10 things from women’s soccer: Arsenal lose ground in WSL; Real Madrid score seven
Credit to Author: Sophie Lawson| Date: Mon, 5 Feb 2024 10:27:37 EST
It was another action-packed weekend of women’s football across Europe. There was plenty of interest at both ends of the table in leagues across the continent.
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The first few encounters between West Ham United and Arsenal were spicy; they carried intrigue, and although the Hammers were new to the league, under former manager Matt Beard they had the knack of pushing the Gunners and making life uncomfortable. Yet, they’d never managed to take a point off their cross-town opposition; Arsenal was always better, and in time, the gap between the two grew on the pitch, taking a lot of the interest out of their clashes. Sunday’s meeting of the two, however, was one to remember.
The Irons are still finding their way after Rehanne Skinner opted (unsurprisingly) for the defensive approach, clogging up the areas Arsenal wanted to play in and making life hard for the potent, yet predictable, attack. Alessia Russo‘s first-half goal could have signalled a change of the tide in the game, but even though it forced the Hammers to come out and play with more attacking zest after the break, the hosts were measured in their endeavours. A penalty early in the second half restored the parity before Hawa Cissoko pitched her effort for goal of the week with a superb volley.
With their noses in front, the Irons went back to sitting deep and allowing Arsenal to keep hold of the ball, assured in their own ability to cut out the more dangerous of the Gunners’ attacks. The tireless work of the West Ham defence and midfield made the game what it was, with Honoka Hayashi awarded player of the match and Katrina Gorry also drawing praise highlighting where the Hammers excelled in their ground-breaking 2-1 win that saw Arsenal drop six points behind leaders Chelsea.
Dropping too many points last season is the easiest way to explain why Manchester City ended up fourth and outside of a European berth. The Citizens weren’t clinical enough when they needed to be and it cost them come the end of the season. Coming into this campaign, the worry was they would suffer the same fate, finding themselves rudderless on one too many occasions or the set attack would suffer an injury and derail their title hopes. However, over halfway through this season, City have been the most impressive team so far with that attack of Lauren Hemp, Khadija “Bunny” Shaw and Chloe Kelly delighting almost every time they’ve been on the pitch.
Against Leicester City, the hosts looked a little off-colour, and although the match wasn’t as one-sided as their loss to Brighton earlier in the season, as the time ticked away at the Joie Stadium, it looked as if Foxes goalkeeper Lize Kop would keep a clean sheet and the hosts would drop two big points. However, in a way they simply couldn’t last season, City found a way, as Hemp’s improvised overhead kick broke the deadlock before Chloe Kelly’s Olímpico sealed the win. Whether at their best or not, City are showing the stuff of champions.
With almost as many players out injured as points on the board so far this season, Everton have arguably battled well, even against the more powerful teams in the WSL. Before the game, coach Brian Sorensen called the match “a free hit”: he wasn’t expecting three points at Kingsmeadow, but playing Chelsea is simply part of what teams have to do.
Much like against Arsenal earlier this year, the Toffees fell into a defensive shape and, for all their injury woes, did well to keep the hosts out until conceding a questionable penalty midway through the first half. Guro Reiten dispatched the spot kick and the hosts had the lead but still, Everton hung in, not conceding again until Reiten stepped up to blast another contentious penalty into the back of Courtney Brosnan‘s net. As the match wore on, the visitors offered less going forward and finally, with Sorensen having been shown a red card and the team yet to adjust to his late substitutions, Erin Cuthbert fired home a third for Chelsea.
The Toffees had not been the better team however, refereeing decision aside, they have sunk a little lower in the table but again showed more fight than many would have expected. And not for the first time this year, luck hasn’t been on their side.
Underperforming managers in women’s football are arguably given too long. The doors of women’s teams not constantly left swinging with the arrivals and exits of managerial staff, as they are in the men’s game, which is probably why so many around the game were left surprised when Melissa Phillips was given her marching orders by Brighton & Hove Albion on Thursday.
Phillips had only just taken care of her prematch news conference, two hours or so before Brighton announced her exit, prompting heads to spin. The results for Brighton hadn’t been fantastic this season, the Seagulls had a bad habit of leaving the door open and dropping points to those in and around them, their better performances against those higher up the echelons. But the squad was a new one with 11 new faces in over the summer, many new to English football. There was the understanding that time was needed but Brighton, who lead with a data-driven approach, were swift.
Maybe the results wouldn’t have improved with more time, maybe they would. Once again the Seagulls find themselves in a relegation scrap — with Sunday’s 2-0 loss at Manchester United not helping their cause — and will again look to a new manager to help them avoid the drop, but they will have to act quickly in what is increasingly, an unforgiving league.
Needing a win to get their season back on track after a laborious first half of the campaign, Aston Villa thought they had it in the bag when they hosted Bristol City on Saturday. The action was all one-way with the hosts camped out around the Robins’ box from the off, and Jordan Nobbs‘ clean strike less than a quarter of an hour in should have opened the floodgates, yet all it did was trigger a first attack and goal for the visitors with Amalie Thestrup on the end of Emily Syme‘s through ball.
Undeterred, Villa went back to the task at hand, leaving Bristol pushed back and forced to defend. The pressure finally told again when Adriana Leon sent the ball home on the hour but again, Villa couldn’t build on their advantage. Out of nothing, with their third attack of the game, Bristol again found parity when Carrie Jones smashed a belter from outside the box into Daphne van Domselaar‘s top corner. With their foot back on the ball at the restart, Villa continued to attack but the attack that had been so strong last season, again failed to produce a decisive moment and the hosts were forced to settle for a 2-2 draw, two points fewer than they would have hoped for.
The Robins again showed their mettle and depth of their defensive strength, defenders Naomi Layzell and Brooke Aspin earning the plaudits as well as goalkeeper Shae Yanez. The worry for manager Lauren Smith is that although the improvements are continuing and they took something from the game, it won’t be enough come the end of the season: wins are worth their weight in gold, not draws.
Battling against their own form to establish themselves as Spain’s second team, Real Madrid fired back after their midweek Champions League loss to Häcken with an imperious 7-1 win over Valencia. With the look of women against girls, Valencia could offer little in the way of fight once Linda Caicedo had opened the scoring in the first half, Caroline Moller‘s 15-minute hat trick enough to close the door to any comeback. The visiting defence was overawed by Real’s clinical strikes and persistent overloads, and before the end of the match Antonia Canales was forced to pick the ball out of the back of her net after further strikes from Signe Bruun, Naomie Feller and Maite Oroz.
Over their time in the Frauen-Bundesliga, Bayer Leverkusen have made a habit of causing upsets by nibbling points away from one of the top three. On Sunday, they stayed true to form with a draw at home to title-chasing Wolfsburg. They had the better of it throughout in Leverkusen but could only find the back of the net once, through Alex Popp late in the first half, with the rest of their better chances going begging.
In leaving the door open, especially against a Leverkusen side not shy in going forward, Wolfsburg caused most of their own problems. The equaliser was a free kick delivered by one Bayern Munich loanee Karólína Lea Vilhjálmsdóttir and sent over the line by another, Emilie Bragstad, to compound Wolfsburg’s frustrations. A penalty not awarded for a foul on Lena Oberdorf, the sloppy contact enough to require the Germany international to be substituted, was a bone of contention for Leverkusen, who could surrender their spot at the top of the table should Munich win on Monday.
It’s been a tiring run of games for Paris Saint-Germain recently, from Champions League to domestic commitments including catching up with postponements. Playing on a Friday after a midweek UWCL clash probably wasn’t the best preparation, and it told. Playing their seventh game in 20 days, PSG sagged against Fleury, falling behind to a Dominika Grabowska effort in the 19th minute. The visitors scrambled for a response, which they found just after the hour through Sakina Karchaoui. But, unable to add to their tally for the night after an exhausting trip to Munich earlier in the week, PSG could only draw 1-1. That meant they fell further behind defending champions Lyon, who now lead the league by 10 points in what is fast becoming a one-sided title race in France.
Another team who’ve been racking up the minutes across multiple competitions, Roma returned to league play with a bang after a disappointing end to their Champions League campaign. After dropping out of European competition following defeat at Ajax, the table toppers eased to a first-half lead in a scrappy game against their nearest rivals Juventus, but didn’t find a cushion in the match until Evelyne Viens doubled their advantage after the hour. Finally comfortable, Elena Linari smashed an effort in front outside the box to relieve the pressure that had been mounting after a string of losses.
Juventus ramped up the pressure in the closing stages, and grabbed a stoppage-time consolation through Lindsey Thomas to make the final score 3-1, but they will arguably be left feeling like they didn’t show up with their best football on Sunday, and the gap between the two teams in Serie A is now eight points.
Still settling into life as a fully professional league, Serie A continues to throw up surprises on a weekly basis. With that in mind, it’s not that surprising to see both Milanese teams (Internazionale and AC Milan) grappling with inconsistent results, and a general struggle for form.
Having shown some improvements in recent weeks, Milan did well to take the lead against second-placed Fiorentina on Saturday via Andrea Stašková’s strike. But it wasn’t long before the Viola were back on terms thanks to veteran defender Laura Agard. Not at their best, Fiorentina battled well to come away with a 2-2 draw and leave them snapping at the heels of second-placed Juventus.
Inter fared worse than their local rivals when they clashed with Como: Lina Magull‘s early penalty was cancelled out by a close-range strike from Zsanett Kaján, before the Hungarian fired in a deft free kick. Michela Cambiaghi’s header brought the hosts back into it before Julia Karlernäs’ headed effort gave Como a 3-2 win, their first victory since November, and snapped an eight-game winless streak. The Nerazzurri arguably should have done more when they had the ball, but the loss speaks to the general sloppiness of their season so far.