Women’s Super League: talking points from the weekend’s action
Villa buoyed by Iwabuchi’s impact
We all saw the potential impact a January signing can make at Aston Villa on Saturday, when Mana Iwabuchi got a goal and an assist in a 2-2 draw with Reading. She is 5ft 1in and about seven stone, but perfectly fits the mould of the kind of elite player Japan has produced – dynamic, organised, well drilled, technically excellent and personally unassuming. Her run to score the opener from a set piece was so typical of the Japanese national side, whose set-pieces are always perfectly executed. She has agility, poise and composure and is technically excellent – this is just not the calibre of player Villa have previously had, so the move is a real coup for them. Reading dominated the first half and it was only thanks to some poor finishing and their goalkeeper Lisa Weiss that Villa went in at the break trailing by only one goal, but they came out for the second half with renewed intent and got their reward. Drawing 2-2 when your opponents have only two shots on target will hurt Reading but, in Iwabuchi, Villa had the outstanding individual.
Plenty of movement through open window
It has been a busy transfer window so far, with Maria Thorisdottir’s move from Chelsea to Manchester United and the loan moves of two England internationals, Abbie McManus from United to Tottenham and Jill Scott from Manchester City to Everton, being the standouts of the last week. Thorisdottir will cover United’s left-back position, where they have chopped and changed a lot this season. She has lots of experience both in the WSL and internationally, knows what it takes to succeed and will do a solid job, under a manager in Casey Stoney who knows defenders inside out. McManus has not started a WSL game since October and will hope to get going again at Spurs, and Scott finds herself in a similar position. I think the response of City fans to that move has been interesting – they were scratching their heads a little, I think. She has been a key member of that team and almost a figurehead of the club for so long, but at the moment she needs minutes. In a lot of ways City haven’t been giving her the respect she has deserved, and with a new international manager coming in she needs to put herself in the window for England camps and for Team GB. That is the case now for any home nations player who has fallen out of favour in the past 12 months, because a new manager will be picking the side based on what they see over the next few weeks and what has gone before is gone.
Thorisdottir watches on as United stroll to victory
Thorisdottir watched from the bench as her new teammates eased to a 2-0 win against Birmingham, with Hannah Hampton making a string of top-class saves to keep the scoreline respectable – United had 23 shots and eight on target while Birmingham had one shot, which was off target. United’s defence was not seriously tested here, but Thorisdottir will significantly strengthen it, the 27-year-old bringing with her a huge amount of international and WSL experience. Leah Galton remains in sensational form, and has now scored five goals in her past five WSL games after breaking the deadlock less than a minute into the second half. Ella Toone scored the second, spinning in the 18-yard box to fire across the goalkeeper, and United converted their 74% possession into three points to stay top of the table even if Chelsea, three points behind but with two games in hand, will fancy their chances of overtaking them.
Houghton shines again as City return to title fray
Steph Houghton scored twice as she became the first player to make 150 WSL appearances, in another stroll for Manchester City, who have scored 29 goals in their past six games, and 14 in their last two. Despite their outstanding league form they headed to Brighton on the back of defeat at home against Chelsea in the Continental Cup and without their US trio of Rose Lavelle, Sam Mewis and Abby Dahlkemper – the latter has not played for her new team yet since signing a 30-month contract two weeks ago – but were outstanding. Victory took them above Arsenal to third and back into the title race, but their priority will be staying in the top three and qualifying for the Champions League.
Riise’s arrival gives England a fresh start
This week there has been a new start for England, with Phil Neville joining Inter Miami and the Norwegian Hege Riise being appointed as interim head coach with the Canadian Rhian Wilkinson joining the coaching staff. In Neville’s past year or so there was a slump in form that means not many are mourning his departure but in that time he had to deal with Covid and the cancellation of international fixtures, and given things weren’t going particularly well anyway it became very hard for him to succeed. But I think his impact overall was excellent, and he brought a lot of media attention to the position and to women’s football. He says he has learned a huge amount from his time dealing with female footballers, which I think is quite interesting and might bring him a more rounded approach to management, going to a country where women’s football is seen as equal to men’s. Riise is an interesting appointment, and the players will move from an FA-trained coach whose methods would have been those drilled in to A-licensed coaches in this country, to someone from a different nation who has won the World Cup, the European Championship and the Olympics, will be a leap. I remember playing against her when I first joined the England team and she was towards the end of her career. She was a calm, unassuming character who has had success as a coach in Norway, and experience in America. I think she will be a breath of fresh air. The girls won’t know what to expect, and after things had gone a bit stale under Neville that can only be a good thing.
Watch the biggest season of women’s football yet on BT Sport, with at least 22 live Barclays FA WSL matches across the season, including Everton v Manchester United on BT Sport 2 next Sunday (31 January, kick off 2.30pm).