully she makes that move
09:41 so she gets back out on the pit. And just a word on our main goalkeeper as well, Mary
09:46 Earts, because she has been announced as the BBC Women's Footballer of the Year. And she's
09:53 the first goalkeeper to ever receive that award. How incredible is that achievement?
09:59 I mean, I think every podcast we're talking about some other accolade that she's managed
10:03 to win. But I mean, to be the first goalkeeper to win any sort of award is so impressive.
10:10 I really like Mary's story. I mean, I think we kind of get used to speaking about Mary
10:16 and what she's won in the awards. And every week it's like Mary's won an award, Mary's
10:19 done this, Mary's saved that. And just, you know what, at Man United, just keeping out
10:25 a really good goalkeeper in Valentola's Joyce, who made an incredible save against Liverpool
10:29 the other week. And it's, I think, reportedly the record fee for a goalkeeper in WSL. And
10:35 just keeping her out and with relative ease, to be honest. She's just the best, but like,
10:42 I'm not going to stone around a lot of the best, but because she had the title of like,
10:47 I don't know, five awards ago or whatever, like she's won about five or six since. But
10:51 I just really like Mary's story. I really like when you hear her speak about, you know,
10:56 where she was maybe six, seven years ago, not really getting in teams and not really
11:01 starting. And she's maybe where, you know, maybe the likes of Elie Robicar at the moment
11:06 and where she's got to, like, you've just got to admire that grit, don't you? Like that
11:13 total underdog spirit. And she's gone from like, oh yeah, Mary Epp, she's all right,
11:18 not bad, decent keeper. She'll do her job. Yeah. She'll sit on the bench to like the
11:22 best in the world, like, bar none. There's one thing I would say from a Lionesses in
11:26 England perspective, as a fan, I wouldn't have anyone else in the world ahead of Mary
11:30 Epp. Asshole. Definitely not. The only person, the only thing that seems to be kryptonite
11:38 to her, and I'm delighted that she's injured from an England perspective, not from a football
11:42 perspective, but I think she's a fantastic player. But it appears Caroline Weir is her
11:46 kryptonite because she's chipped her like three a whole time.
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