What Happened: Chelsea go top, City second best and could it be Slegers?
Flo Lloyd-Hughes takes a look at what went down in the WSL over the weekend and highlights the latest pieces to read on The Cutback
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It was a very busy weekend in the WSL. Arsenal got some derby revenge against Tottenham on Saturday afternoon and then Chelsea went top after beating Manchester City at Stamford Bridge.
Quick hits:
Aston Villa got their first win of the season beating Palace 3-2. It took an incredible stoppage-time winner from Ebony Salmon to get all three points.
Brighton eventually saw off West Ham by the same scoreline. Brighton were 2-0 up but Katrina Gorry scored a brace to give West Ham hope, her first goals for the club. The talismanic midfielder was forced off with an injury and Fran Kirby bagged Brighton’s winner about 10 minutes later.
Everton somehow got a first three points of the season with a 1-0 win in the Merseyside derby. It was a really dull game that should have been 0-0. Unfortunately it came down to a big mistake from referee Abigail Byrne who awarded a penalty for a challenge on Honoka Hayashi that was outside the box. Liverpool manager Matt Beard was fuming afterwards, rightly so, and that became the main story.
Manchester United got back to winning ways with a 2-0 win over Leicester City. Goals from Elisabeth Terland and Celin Bizet.
In today’s issue: Unstoppable Chelsea, City’s shortcomings and Slegers time?
Perfect Chelsea
Sonia Bompastor continued her perfect start to the season with Chelsea. A 2-0 win over Manchester City made it seven consecutive wins for her team and 10 in a row in all competitions.
It’s pretty impressive given this season was expected to be a transition year after Emma Hayes’ departure. Bompastor’s team look seriously good right now. At the start of the season, there were definitely signs of a team still trying to get used to a new style of play, with a focus on trying to build possession and control. Now it feels like they’re really hitting their stride. On Saturday, Chelsea sat back and let City have the ball, but with the possession they did have they were far more creative and dangerous than their rivals.
Chelsea’s win took them top of the table, two points ahead of City. If Chelsea win their game in hand against Manchester United on Sunday they could go five points clear of City.
We did an instant reaction podcast on Counter Pressed straight from Stamford Bridge. You can have a listen to that below.
City second best
It wasn’t a good night for Manchester City who suffered their first defeat of the season and first league loss to Chelsea since 2022.
City’s attack looked especially flat, with no Lauren Hemp taking its toll on creativity.
When Bunny Shaw is shut down, you often see City get into trouble. Shaw had a couple of chances on Saturday night. One of them was an opportunity that came from a Chelsea mistake and she snatched at and put wide, the other was a header that wasn’t on target.
Jill Roord, who is normally an extra option for City on the edge of the box, struggled to get into good areas or set up moments with her teammates.
In the end, City were undone by defensive mistakes, but in reality the best they could have hoped for was a point.
Raphael Adelugba has written this great piece on City’s historic stuttering in big moments in the WSL. Here’s a little snippet….
As it has all season, Taylor's system has fought to find the balance between control and risk. No one hogs possession like City, with their average of 68.4% possession the most in the league by some margin (FBref). Yet, if you are a constant observer of their games, you know the threat of the opposition latching onto a quick attack is always looming, as the narrow wins against Aston Villa and Liverpool showed.
In most games this season, they have been able to etch enough territory that taking full control of a match becomes a “when” instead of an “if,” but in many cases it falls down to the otherworldly finishing of Khadija Shaw or creativity of Hemp. It also relies on the metronomic figure of Yui Hasegawa to control the game and she was shut down impressively by Chelsea’s Maika Hamano.
Things like the lack of use of Chloe Kelly have drawn external criticism. It is noise that can be manageable when winning, but if in a scenario like the team found itself in against Chelsea — lacking direction and aggression — the discourse on Kelly’s place and the wider topic of her future will command attention. As well as the ever-intriguing proposition of how Vivianne Miedema properly fits in when she returns from injury.
Could it be Slegers?
Renee Slegers continued her impressive run as Arsenal’s interim head coach with a dominant 3-0 win over Tottenham in the North London derby. It’s now six games unbeaten, five wins and 17 goals scored under Slegers.
The serious uplift in performances, results and vibes has understandably got some Arsenal fans asking if Slegers should be given the job permanently.
Max Radwan has assessed Slegers’ time in charge so far, looking at the tactics, individual performances, confidence and the opposition Arsenal have faced.
Here’s a little preview…
"It is important not to disrupt all the good things we have built up over the last three years, it is similar to the things we were doing under Jonas [Eidevall]. We need to be more tidy in areas, especially in the final third."
These were the words of Katie McCabe when speaking to the media ahead of the recent match against Brighton, batting off any suggestions that Arsenal have significantly deviated from their tactical identity under Eidevall.
Back in October, after Slegers' first two games as interim head coach, I wrote on The Cutback that very little had changed for Arsenal from a tactical point of view. Four weeks on, that statement still rings true for the most part.
Kim Little and Lia Walti continue to partner each other in midfield, Arsenal is still looking to control games by pressing in the wide areas, and the team's in-possession structure is still a largely rigid one.
Having said this, while 'Jonas-ball' remains the template, Slegers has made some adjustments within this ecosystem.
That’s it from me today. See you same time next week.