Women's Super League talking points: Renee Slegers an Arsenal shoo-in as depleted Man City capitulate
Renee Slegers guides Arsenal to another win at Liverpool as they close in on second-placed Man City; Gareth Taylor's injury-ravaged side suffer a surprise 2-1 loss at struggling Everton; Reds now level on points with their city rivals as we enter the mid-season winter break
Monday 16 December 2024 13:43, UK
Slegers proving readiness for permanent Arsenal role
All the noises from the Arsenal camp are positive, and recent results back that up. Renee Slegers has done a wonderful job since taking over from Jonas Eidevall in October. Smiles are back on faces and the football is equally beaming.
Arsenal's squad is packed with quality so it is no surprise they are unbeaten in 10 in all competitions, but the real upturn has been in performance.
Slegers told Sky Sports this week that she is not viewing her role as temporary, and, on evidence, nor are her players. Fluency has returned, goals are flowing, and the football is entertaining - all things Arsenal are renowned for.
Slegers' side have even taken a leaf out of the Mikel Arteta playbook and become wizards at set-pieces, scoring from a corner again, predictably via Alessia Russo. The striker has now scored in five consecutive WSL appearances.
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You wonder why club decision-makers are still hesitating over the head coach vacancy - because a ready-made replacement is right under their nose.
Laura Hunter
Man City need their walking wounded back and fast
Gareth Taylor referenced his side's missing stars as a reason for their shock 2-1 loss at Everton and the Man City boss will be desperate to get them back to fitness if they are to have any chance of catching WSL champions Chelsea at the top of the standings.
City would have expected to see off an Everton team who had won just once in the league prior to kick-off, and who had never got the better of their opponents in the WSL, but City were without the injured Alex Greenwood, top-scorer Khadija Shaw, Lauren Hemp and Vivianne Miedema.
"Any team would miss Viv [Miedema], Alex [Greenwood], Bunny Shaw, it's tough for us no doubt, I'm sure they'd have a big say but it is what it is," said Taylor after the game and while he is right in that the first three are arguably their most influential players, the visitors still produced a flat display that may concern him more.
Which is why after they face a key Champions League clash at Barcelona on Wednesday, Taylor will no doubt be glad for the midseason winter break so he can get some of his walking wounded back, with Shaw hoping to be available again when they return to league action in the Manchester derby at the Etihad on January 19.
Rich Morgan
Man Utd remain work in progress - but show promise
Marc Skinner has taken his fair share of stick this calendar year. Man Utd fans have called for his sacking on multiple occasions, and been heavily critical of performance and results.
Most of that is well-founded - albeit there are some mitigating circumstances - but this season, they have dealt with criticism by delivering some consistency on the pitch.
Man Utd aren't perfect, nor have results been faultless, but they are playing with a maturity absent for the majority of last season's underwhelming campaign.
As Skinner rightly points out, his role is to deliver a winning team that plays attractive football. The latter needs more refinement, but Man Utd enter the winter break joint on 21 points with Arsenal, having only lost once in 10 games - to Chelsea, and everyone loses to Chelsea.
They have won pretty - beating Liverpool 4-0 last weekend - and won ugly, edging out Crystal Palace 1-0 this week. They all count the same in the end.
Slowly but surely, progress is being made, and that deserves recognition too.
Laura Hunter
What happened to Chelsea?
Up until Saturday, Chelsea looked unstoppable: 13 wins, numerous goals, top of the table in both the WSL and Champions League.
But the trip to the King Power offered a reminder that, despite the results, the WSL remains fiercely fought and no team are infallible.
Chelsea lacked ideas in attack for much of the game. Yes, there was plenty of possession and shots - a whopping 28 - but many of those did not come until later on. They also failed to make any real use of their 20 corners and were largely ineffective from set-pieces.
Five of their six shots on target came in the final 15 minutes, and they simply looked unable to break down a mightily impressive Leicester defence.
They frustrated Chelsea at every turn - blocking and clearing shots with confidence, coming through to take the ball and effectively double-marking the danger players.
Half-time substitute Catarina Macario began well, but soon found herself targeted. Mayra Ramirez and Maika Hamao - who was taken off at the break - were unable to have an influence.
Each of the back four topped a statistical defensive category for any player on the pitch - Sophie Howard for clearances (13) while Ale had an assist as well as the most tackles (9). Julie Thibaud won the most tackles (4) and Sari Kees made the joint-most interceptions (4).
Chelsea made a rod for their own backs, too, with their defending for Goodwin's goal. The Leicester forward should not have been open to pick her spot with the Blues pooled over towards the right-hand side.
Ultimately, a team like Chelsea should be experienced and smart enough to find the solutions, but it did not quite work out that way on this occasion.
There is perhaps an argument that some fatigue is setting in heading into the winter break, with the continued injuries for the likes of Lauren James and Sam Kerr.
Both are catalysts for Chelsea's attacking play and provide potent outlets, and despite seven changes from the midweek game against Twente, there looked to be a lethargy overall.
With one game to go against Real Madrid on Tuesday, Bompastor will be hoping to right some wrongs and end on a high. Chelsea do still remain unbeaten, but the result raised questions.
Charlotte Marsh
Liverpool paying for 'unbalanced squad'
Liverpool surprised a lot of people when finishing fourth in the WSL last season, six points ahead of Manchester United, leading to genuine hope for something similar this campaign - but after Sunday's home defeat to Arsenal, Matt Beard's side have now lost as many league games this season as last.
The home team had just one shot on target all game and an xG of 0.24 as they head into the midseason break languishing down in eighth place, only above city-rivals Everton on goal difference and just four points above bottom-of-the-table Crystal Palace.
And while ruling out relegation, Courtney Sweetman-Kirk thinks Liverpool will find it hard to match last season's achievements as they do not have the same strength in depth as the top four.
"Look at the makeup of that Liverpool squad," the former Liverpool forward said. "A lot of young players, there's quite a lot of older players, maybe arguably at the backend of their career and not too much in between.
"The balance of that squad, to start with, was off - I'm not worried about them in terms of getting relegated, but after a season where they did relatively well, comparatively overachieved, that is the argument.
"But can you go and add to it? Not just one player [Olivia Smith] - one very good player - but can you add the depth to it? And they've not done that right. The recruitment hasn't been right for me."
Rich Morgan
