What Happened: Stina-nomics, Villa surprise and a Japanese sensation
Flo Lloyd-Hughes takes a look at the opening weekend of the WSL season and highlights the latest pieces to read on The Cutback.
Welcome to the first edition of The Cutback’s weekly newsletter What Happened. This newsletter will always be free to read and it will be sent out to your inbox every Monday, even on a Bank Holiday, because that’s how much I want you to be up to date with what’s happening in women’s football.
This weekly check-in will have some of my thoughts on the weekend’s games and also some snippets from our amazing writers.
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Villa’s Va Va Voom
It all started on Friday night with Chelsea’s 1-0 win over Aston Villa at Kingsmeadow.
I was already a big fan of new Villa manager Robert de Pauw after he told me at the WSL media launch day “what happens in Marbella, stays in Marbella”, in reference to Villa’s pre-season tour. The Friday night performance from his team only added to this new fandom.
It was a tough night for Chelsea under the lights. Sonia Bompastor’s team got off to a brilliant start with Sandy Baltimore and Guro Reiten creating very good chances in the opening minutes. The pair were swapping between the No.10 and left wing role throughout the game and it caused Villa tons of problems in the first half.
Johanna Rytting Kaneryd eventually broke the deadlock in the 36th minute with an impressive finish. But Chelsea never managed to build on their lead and it ended up much nervier than Bompastor would have liked.
Chasity Grant, who joined from Ajax this summer, was a constant threat for Villa. I was really impressed with her aggressive approach. She was taking on players and trying to make things happen for her team. She looks like she’s going to be a really exciting player to watch and yet another great Dutch addition to the WSL.
The absence of Niamh Charles definitely invited Grant to attack Chelsea’s left with a lot more freedom than she would normally have had. Jessy Parker Humphreys dug into what didn’t quite click for The Blues and their fullbacks and examined the quick fix needed to fill the Charles void.
It seems like Villa could be surprise package under Pauw and I’m excited to see how they might challenge some of the ‘big four’ this season.
Stina-nomics
There is something inevitable about Stina Blackstenius. What the Arsenal striker has lacked in quality at times she makes up her for in iconic moments and now some consistency.
The Swede has history against City. Last season she single handedly secured an unbelievable comeback win in Arsenal’s 2-1 win at City that ended the latter’s title hopes. She also scored in the reverse fixture at Meadow Park earlier in the season.
Blackstenius was picked ahead of Alessia Russo at the Emirates on Sunday and it quite quickly proved to be an inspired decision from Jonas Eidevall.
Max Radwan looked into just how effective Blackstenius was in his piece from the Emirates.
Arsenal will be frustrated not to have come away with a win to start the season, but given the game could have been lost when Russo missed a huge chance not long before the equaliser, I think most Gooners should feel a little bit of a relief.
Crikey Seike
Brighton had one of the busiest transfer windows of any of the WSL clubs. There were 10 incomings to the Sussex coast and some legendary Barclays names including Fran Kirby and Nikita Parris. But one name that fell under the radar was Kiko Seike, who joined from the Japanese league champions Urawa Reds.
Seike was the WE League’s Golden Boot winner last season and was also voted MVP for the 2023-24 campaign. She played as a forward for her club but has also played as a wing back for Japan.
Seike is quick, can run beyond defenders and has good positioning, but what she really proved in her hat trick-starring debut for Brighton is she is happy to shoot from anywhere.
She scored two screamers and a nice header in Brighton’s 4-0 win against a sorry Everton team and it understandably made a lot of people sit up and notice.
I know its never a good idea to get too excited about a player who shines on debut especially in a team that could struggle in games, but Seike looks like the perfect match for the quick way Brighton want to attack this season. Let’s see if she can build on this impressive display.
Elsewhere on The Cutback:
Loving the content so far , keep up the great work everyone 😁