Goals? I couldn't care Less(i)
I go to Barcelona for one weekend and all of this happens!
Oh everyone is starting to get a little bit nervous in the WSL! This is where the fun really begins.
Both Arsenal and Manchester United dropped points this weekend - 0-0 draws for both of them - whilst Chelsea came relatively close to messing up what looked to be a straightforward away win over Tottenham.
For the first time this season then Chelsea have an actual lead at the top of the WSL. History would suggest that they are unlikely to let it go - they put together a nine game winning run at the end of last season and dropped points only to Manchester City in a similar sequence the season before.
Yet Emma Hayes’ side have wobbles in them as well as a fixture list that could get extremely busy in April. It feels like there will be more twists and turns in this title race.
West Ham 0 - Arsenal 0
Narrative writers could not have planned this result better if they had tried. Barely a week after a final day of the transfer window which saw Arsenal desperately try and fail to secure a striker, they predictably found themselves unable to score against a team who have the worst defensive record in the league when looking at expected goals allowed (Opta).
However, the focus on Arsenal requiring a striker seems a little bit confused, not least seemingly at Arsenal themselves. They notably tried to first prise Alessia Russo away from Manchester United with a world record offer before hurriedly seeing if they could persuade Signe Bruun back to England after her very quiet loan spell at United last year. Signe Bruun is a shooting machine (4.61 per 90) who likes to stick towards the top of the pitch, whilst Alessia Russo is a player much more likely to drop deeper and play more creatively. Clearly, Russo would have been a franchise player but the profiles seem a little odd.
But should they even be looking for strikers? The only attempt to rectify the hole left out wide by Beth Mead’s injury was to recall 19 year old Gio from her loan at Everton, where she had managed 135 minutes in the WSL. Whilst it is natural to look at Vivianne Miedema and Mead’s absence as being about goals - after all they did score 40% of Arsenal’s WSL goals last season - but their absences also change the way Arsenal play. Finding a goalscorer does not necessarily fix this, and bringing in a natural wide player who might be able to stretch a deep block like West Ham might have been more logical.
The decision from Jonas Eidevall to try and defend his team’s goalscoring by referencing the nine goals they managed against Leeds in the FA Cup felt particularly farcical, given they play in the fourth tier of women’s football. Underneath those words there was maybe a slight sense of stubborn panic, given that it is feasible that by the end of the month Arsenal might only have the Champions League as a realistic aim for silverware.
Everton 0 - Manchester United 0
For what it is worth I think Manchester United made the right decision to hold onto Russo, not that she could bail them out against Everton. Despite Everton’s stand-out goalkeeper Emily Ramsey being unable to play due to being on loan from United, their defence held firm, becoming the first team this season to stop Manchester United scoring.
United created a lot more clear cut opportunities than Arsenal managed to against West Ham, although Everton obviously were looking to push out a bit more. Perhaps United’s performance was why Marc Skinner was reluctant to make more substitutions, bringing on only Nikita Parris after 67 minutes and Rachel Williams after 77 minutes.
Skinner has a strange-seeming relationship with his squad and how he uses them. He was heavily criticised for making a lot of substitutions in the match against Chelsea earlier in the season, with the changes seeming to halt United’s momentum when they had brought the game back to just a one goal deficit. In their comeback win against Arsenal, he made only two - similar to in this match. But he also seems to have a lot of players who he doesn’t quite trust. Adriana Leon was left out of the squad having failed to manage to get a move away in the January transfer window, despite being signed only six months ago.
Marc Skinner has never been in this position in his managerial career, so perhaps it is understandable that he is still learning about how to use a squad when the pressure to succeed gets more and more intense. Building on these experiences might be key to his tenure at Manchester United.
Tottenham 2 - Chelsea 3
Emma Hayes is a manager who does know how to use her squad, with her mood changes around certain players one of the most noticeable aspects of her style. It is often hard to tell whether Hayes has decided one player is better than another or if she is simply trying to keep everyone happy and as fresh as possible. That was the case in Chelsea’s 3-2 win over Tottenham which ended up being much more tetchy than it needed to be.
After Jess Carter headed Chelsea ahead, there was an inevitable Beth England goal with the most stony faced celebration you will see this season, having moved from Chelsea to Spurs at the start of the year.
An impressive solo goal from Lauren James and a cool finish from Guro Reiten put Chelsea 3-1 up but Nikola Karczewska’s late goal left Chelsea having to play the ball into the corner to see out the game. It was the second 3-2 result in two weeks for Chelsea, having had an equally nervy finish against Liverpool in the FA Cup, with the Blues leaking preventable goals.
Their defence had been looking more settled than in recent seasons earlier in the year, but since we have come back from Christmas, Jess Carter seems to have become preferred ahead of Magda Eriksson with Zecira Musovic in goal instead of Ann-Katrin Berger. The ability to find a balance between defence and attack is something Chelsea have long struggled with, and perhaps looking at other results, Hayes is right to potentially worry more about getting the goals scored than keeping things tight. But other teams will surely grow in confidence given the famously goal-shy Tottenham managed two against the side who are top of the league.
Leicester City 0 - Manchester City 2
If Leicester are to somehow stay up this season, Janina Leitzig will have a lot to do with it. The 23 year old joined on loan from Bayern Munich and has already endeared herself in the WSL thanks to some impressive saves. It was Leitzig that City would have been cursing as they saw attack after attack foiled.
But the one woman band could not quite hold on as Manchester City deservedly took all three points, even if it took them longer than they would have expected. Importantly for City, Chloe Kelly scored. It was her first goal in the WSL this season having only opened her account for the whole year in the FA Cup last week, although you would not have known it given the confidence with which she drove into the penalty area and shot into the far corner. With two matches against Arsenal within four days this week, Kelly (and Lauren Hemp who only has two WSL goals) being a goal threat will be essential for City to take advantage of a potentially unsettled Arsenal.
Liverpool 2 - Reading 0
There was no shortage of rather comical defending in this one with plenty of goalmouth scrambles to entertain the casual viewer as goals from Missy Bo Kearns and Ceri Holland saw Liverpool continue their slow creep up the table. Fittingly for this kind of game, Holland’s goal came off the back of a Megan Campbell long throw.
Liverpool had a very intriguing January transfer window, bringing in Miri Taylor from Angel City and Fuka Nagano from North Carolina Courage (even as Matt Beard attempts to get the title-winning band back together). Nagano has caught the eye immediately, occupying clever little pockets of space whilst not being afraid to pass or carry the ball. She looks set to become a fixture of this Liverpool team.
Aston Villa 1 - Brighton 1
Megan Walsh’s rather horrifying season continued this weekend despite Brighton managing to claw back a point against a dangerous Aston Villa side. Her flap at the ball from a Villa free kick allowed it to bounce off Kayleigh Green who could do nothing as she scored an own goal.
Brighton were able to get an equaliser, giving them the aforementioned BIG point, new manager Jens Scheuer’s first. It was an unfortunate error from Laura Blindkilde Brown who continues to be the biggest loser of Aston Villa’s spree of veteran signings.
Scheuer brought in Lydia Williams in January. It will be interesting to see if and when he plumps for the veteran goalkeeper because a spell out of the team may actually be helpful for Walsh, who has conceded 33 goals this season already.