Women’s Super League: talking points from the weekend’s action

The Miedema show rolls on

Arsenal’s front three were at their potent best against Everton and no one more so than Vivianne Miedema. Two more goals for the striker, which takes her tally for the season to 14, and you would not bet against her going on to become the Super League’s all-time top scorer. Nikita Parris holds the record with 47 goals but given Miedema’s rate, and the fact she is only 23, it is surely only a matter of time before she surpasses Parris. That is good news for Arsenal, who are getting the very best out of a player who has become a world-renowned star, in large part because of what she has achieved with the Netherlands – winning the Euros and reaching the World Cup final. She’s a super impressive talent. The negative for Arsenal from Sunday’s game was, of course, the injury to Beth Mead. The signs are that she has sustained cruciate damage and will be out for a long time, which could wreck her hopes of representing Team GB at the Olympic Games next summer in the way that doing her ACL around this time last year put Jordan Nobbs out of the World Cup. Fingers crossed the damage is not as severe.

• Everton 1-3 Arsenal match report

Are there any teams able to break up the big three?

Everton will be frustrated by defeat against Arsenal but the result continues the trend of Willie Kirk’s side beating the teams they are meant to beat but failing to do so against the sides that are clearly a level above them, namely the top three. Frankly I cannot see any team breaking Arsenal, Manchester City and Chelsea’s dominance of the WSL anytime soon and for Everton it is a case, for the time being, of making sure they win their own mini league, which means getting past Manchester United, against whom they lost last week and currently sit one place below on goal difference. If I had to pick a team out of Everton and United to eventually break up the top three it would probably be United, partly because of the talent they have on the pitch and partly because of the holistic approach they have taken to becoming a success in the women’s game – commercially United are doing things that many other clubs are not. Everton have made huge strides but, in that regard, they have a lot of catching up to do.

Liverpool benefit from more attacking approach

Liverpool earned their third point of the season against Chelsea with what was their second consecutive goal from open play, scored by Niamh Charles. That felt like a telling moment for Vicky Jepson’s side. In general this season they have put an emphasis on being hard to break down and beat, which in turn has led to them creating very few goalscoring chances. On a lot of occasions that has meant Liverpool losing games narrowly and my sense is that Vicky now wants the team to be more attacking and look to win games, as opposed to not lose them. Key to that approach is Rinsola Babajide, who against Chelsea again showed she is a difficult player for any opposition to handle because of her great feet and ability to dribble at pace. Babajide is also a very raw player, which you can see with her lack of positional awareness, but she is still young and will improve. What’s for sure is that she is Liverpool’s spark right now and key to them becoming a more attacking team. The question is will that approach prevent them being relegated having, in my opinion, been nailed-on certainties to go down?

Reading come from behind yet again

Not for the first time Reading needed to go behind in order to get going. This time Tottenham were the team who gave them a jolt, taking the lead through Siri Worm’s wonderful curling strike before Reading stormed back to win thanks to goals from Jo Potter and, late on, Remi Allen and Amalie Eikeland. It was a good result for Reading in the battle of the mid-table sides and one that, on the balance of play, they deserved. They had the edge over Spurs in terms of quality and definitely in terms of character. But I’m sure Kelly Chambers, Reading’s manager, will be aware that they can’t keep getting results having going behind – some of their opponents simply won’t give them the opportunity to do so. A word, too, for Spurs who continue to impress and will no doubt be pleased with their position and points tally as the WSL heads into the winter break. They are building a good platform for sustained success in the division.

Barclays FA Women’s Super League
(@BarclaysFAWSL)

They never know when to give up!@ReadingFCWomen once again showed their never say die attitude as they fought till the end… pic.twitter.com/4vvVUrltVJ

December 16, 2019

Too many WSL pitches not fit for purpose

This was another weekend in which fixtures were called off because of adverse weather conditions. Both Birmingham City’s game at home against Manchester United and West Ham United’s trip to Bristol City were postponed because of waterlogged pitches, and this continues to be a really frustrating issue. The simple fact is that too many of the pitches that WSL games are scheduled to take place on are not fit for purpose, as the pictures from Liverpool’s Prenton Park on Sunday showed, raising the question of what needs to be done about this. For me there has to a move towards holding more games at Premier League stadiums. So for instance, have Everton women play at Goodison Park on the weekends the men’s side are away from home. Not only would that mean the game definitely take place – because the pitch at Goodison Park is not at threat of waterlogging or being frozen over – but would also mean Everton fans who cannot get to men’s away games still being able watch live football that particular weekend. It would also mean families having the chance to watch football together as it’s difficult for many to afford multiple tickets for men’s games, or indeed get three or four tickets together even if they could afford to do so. All in all this feels like the solution for what is an ongoing problem in the women’s game.

Chelsea’s Erin Cuthbert during the match against Liverpool at Prenton Park on Sunday. Photograph: Richard Sellers/PA

This season BT Sport will air more women’s football than ever before, with Manchester City Women v Everton on January 11 on BT Sport from 5.15pm.

source: theguardian.com