Graham and Susanna run through all the big talking points from this week's Lionesses squad announcement. Who replaces Millie Bright and does Beth Mead make the starting XI after scoring her first goals for Arsenal since her ACL injury?
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00:00 Welcome back to the Women's Super League show with myself Susanna Seeley and Scotsman and
00:09 National World writer Graham Faulk. Once again, there is lots to discuss this week as we head
00:14 into another international break. England have got two must win fixtures as they take
00:19 on Belgium this weekend and Scotland next week. So let's get straight into it. There
00:24 are quite a few, before we even look at the fixtures, there are quite a few discussion
00:29 points around the squad. So firstly, Millie Bright, what on earth are England going to
00:36 do?
00:37 I've kind of got used to England players having injuries, haven't we? But I thought we'd do
00:46 all right without Leah and trust me, like getting to the final of the World Cup is not
00:51 doing all right. But if we look at recent form, I do think having a Leah Williamson
00:55 in there would really help. Millie Turner has come in, which I think is well deserved,
01:01 if I'm honest with you. Her and Maya Letizia were the best defence in the league last season
01:07 in terms of goals conceded. I think she's done really well. She's kind of been in and
01:11 around the squad previously before Serena. She's experienced, I think she's 27, 28. She'll
01:17 give you everything that she's got. But Millie is the captain at the minute with the year
01:22 out. So you've got your captain and basically your vice-captain out there as well. I know
01:28 some people don't rate Millie Bright as highly as I do, but I think look at her trophy cabinet,
01:32 look at what she's won and look at who plays her every single game, Serena Vigman. Emma
01:36 Hayes, to me that speaks volumes. I think she's a massive miss, but what do you do?
01:43 You've got to kind of get on with it. I think we spoke an awful lot during the summer about
01:48 how surprised we were that Maya Letizia hadn't really been picked for the squad based on
01:53 the season that she'd had. So for me, that's who comes in. That's where the opportunity
02:00 is, I think, to be honest with you. I think if we go back four, you'll probably see not
02:06 two unfamiliar faces. Personally, I think it'll probably be Lucy Bronze, Jess Carter,
02:11 Alex Greenwood, and Eve Charles across the back. But for me, I'd go with Maya. I think
02:18 she's the future of the defence. I would have her alongside Alex Greenwood, vastly experienced.
02:25 But yeah, I mean, look, I'm trying to mask the fact that Millie Bright's not a massive
02:31 miss. I just think the one thing I would say, and I don't like saying this, it's going to
02:36 sound so negative, but I don't think England are going to win the group.
02:41 Well, that's just it, because I mean, of all the players that you... I mean, no one wants
02:45 any injuries. But as I said earlier, these are two must-win matches if England have any
02:50 hope of securing a Team GB qualification for the Olympics. You don't want one of your more
02:55 experienced defenders out when you're coming up. Also, sorry, I said Belgium. I meant the
03:01 Netherlands they're playing this weekend. So I apologise. But when you're coming up
03:06 against that sort of firepower. Also, she has such a wealth of experience. You've spoken
03:11 about the, like, trophy cabinet that she's got. How important, aside from talent, is
03:16 that experience at the back if now you're relying just on two out of a potential full
03:22 back line?
03:24 I think it's massive. I mean, if we're looking at players like Center Half that are in the
03:28 squad, you've got Alex Greenwood. She's got 86 caps, massively experienced 30-year-old.
03:33 Jess Carter, you know, 27 caps is quite a drop. But at the same time, Jess Carter has
03:38 got experience there, but it's nowhere near what Millie Bright is at this level. Outside
03:42 of that, you've got like Esmé Morgan, five caps. May Letizia, two caps. Millie Turner,
03:47 no caps. And then I think one player that never really gets mentioned, but is always
03:51 in and around the squad, was part of the Euros squad, didn't play a minute and stuff. But
03:54 I think everyone spoke about how important she is in terms of in and around the dressing
04:00 room. And I spoke to Jonas Idoval a few weeks back, and he touched on her leadership and
04:08 how he sees her growing and growing this season. I think she's been really good. It's Lotta
04:11 Wubbenmooy. I'm talking about May Letizia as being sort of the future of England, but
04:18 you know, Lotta's still only 24. She's got 10 caps. There's an argument to be had there,
04:22 but I mean, look, if I put together the caps that Jess Carter, Lotta, Esmé, Maya and Millie
04:29 have got, I don't think it even goes close to the total amount that Millie Bright has
04:33 got. So without going in depth, I think the speaks volumes, doesn't it, that she's going
04:38 to be a massive miss. But it's an opportunity. Look, I'm sounding like I'm speaking like
04:41 a manager here, or a coach, like she's a massive miss, but with every injury, it's an opportunity.
04:46 And there's plenty of players there that deserve a bit of a shot in games that, you know, look,
04:51 you can't say England's got them, it's not important. You can't say any of the games
04:54 are not important. But I think, you know, Holland's a tough game. Let's get one of our
05:00 more or less experienced players in there, like Maya maybe, or Lotta or something like
05:04 that and see what they can do against a team that's as good as the Dutch are. But yes,
05:10 ideally I'd prefer Millie Bright to be there.
05:12 Oh, 100%. And you're talking about Lotta Wubbenmooy. Why is it that we haven't really seen her
05:17 on the pitch for England? We've seen the likes of, as you say, Neve Charles, Jess Carter,
05:22 they've all sort of had their shot at, well, not just had their shot, they've had much
05:26 more than that. But Lotta really hasn't had that on the pitch in the same way.
05:32 I think she's probably just victim of circumstance. You know, we've just had a good solid sort
05:38 of five, six minutes there on how important Millie Bright is, and we could probably do
05:42 10 minutes on how important Leah Williamson is, and that's your back two. Jess Carter
05:48 was excellent during the Euros, sorry, during the World Cup. And Alex Greenwood is, well,
05:55 for me Alex Greenwood's Alex Greenwood, one of the best defenders in the world in my personal
05:58 opinion. And then after that, you've got Maya Letizia who's coming through and looking like
06:04 she could be the future of England. I think it's just victim of circumstance. I think
06:08 one thing that, you know, if she's wondering the same thing herself that she can probably
06:11 take from this is that she's always in the squads more or less. I know she's been out
06:17 of one or two or came out of one or two, but she always ends up getting back into the squad.
06:21 And I think her personality speaks volumes. I think you just see the stuff she does off
06:26 the pitch. I can imagine she's great around the dressing room, but I really wouldn't be
06:30 against Lotta being given the chance with the injuries we've got. But for me, I would
06:35 go with Maya and Alex. Sorry, Jess, I feel really bad because I really like Jess Carter.
06:42 I would just try Maya alongside Alex. Even if you went Alex Greenwood at left back and
06:48 Jess Carter alongside Maya Letizia. I think there's opportunity and I'm going to try and
06:52 be positive with that and say that, you know, positivity going into it would be that there's
06:59 players getting an opportunity there. But I think at the same time, I don't really want
07:02 England to get another bad result because I don't think we can really afford one.
07:09 And another defensive talking point that we've seen is obviously Ellie Roebuck is now not
07:19 in the squad. I mean, it's highly unlikely she would have been given the gloves anyway.
07:26 I think Mary Earp would need to be in a hospital bed to not be on the pitch. However, that
07:33 is still a figure that we have seen in and around the squad for quite a long time. Now
07:38 not in it. She hasn't really had many minutes for man city either. What on earth is happening
07:44 to poor Ellie?
07:46 I actually don't know. Look, I think to be honest, I think Keating's done really, really
07:53 well. I think she is the number one. I don't think I think if you look at Man City's performances
07:59 this season defensively, I think a lot of the games have done really, really well. And
08:03 I think when you look at why, like there's been a lot of big saves from Keating. So I
08:07 think she's fully deserved another place, both at Man City and also with England.
08:14 Then underneath that, you know, recently with City, you've been seeing you've had the likes
08:17 of Sandy McIver, who's obviously now a Scottish international and could be facing us in a
08:23 couple of days. She's now obviously on the bench as well. But I think Ellie's out of
08:29 contract at the end of the season. For me, she needs to be getting the move come January.
08:39 And I think there'll be plenty of clubs that would be willing to take her, but she's obviously
08:41 not in the plans. She was on the bench at the weekend against Spurs, but it seems like
08:46 he's, Gareth Taylor's alternating between, you know, two backup goalkeepers. It's either
08:51 Sandy McIver on the bench or Ellie Roebuck on the bench, but Keating plays. I don't disagree
08:58 with who he's starting and in any way, shape or form, but for Ellie Roebuck, who's been
09:02 in the England squad for what, months, years, seasons, she needs a move. And there's a couple
09:09 of teams that I imagine would take her. She just probably needs her confidence back because
09:12 I imagine it's a bit biased.
09:13 Yeah. Well, I mean, we've seen in the men's game with Arsenal, they've got sort of two
09:19 number one goalkeepers and you see the confidence, not that it has, like on someone like Aaron
09:25 Ramsey, who had long been considered one of the better goalkeepers in the league. And
09:30 now suddenly he's not playing whenever he does come on. It's a bit hit and miss for
09:34 a while. So it's hardly surprising. So I mean, Ellie Roebuck, hopefully she makes that move
09:41 so she gets back out on the pit. And just a word on our main goalkeeper as well, Mary
09:46 Earts, because she has been announced as the BBC Women's Footballer of the Year. And she's
09:53 the first goalkeeper to ever receive that award. How incredible is that achievement?
09:59 I mean, I think every podcast we're talking about some other accolade that she's managed
10:03 to win. But I mean, to be the first goalkeeper to win any sort of award is so impressive.
10:10 I really like Mary's story. I mean, I think we kind of get used to speaking about Mary
10:16 and what she's won in the awards. And every week it's like Mary's won an award, Mary's
10:19 done this, Mary's saved that. And just, you know what, at Man United, just keeping out
10:25 a really good goalkeeper in Valentola's Joyce, who made an incredible save against Liverpool
10:29 the other week. And it's, I think, reportedly the record fee for a goalkeeper in WSL. And
10:35 just keeping her out and with relative ease, to be honest. She's just the best, but like,
10:42 I'm not going to stone around a lot of the best, but because she had the title of like,
10:47 I don't know, five awards ago or whatever, like she's won about five or six since. But
10:51 I just really like Mary's story. I really like when you hear her speak about, you know,
10:56 where she was maybe six, seven years ago, not really getting in teams and not really
11:01 starting. And she's maybe where, you know, maybe the likes of Elie Robicar at the moment
11:06 and where she's got to, like, you've just got to admire that grit, don't you? Like that
11:13 total underdog spirit. And she's gone from like, oh yeah, Mary Epp, she's all right,
11:18 not bad, decent keeper. She'll do her job. Yeah. She'll sit on the bench to like the
11:22 best in the world, like, bar none. There's one thing I would say from a Lionesses in
11:26 England perspective, as a fan, I wouldn't have anyone else in the world ahead of Mary
11:30 Epp. Asshole. Definitely not. The only person, the only thing that seems to be kryptonite
11:38 to her, and I'm delighted that she's injured from an England perspective, not from a football
11:42 perspective, but I think she's a fantastic player. But it appears Caroline Weir is her
11:46 kryptonite because she's chipped her like three a whole time.