What Happened: Pressure at the bottom, Chelsea break a curse and all eyes on Brighton
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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The WSL was full of big results this weekend as Arsenal, Chelsea and City all won by at least three goals. The tension that had existed in the first few weeks of the season with some of the WSL’s best teams being pushed right to the wire felt like it evaporated as several top teams cruised to big wins.
In today’s issue: Bottom dwellers, Chelsea finally win at Liverpool and a Brighton tactical profile.
Relegation rodeo
It was a bit of a slog-fest at the bottom of the table. Brian Sorensen’s Everton were desperate to claim a first win of the season and at one point looked as if they were going to lose to WSL newcomers Crystal Palace. They came away with a draw thanks to a Honoka Hayashi equaliser, but the pressure is very much still on Sorensen. It was yet another error that led to them being a goal down within the first 30 seconds of the game.
Aston Villa are also still searching for a first win although their performances have been a lot more impressive than those in and around them. I’m confident that first win will come soon after their showing against Manchester United and at Chelsea at the start of the season. Palace have managed to pick up five points while West Ham have finally managed to win a game after they beat Leicester 1-0.
That’s West Ham’s first win since February when they beat Arsenal in one of those Barclays-anomaly results we get a handful of times every season. Up until Sunday, the Hammers had won the fewest points of any current WSL team this calendar year. Their winless run in the league had reached 15 games.
West Ham have regularly got by and avoided relegation by winning the minimum amount of games in a season (about three) and relying on one team to be so far off the pace that they don’t need to worry about being chased. This season it feels like Crystal Palace could be pushing some of the complacent WSL bottom dwellers (West Ham, Everton and Leicester City) all the way.
Earlier this season, Theo Lloyd-Hughes did a big deep dive into what it takes to survive in the WSL. There was a moment on Sunday where Theo and I both thought Sorensen could be in trouble but a point looks like enough to keep him there for now. A big Merseyside derby awaits on Sunday.
If you support a team that is currently at the bottom of the table, I’d love to know how you’re feeling at this point in the season.
Bompastor breaking curses
Chelsea boss Sonia Bompastor continued her perfect start to the season by breaking the Liverpool curse that had lurked over Chelsea for years. Yes, Chelsea’s 3-0 win was their first away at Liverpool for five and a half years.
It continues a big run of jinx beating after a huge first win over Arsenal at the Emirates a few weeks ago. Jessy Parker Humphreys has had a look at those performances under Bompastor and the next horcrux that she will need to overcome - beating Manchester City.
Next Saturday’s game at Stamford Bridge couldn’t be bigger. It’s also the first time Chelsea will be hosting City at their main club stadium. I’m hoping for the sort of chaos we saw when Arsenal forgot their socks last season.
Go deeper on Brighton
The latest piece in our Team Profiles series with The Underrated Scout is now live. This time the focus is on everyone’s new favourite WSL team - Brighton.
In this in-depth piece, the team have a look at Brighton’s style of play, shape in and out of possession as well as all their attacking strengths and weaknesses.
There’s so much insight there so definitely go and take a look ahead of Brighton’s next game against West Ham.
If you haven’t yet read the first profile on Aston Villa you can also catch up on that.
Elsewhere on The Cutback:
Conner Roberts will be unpacking Manchester United’s disappointing performance against Aston Villa after that 0-0 draw at Leigh Sports Village. Keep an eye on that coming later this week.
That’s it from me today. See you same time next week.
As a Leicester fan, it feels strange to be filled with tredipation when we're currently 8th - a position I expected us to be sat in for most of the season and be able to finish there or even a bit higher. We are being propped up by goal difference due to our (largely) solid defence, but the picture looks bleak.
If I'm being a bit biased, it feels slightly unfair to lump us in with "complacent" bottom-dwellers. 22/23 was about survival. Last season I admit we could have done better. Even before Kirk left there were games we could and should have done better in.
This season it felt like we were doing all the right things - bought in a really good manager with the right philosophy and attitude. Made some great signings to bolster us in key areas. Miquel has fixed our defensive issues and the idea was to build a fast counter attacking style, which you could see was beginning to work until we were hit with injuries. The reality for us now is we're playing players out of position, relying on Cain to be our most potent goal threat who's just coming back from an ACL, and having to start players who would usually be nowhere near the starting XI and fill the bench with academy players.
Meanwhile, West Ham have seen consistently dropped off over the last few seasons and feel largely neglected as a women's team - what's the plan? What's the vision? Other than stay up?
Again Everton don't really feel like a team looking to or able to push on - hit by injuries like us but I just don't really feel that Sorenson can evolve their style beyond being fairly solid defensively and struggling to score goals (bit rich coming from a Leicester fan at the moment I know). Given the situation with the club and ownership it feels unlikely that even if things start to go really south they'll do anything drastic.
I think if we're talking about complacency we have to look to the middle of the table.
All the progress it felt like Liverpool made last season and it doesn't seem like they've been able to build on that thus far. They weren't able to beat us or Palace. Bought in Olivia Smith but she's yet to really set the world alight - they're still relying on the likes of Roman Haug, Höbinger and Hinds. Defensive and goalkeeping errors all over the shop.
Similar story with Spurs - if they lose the NLD, and one of Leicester, West Ham or Palace win they'll suddenly be in a much more precarious position. Vilahamn has them playing some nice attacking football but it feels like some basics just aren't there, and they're unable to adapt under pressure. It feels like Clinton was really the bedrock of that team last season and they're lost without her. She's not a player you can easily replace or replicate. They've also already conceded half the amount of goals they conceded last season.
Props to Brighton for being the team to really push on this season. It's hard to see them dropping many points against teams outside of Arsenal, City and Chelsea.
To summarise a long and rambling thought, for me it seems like in the WSL this season only City and Chelsea are inevitable. At the bottom and even mid table it's all up for grabs - with Palace looking more up for it than Bristol were, we'll all have to start looking up the table for results as well as battling those around us.
Quite exciting for the league, worrying to be a fan in the thick of it.