Latest / Into the Channel ⚽️ A Podcast Primarily About Women's Football / Keira Walsh to Chelsea | Crystal Dunn to PSG | Chloe Kelly to Arsenal | Lots More WSL + NWSL News! 🔥

Transcript

Keira Walsh to Chelsea | Crystal Dunn to PSG | Chloe Kelly to Arsenal | Lots More WSL + NWSL News! 🔥 · Into the Channel ⚽️ A Podcast Primarily About Women's Football

0:00
OK, OK, OK, OK, OK little look behind the curtain.
0:04
European transfer window closed today, Thursday, January 30th.
0:07
In our infinite wisdom, your boys, we recorded this week's
0:10
episode Wednesday, January 29th. We had most of it covered.
0:14
I feel pretty good about it, but as you can imagine, some pretty
0:16
significant last minute deadline day deals that got done here
0:20
today. Mr. Grant Angle, before we get
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to the main episode that we recorded last night, what did we
0:25
miss during last night's recording that we need to cover
0:28
here up top? Yes, turns out there are some
0:30
pretty big pieces of business. I think we've narrowed it down
0:33
to five players who have been moved after we recorded
0:37
yesterday. I think we should talk about
0:38
those five. Let's go Where do you want to
0:40
get started? All right, first we're going to
0:42
get started because it's a new night and a new recording.
0:45
I mean, I think I found ourselves an excuse to have a
0:47
beer tonight. Love it.
0:51
Our second first frosty beverage of the show.
0:54
Shout out to our guy Raj Bennett.
0:56
Cheers of course. The legend, cheers to him.
0:58
Cheers to you as well. I think we got to get started
1:01
with Kyra Walsh, who we did talk about.
1:04
We do talk about later in this episode, but now it's official.
1:07
Emma Sanders of the BBC reported that Chelsea paid Barcelona
1:10
somewhere around €800,000 for Kyra Walsh to add her into the
1:15
Chelsea midfield. Buddy, how you feeling?
1:18
I mean, I think we knew this was coming.
1:20
If she was going to end up at Arsenal, I think it would have
1:23
happened by now. Got to say, Chelsea's stacking
1:27
him up over there in West London.
1:29
I mean, not only do they get one of the best players in the
1:32
world, they take one of the best players in the world, one of the
1:36
most important players in the world from one of the other best
1:39
teams in the world, Barcelona. A huge win for Chelsea.
1:42
I mean, I'm probably the biggest Keira Walsh fan I think there
1:44
is. Love her game.
1:45
I I went back and tabulated some numbers last three seasons for
1:48
club and country. How about this is so ridiculous.
1:53
119 matches played, 101 wins, 10 draws and eight losses.
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That's like Julio Cesar Chavez shit.
2:02
Absolutely phenomenal. Record total winner.
2:04
I think she's going to fit in seamlessly in Chelsea.
2:07
No doubt Emma Sanders also mentioned in her article that,
2:10
you know, obviously we all know the Chelsea is without long time
2:14
midfielder Sophie Engel. Kiera Walsh can kind of step in,
2:17
fill in that role for the midfield a little bit.
2:20
I want to go back to not to not to throw salt in the wound here,
2:23
but you mentioned Arsenal from that Sanders article in the BBC,
2:26
Quote, Walsh's preference has always appeared to lean toward
2:30
Chelsea. And quote, sorry, buddy, I don't
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know, you know, maybe she just thinks blue suits are better.
2:35
Maybe she, you know, wants to play for Sonya Bone Pastor can't
2:38
falter for that. But I, I think you were right.
2:41
If Walsh wanted to go there, the deal probably would have been
2:43
done a while ago. Yeah, totally agree with that.
2:46
She would fit so nicely. You know, a great maybe like
2:49
sort of Kim little replacement as as as Kim kind of ages out a
2:52
little bit. But we'll see.
2:54
Chelsea now have another absolute superstar.
2:56
It's kind of like having two quarterbacks like her and Garma
2:58
back there in terms of distribution.
3:00
Just like once the they retake possession, it's like now the
3:02
ball could pretty much go anywhere.
3:04
Yeah, let's skip ahead though. A little bit of good news for my
3:07
lady Gunners. There we go, Chloe.
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Kelly, 27 years old. Salute to you Chloe.
3:12
Thank you for your service to Manchester City Football Club.
3:15
Obviously scored the legendary winner for the Lionesses and the
3:18
2022 Euros National hero over there.
3:22
She brings speed, she brings a direct level of play to the
3:26
attack. I think that's going to be
3:27
interesting. Part of the issue was she wasn't
3:29
happy with her playing time at Manchester City.
3:31
So I'll be interested to see how she gets into the rotation in
3:35
Arsenal with the attacking players that that you have over
3:38
there. Now.
3:38
Obviously it's a it's a loan to the end of the season, so she's
3:41
not going to be eligible to play in either the next WSL match for
3:45
a City or the League Cup match for a city.
3:48
So that's a little bit of a drawback, but I think Arsenal
3:51
probably just wants to get her in the rotation and see how she
3:54
fits. Yeah, and I think she's going to
3:55
be really motivated. She's spoken about her desire to
3:58
log minutes, put forward performances that kind of would
4:02
get her back, you know, up to the upper echelon of, you know,
4:05
Lionesses selections heading into the EUR.
4:08
Yeah. So interestingly enough, Chloe
4:10
Kelly joined Arsenal's Academy at the age of 12.
4:12
Didn't know that. Professional debut for Arsenal
4:14
at 17 last year for City, 21 WSL appearances, five goals, 5
4:19
assists for the Lionesses, 48 caps, seven goals to her name.
4:23
This one was interesting. I looked at kind of like the age
4:26
profile of this Arsenal side. So 28 years old you've got
4:31
Caldente, Stina Blaxtenius, 29 years old, Beth Meade, Katie
4:35
McCabe, Lena Hertig. Caitlin Ford is 30, Steph
4:38
Catley's 31, Leovolti's 31, Kim Little 34.
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That's a lot of players on the back half of 25.
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Chloe Kelly, 27 years old, not, you know, not going to quite
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drag the average age down very, very far.
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But really good to kind of have like a young player who could
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play on that left hand side. Maybe spell Caitlin Ford, who
4:57
got pulled from the Chelsea match.
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Probably precautionary it looked like for an injury.
5:01
But I don't know. I think it's a really good
5:03
injection. We're getting a motivated Chloe
5:05
Kelly with some room to play on the field with some room within
5:09
the lineup. I think, you know, this is a
5:11
team where she's going to get some opportunities and maybe
5:14
extended opportunities based on where she's at and just kind of
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her level of, hey, I want to go out there and perform.
5:20
Yeah, 100%. And I've seen, I mean, I think
5:22
any City fan will will tell you they've seen Kelly and Hemp
5:25
would switch left and right side through stretches of play.
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So she can be, she can be relatively versatile as well.
5:32
I mean, the blazing speed is just, it's always a plus.
5:34
You know, if you bring her on in the 65th or something like that,
5:37
she really hurt your opponent. Later in the episode, you'll
5:40
hear not to spoil everything, but We Talk About Cities
5:43
reported reluctance to send Chloe Kelly to either Manchester
5:48
United or just another contender in general.
5:50
So I guess they don't have to worry about sending her to a
5:52
contender. Come on, they're waiting all day
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for that. Moving on, this is a player we
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didn't get to talk about, Adriana from the champion, the
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NWSL double winners, Orlando Pride, Orlando Pride, we'll miss
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you. Go get your bag.
6:16
It's been great. I think she's going to fit in
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really well in the Saudi league. I mean, a spectacular player and
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I think they kind of are paying for highlights really sure.
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And pretty nice bit of business for Orlando.
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What did you what were your main takeaways from this this with
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this transaction? Yeah, I think the the fee was
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was pretty head turning really. I mean, not because like buying
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her contract isn't worth half $1,000,000, but just the fact
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that that is the third highest outgoing transfer if he ever
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paid to an NWSL club. I think you're right.
6:45
I think from everything that I've been able to Google, it
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looks like the club's name is pronounced Al Qadsia, but we'll
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go with that for now. If if you guys have the
6:53
correction in the comments, please hit me up.
6:55
No arguments here. But yeah, I mean, I'm interested
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to see what Orlando does with that money.
7:02
You know, there's still some time to sign players for your
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squad. And like you said, you know, I,
7:07
I can't imagine that when they purchased Adriana's contract
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from Corinthians years ago, I, I think they used like some
7:15
allocation money that they used from when they sold Alex
7:17
Morgan's contract. So I got to imagine they turned
7:20
quite a profit on that. And now I'm excited to see who
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they signed. But I'm also, I'm also curious
7:26
how we can watch the Saudi women's pro league.
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Like how can, how can we get our mitts on that?
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Because we don't need Adriana to be out of our lives completely
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unless she's playing for Brazil. So I got to figure out OK what
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what streaming network is that league on?
7:39
Yeah, that's fair. I feel like it might be fertile
7:42
ground for the zone. We'll see.
7:44
As far as Orlando, I think it does open up some space for
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players like Summer Yates, Julie Doyle, Ali Watt from an
7:50
attacking standpoint. And I like I said, I'll miss
7:52
Adriana because she was a big play, you know, spectacular
7:56
finisher. Couldn't really count on her to
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be that kind of productive, you know, match in, match out.
8:02
But when she was feeling it, her highlight level stuff was, you
8:06
know, at the very top of the league.
8:08
You know, in my mind, I think Orlando good bit of business.
8:11
But also I think the Saudi league's going to get their
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money's worth for what she's going to be able to produce
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against. I mean, got to be lesser
8:16
competition out there. Yeah, I would think so.
8:18
I mean, it's going to be interesting to see how they
8:20
management, how they are able to recruit talent.
8:24
I guess maybe this kind of spoils 1 aspect of how the Saudi
8:27
league will recruit talent. And I'm going to take a wild
8:30
guess that it that is lots of money.
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So I know they will use that. Yep, use it if you've got it.
8:36
A couple more names on the list. Where do you want to go from
8:38
here? OK, we've waited long enough.
8:40
We have to get to the legend Crystal Dunn.
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As reported by Tom Gehry of the Guardian, she passed her
8:45
physical and Crystal Dunn is heading to Perry's Angermann.
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She's an all timer with the US Women's National team in the
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NWSL. She has the ultimate Swiss army
8:54
knife. You want a player at forward?
8:56
You want a player on the wing at midfielder.
8:58
You want a player as a left back?
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Go ahead, put her wherever you want.
9:01
You could probably play her defensive midfielder if you
9:03
wanted to. She has more than 100 starts in
9:05
the NWSL and I think people who have watched our program for a
9:08
while know she's one of my favorite players ever.
9:10
I believe she was one of the most important players in the
9:13
2019 World Cup and I look forward to continuing to watch
9:17
her play for PSG because I like to watch PSG play.
9:19
Yeah, love that she landed there.
9:21
I think she did. She's going to fit in.
9:22
You know, when you think about the personality of her game, I
9:25
think is going to fit in really well with kind of like the
9:28
little sister nature of PSG, Sure.
9:30
A little bit in the shadow of Lyon Le Patez yen reported that
9:34
Dunn will sign a 2 1/2 year deal with the French club.
9:36
So it's exciting. That's quite the commitment.
9:39
We'll get into this a little bit later in the episode, but we
9:42
talked about Ketaline, Bunny Shaw, maybe Jenna Neisenwyer not
9:45
maybe being ready to kind of get rolled out there and start
9:48
balling. I think Crystal does.
9:50
She steps off the plane. I got to imagine she's ready.
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You could just like I bet toss her a kit, she'll lace them up
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and and be, you know, basically the Crystal dunnet that we all
9:58
know and love. I also kind of like that from
9:59
AUS national team standpoint, she'll be able to kind of throw
10:02
an arm around Corbin Albert, have a guy Tino, and like have a
10:06
little bit of like a USWNT contingent out in Paris.
10:09
That's kind of exciting. Congrats to Crystal Dunn,
10:12
hopefully it's a move she's excited about.
10:13
Got to think she is, so I'm excited to see her play.
10:16
I think we got one more player, my good man.
10:19
Let's do it. All right, Laura Weinreuter
10:22
coming to city from your gooners.
10:25
I think this move was actually, if I understood the reporting
10:28
correctly, I think it at first it was kind of dangling there
10:30
and it was contingent upon the the Chloe Kelly transfer or the
10:34
loan. Pardon me, over to Arsenal.
10:36
Obviously it gets done. The 26 year old Austrian
10:38
defender is coming back from an ACL injury, which I think when
10:42
she suffered that injury, I don't think it was too long
10:44
after that where Arsenal signed Emily Fox and Weinreiter.
10:48
Just looking for more minutes. And I got to tell you, as
10:50
somebody who has raised questions about cities defending
10:54
at times, I think she's going to get those minutes because you
10:56
got to give her a look. Absolutely.
10:58
I really like to pick up for City.
10:59
Kind of holsters their defense and you got to imagine that Jen
11:02
and I swung or her deal getting inked this week probably did
11:05
mean the end for Wine Writer, but glad she'll end up at City.
11:09
Wine Writer's last big stretch of involvement for Arsenal.
11:11
20/22/23 Season 17 matches played.
11:14
Eleven starts that year, so probably like a good breath of
11:17
fresh air. For sure, really excited to see
11:20
her play. I mean she played for our old
11:21
pal St. Bolton and helped that team win
11:23
a double when she was just a teenager.
11:25
It's just 35 caps for Austria, you know.
11:28
Was involved in the 2022 EUR for Austria.
11:31
I think they made the group stage, if I remember correctly.
11:34
So yeah, more defenders for City.
11:36
That's kind of what I was hoping to see.
11:38
And and they just kind of have to move around the rotation and
11:40
figure out who's going to fit where and who who plays best
11:43
with with the midfield and, you know, try to go win a Champions
11:46
League. With that said, let's get to
11:48
this week's episode. See you there.
11:56
Oh. Hey, welcome to into the channel
11:59
podcast primarily about wins football before we hit the
12:01
pitch. If you enjoy the show or level
12:03
in football as much as your boys do, come get with us already.
12:07
Subscribe, follow YouTube, Spotify, Apple podcast, wherever
12:10
you like to watch or listen. Leave us a review over your
12:12
favorite podcast app. Links to all of our socials in
12:15
the show notes of this episode. I am your host Dean of the
12:18
suspicious and we are joined by my Co host Mr. Grant Angle.
12:22
What is up man? I'm feeling all right, buddy.
12:25
I mean, you know, hanging in there, all things considered.
12:28
Hmm, Trying to watch for some news, interesting football news
12:32
and then other news. Maybe I'll I'll get to that
12:35
eventually. Yeah, less than fantastic news.
12:38
We'll just call it for short. No, I definitely hear that.
12:42
Either way, glad to be back with you this week.
12:45
Tons of football news both on the pitch and off.
12:48
Very excited to get into it with you.
12:50
Before we get started though, quick look ahead.
12:52
It's almost here. Next Friday, February 7th, 11:00
12:54
AM Eastern, 8:00 AM Pacific. Your boys will be live on
12:57
YouTube to break down all four UEFA Women's Champions
12:59
quarterfinal matchups after the draw takes place.
13:02
Barcelio and Chelsea, Byron, Arsenal, City, Wolfsburg, Real
13:05
Madrid. All eight teams also in action
13:08
this weekend. So where do I get started?
13:10
Buddy, I think unfortunately the only logical place for us to
13:13
start is in that London Derby. My condolences.
13:17
Well, let's talk about it because I think it was a pretty
13:19
interesting game. Chelsea won Arsenal nil.
13:23
Fair enough. We can.
13:24
We can crack. I can crack a sad beer.
13:26
You could crack a happy beer if you like.
13:28
But sure, I mean not. Happy my sad beer.
13:30
That's fair. Not happy because of what
13:32
happened to you. Obviously I root for your squad
13:35
as well when they're not playing my squad.
13:36
Cheers, I appreciate that. Yeah, cheers to that.
13:38
And maybe next week we'll start with the Arsenal's big 5 no win
13:41
over Bristol City and WMS FA Cup.
13:43
Talk about that later. First impressions, Arsenal,
13:47
Chelsea, good God, Chelsea are loaded when when he showed just
13:51
the lineup cards who they had at their disposal to come off the
13:54
bench was just absolutely unfair.
13:57
And this would know Mark Donaldson, Ali Krieger on the
13:59
call. Ali Krieger drops two touch
14:01
tights within the first, what's 6 minutes of the match and I
14:04
think 2 within a 10 second span. I think in my mind that I just
14:07
pictured Lori Lindsay doing some push ups somewhere getting ready
14:09
for yeah, I don't know who knows the return of the NBU cell, but
14:13
Arsenal started slow. I'll say that Chelsea had the
14:16
good chances early, but there was a really good stretch there
14:18
from the 25th minute to like the 40th minute where Arsenal really
14:22
start to pour it on. Prior to that, it was a lot of
14:25
like rushed football, a lot of panicked football.
14:28
And I think they kind of hit their groove like right around,
14:30
like, you know, the the halfway point of the first half.
14:33
I always like that as an encouraging sign, like obviously
14:36
we're not going to treat Arsenal like there's some kind of plucky
14:39
underdogs. But I do think when the other
14:41
side, in those rare occurrences where the other side has clearly
14:45
more talent than Arsenal, it's good to to survive those first
14:49
15 minutes. Because how often do you see the
14:51
juggernauts in this sport like Chelsea, Leon and Barsa pour one
14:54
in within the 1st 7 minutes, survive that and then kind of
14:58
get your feet under you and then really make it a half after
15:01
that. I thought that was a good sign
15:02
for him. Yeah, definitely a good sign.
15:04
I mean, there was a moment where JRK roughs up Beth Mead on a
15:09
tough challenge and I'm just like, good God, like, not only
15:11
are they going to be just better and more skilled, but they're
15:13
going to be tougher than us. I mean, that was that was a
15:15
rough look. This one, though, goes into
15:17
halftime, nil, nil, second-half. Micah Himano comes on to start
15:21
the second-half for my Ramirez, who had been pretty well
15:24
neutralized by the Arsenal defense.
15:25
I will say that defensively, I think what they were doing was
15:28
impressive, definitely benefited from Shu Kanewski and just
15:32
ripping shots from everywhere and like just kind of stink
15:35
eyeing other players when she wasn't getting the ball, which
15:38
is pretty funny. Something to keep an eye on for
15:40
sure. But as the game wears on, you
15:42
just look at, I don't know, Sandy Baltimore, what was this,
15:45
the 57th minute who had played really, really well.
15:48
She comes off, Lauren James comes on and it's just like, I,
15:53
I mean, the depth really is where there's just not that many
15:56
teams in the world, if any, that can compete from a depth
15:59
standpoint with this Chelsea side.
16:02
As mentioned, they brought on Himano, then they bring on Gura
16:04
right in a little bit later, Aggie Beaver Jones to kind of
16:07
close it out. And it's just like that.
16:08
That level of firepower is pretty much off the charts.
16:11
They're still waiting for Naomi Germa to suit up, even though
16:13
she did make a quick appearance before this one kicked off.
16:16
But yeah, like the depth, you look at Ashley Lawrence, if he
16:18
could cap time. They didn't even play.
16:20
Yeah, just like just uses players that can't find minutes
16:24
in a match like this. And then I don't want to say a
16:27
tough call. You know, Kim Little definitely
16:29
fouls Lauren James late in the match.
16:32
And the move that Lauren James puts on that Arsenal defense,
16:37
you know, just to kind of get everything off balance and then
16:39
end up trying like you just kind of felt like that sequence was
16:42
going to end poorly for Arsenal, right?
16:45
I mean, a tough call, but but I think the right call ultimately.
16:49
And then you add insult to injury, the K to McCabe red
16:52
card. You hate to see a player with
16:54
that many years under her belt do that because that effectively
16:57
ended the title, ended the title run.
16:59
I think you still have roughly 10 minutes of ball where you can
17:02
maybe get an equalizer, see what happens late.
17:04
You know Arsenal has some good late game magic last season and
17:08
this one was tight. You can't really say that it was
17:11
over when Chelsea goes up one nil, but after the McCabe red
17:14
card it just put a massive damper on whatever was left of
17:18
this match. Yeah, I, I, I think I'm with you
17:20
on, on most of these accounts. I think the little foul and
17:24
shame on me. I don't know if I've ever said
17:25
this, maybe I've alluded to it before, but Seattle Rain FC
17:28
legend Kim Little, I don't know why.
17:29
Like, I feel like I need to say that every single time, but I
17:32
think you're right. It, it was a foul, you know,
17:34
and, and LJ was just going to make the move to either draw
17:38
that foul or create enough space.
17:40
Something bad was probably going to happen there.
17:42
I agree. I agree with you there.
17:44
And yeah, I don't know what magic words Katie McCabe was
17:47
saying to the referee, but she she was clearly furious.
17:51
And I don't think it was warranted if it was strictly
17:54
about the call. There had to be something else
17:56
that she was mad with the referee about.
17:58
So because to see that outsized of a reaction, you're totally
18:01
right to see a vet do that. Pretty strange.
18:05
She had been, she had been showing frustration throughout
18:08
the match for sure. But that one that what was so
18:11
disappointing about it was it was like not really about the
18:15
foul. It was a game situation,
18:17
explosion. It was like, I'm really upset
18:19
about the game situation Now Chelsea's going to get a PK 80
18:22
something minute in the match. Everybody knows what the
18:24
standings look like. Everybody knows what you know,
18:27
the rest of the match probably has in store, right?
18:30
Which again, you appreciate Katie McCabe's energy, you know,
18:33
and like the, you know, the vibe and like her intensity.
18:36
But at that moment, it's just kind of like there just was no
18:39
getting back into the match. Like it was just basically door
18:42
slam shut on a match that was highly, highly competitive and
18:46
probably could have gone either way really.
18:48
Yeah, I think that's that's totally fair.
18:50
I think it's it, it's always easy for two dopes sitting on
18:53
their couch watching the match to say, but it is just true.
18:57
Like, I mean, you know, anybody who works in high pressure
19:00
situations, you just got to keep your composure sometimes and
19:03
realize that, hey, if I push something too far, then I'm
19:06
putting my teammates or my colleagues in a bad spot.
19:09
You don't want to do that. I want to go back real quick.
19:11
You had mentioned the Beth Meade chance.
19:13
You had mentioned, you know, this kind of being back and
19:15
forth. You know, Beth Meade, I think
19:17
she is like she's in the top ten all time in WSL scores.
19:20
She's number. I think she's the all time
19:22
assist leader also. That is one of those moments.
19:25
I think it's why I'm just a firm believer.
19:27
And you know, I love a good sports cliche, but when you were
19:29
an underdog, it's so good to get one early.
19:32
And if Beth Meade was able to control that one in the first
19:35
half of like, I think it just took a little too much time for
19:37
her to bring the ball under control, get it to her foot.
19:40
And I think it was Neve Charles who got the block on it and it
19:44
was just like, oh, there. I think there are several other
19:46
situations. If you played that playback 10
19:49
times it might be like 40% that Bethany probably scores there.
19:54
The match ended with rough, I think both teams even on big
19:57
chances. I thought Alessia Russo even
20:00
before that Bethany chance, like her work rate was just awesome.
20:04
And I think she was just putting a ton of pressure on the
20:06
defense. And that I think lifted the
20:08
spirit to the confidence. Everyone think about that of
20:10
that of that Arsenal side kind of turned the volume down on the
20:13
panic and the rushing. And I think that's kind of where
20:16
they they really grabbed control of the match.
20:18
Yeah, On one hand, it's encouraging also to Leanne Show,
20:21
which I mean, she was not happy. She was talking about like
20:23
getting just like clearing the deck.
20:25
I do like scrap. It's starting all over.
20:28
I am sympathetic to a little bit of that.
20:30
I think in my notes I wrote down that this team reminds me a lot
20:33
of that Arsene Wenger, Alexander Lakazette team where it was just
20:37
like they they play really beautiful football and knock it
20:40
around, you know. But it's like like against the
20:42
top competition, the ability to kind of like finish and close
20:46
the match or claw their way back into the match.
20:48
It's a tough team. You know, it's just not
20:50
something that you you expect week in, week out.
20:53
But I think defensively, I think I was a little bit encouraged.
20:56
But yeah, like we talked about the door had was just open, just
21:00
just just so. And I think as far as Arsenal in
21:04
competition for the league, I think that's over now.
21:06
But we could talk about City, who's sitting a point ahead of
21:09
Arsenal after 12 matches. They get a big win at Villa.
21:12
What'd you see in that one? Yeah, I think we talked about it
21:14
last week. I said, you know, going into
21:17
this, I was expecting a convincing victory and I think
21:20
they delivered on that 42. Now, they did go down one nil
21:24
and Villa later equalized, but they had 62% of the ball.
21:28
They had 18 total shots to Villa's three.
21:30
They had eight shots on target to Villas 11 of villas goals was
21:34
an own goal. That and I realized they didn't
21:37
concede a lot of chances. So I'm not trying to, you know,
21:39
poor mouth. My team, as I always say, there
21:42
are just moments where the defense just looks way too
21:45
stretched on the counter and sometimes not even like a full
21:49
counter attack, just like if they if the other team wins the
21:52
ball in the midfield, our defense just looks way too
21:54
spread out. And what chastity Grant was able
21:57
to do, taking the ball up the wing and just she just created a
22:00
little bit of space or yourself with a with a nice move to just
22:03
kind of like push off the opponent a little bit and RIP
22:05
that shot. That is just something that if
22:07
you are going to play against Lyon or Chelsea in the next
22:12
round of the Champions League, you might be a real trouble if
22:14
you give up chances like that. Yeah, absolutely.
22:16
The defense definitely look thin.
22:19
Yeah. You know, obviously Alana
22:20
Kennedy moves on. We'll talk about like some of
22:22
the transfer news later. Offensively, I mean, this was
22:24
like a city offense type game where they kind of just leaned
22:27
on their finishing Viviana Midima just.
22:30
Pretty good. Yeah, turns out you you talked
22:35
about top 10. How about top one for old Viv?
22:38
Shout out to announcer Tom Gayle too, who dropped a couple
22:41
different into the channels within the 1st 6 minutes.
22:44
The second one happened right before Chastity Grant's goal, so
22:47
that was exciting. I'm not sure if it's
22:48
coincidence, we'll never know, but that the second medium of
22:52
goal, the absence screamer, not a goalkeeper on the planet, male
22:57
or female, is getting near that the from that distance to just
23:01
tickle the bottom of the corner of the crossbar, like with that
23:05
much velocity on it. Unbelievable.
23:08
The turn is so great because it's just it's like she knows
23:12
just enough to hit the ball, just enough to get it to the
23:15
right spot. So she's able to set herself and
23:18
just fire full extension. I mean, yeah, unbelievable shot.
23:22
Such a great shot that I think even Tom Gale kind of referenced
23:26
it later. Mary Fowler scored a great goal.
23:29
And it's just one of those things where you're like, really
23:30
great goal, not quite as good as meet him as though it's just
23:33
like, well, damn. I mean, that it's still an
23:35
awesome goal by Mary Fowler. It's like it's weird to kind of
23:38
get outshined by your teammate that after you score a banger
23:42
from like 20 yards out, but, you know, meet him.
23:45
That's just who she is. Yeah, I mean, to say I'm
23:48
terrified going into this weekend.
23:50
It would be an absolute understatement.
23:52
What else did you see in this one?
23:53
So Bunny Shaw played football. That was cool.
23:55
Let's go. I liked seeing that and this,
23:57
you know, this is just kind of what it was.
23:59
Bunny Shaw looked like she hadn't played in a competitive
24:01
league match since December 8th, 2024.
24:04
And so I don't hold that against her, but I'll just say she
24:07
looked like she was kind of, she had to get back in the swing of
24:09
things. Totally natural.
24:11
I didn't love that. You know, she went down, she got
24:13
clipped on the on the right foot and it was it was just that she
24:17
got cleated and easy for me to say, just got cleated.
24:20
I'm sure that hurt like hell. But when she go, when she goes
24:23
down, we have to now live in a state of when she hits the
24:28
ground after a shot like that, you just are holding your breath
24:32
for 15 seconds before she gets up before you see the replay to
24:35
to understand what it is. But great to see her on the
24:38
field. Yep, 100% and Bunny Shaw
24:40
obviously much anticipated return.
24:43
Another anticipated appearance from a from a new player in Sky
24:47
Blue Ketaline. What did you see from Ketaline?
24:50
Let's go. Yeah, so she comes on with Shaw
24:53
double substitution, 77th minute.
24:55
And you know, similar to Bunny Shaw, Ketaline looks like she
24:58
was coming out of the preseason. So, you know, hard to blame her
25:02
for that. So looked a little little bit of
25:04
rust on both of those players. There was a very cool moment.
25:08
Like I think they they may have been on maybe less than 5
25:11
minutes somewhere in that ballpark where Bunny Shaw played
25:14
Ketaline in and she was she was offside.
25:18
But when she played her in and the Brazilian would have had a
25:20
run, a pretty good chance at having a run in on goal.
25:23
I was like, OK, that's the bones of what we want to see going
25:27
going in. So obviously they both got to
25:29
get up to speed. They both got to get their their
25:31
actual like matched legs under them.
25:34
But when they do, I think that should be pretty favorable.
25:37
Yeah, let's hope that that's not this weekend.
25:40
I wanted to take a quick look at the WSL table.
25:42
So Chelsea kind of running away with it.
25:44
Seven points clear, 10 matches to go and then a real dogfight
25:48
for the second and third place Champions League spots.
25:51
Man United sitting on 27, City on 25, Arsenal on 24.
25:55
What a fall from grace for your boy.
25:57
Sitting in 2nd place last week, hoping for a big win.
26:00
You, you, you try to say, hey, maybe they can squeak by.
26:03
That'd be, that'd be awesome for you.
26:04
And I'm like now need, need more than that.
26:07
Let's up the ante. Just a hugely disappointing
26:10
loss. And now my Lady Gunners are in
26:11
fourth outside of the Chambers League zone.
26:13
So this was going to be a big one.
26:15
You mentioned it, some heavy hitters coming back for City.
26:18
Where's your head at for this game?
26:19
What are you going to be expecting?
26:21
I have bad news for you. You're going to get cooked now
26:24
let me. No, I you know, I expect it to
26:28
be relative. It's going to be competitive.
26:30
You guys have a good side. You know, they're going in there
26:32
obviously playing at city. So that's that go is going
26:36
against you a little bit, but with our defense looking as as
26:41
stretched, I'm just going to keep using the word stretch
26:43
because I there are just moments where I'm just like, why is
26:46
everybody so far apart? And why does the the attacking
26:48
players have so much space to operate?
26:50
Like I obviously we don't want 12 and under ball here where
26:54
everybody's in one big bunch kicking the ball at the same
26:56
time. But I also like would like to
26:59
maybe cut off some running lanes, cut off some passing
27:02
lanes occasionally. So am I feeling confident?
27:05
I will say I am. I think we're going to win the
27:07
game, but I don't think it's going to be because you guys are
27:09
totally outmatched. I think it's going to be an even
27:12
match. The squads are pretty close,
27:14
especially considering all the city's injuries, but I still
27:17
think you got to find a way to get it done.
27:19
If you're city in this point, put that nail in the coffin of
27:22
your Lady Gunners. Yeah, I hear that.
27:24
And that that could certainly happen after this weekend with a
27:27
bad result. I just have a huge fear that
27:29
this is going to be the Viv beat him a game.
27:31
Like, you know, a lot of talk about how Viv was able to just
27:35
leave on a free transfer and just fit right in, fit right
27:39
into that squad and just start knocking in goals of all sorts
27:43
really. And this just seems to be the
27:45
kind of situation where a player like that is like, I'm going to,
27:48
I'm going to make them feel it, Yeah, at home.
27:51
And she's in great form. 100% sorry, I don't mean to be
27:54
furiously searching this, I just want to make sure I got my facts
27:58
right here. So you want to talk about the
28:00
Viv meet him a game. Obviously we know that she's the
28:03
all time leading scorer in the history of the league.
28:05
She's the quickest to reach 50 goals.
28:07
She's the quickest to reach 100 goal involvements.
28:10
She has 78 career league goals. She has the most hat tricks in
28:14
the history of the league with five.
28:16
But if you want to talk about the the Viv meet him a game.
28:18
I'm going to take us back to December 1st, 2019 versus
28:22
Bristol City for your Lady Gunners.
28:24
In an 11 one victory, Viv scored six goals.
28:27
Now I don't think she's going to get to 6.
28:33
I I feel pretty good back-to-back braces in the
28:36
league. I think she might get 2 against
28:38
your Gunners. Yeah, over 1 1/2 Super live role
28:41
of Viv yeah we'll see what kind of magic Renee Slayer's can can
28:48
whip up defensively. I think that's really what's
28:50
going to come down to like you see Villa, you know able to put
28:53
2 on the board one obviously an own goal.
28:54
So I think the chances are going to be there and it's going to
28:57
come down to whether Arsenal can kind of slow down that City
29:00
attack and take advantage of chances on the other end.
29:03
I I would like to see Arsenal kind of like steady the ship.
29:06
Yeah. And now it's another tough game
29:09
with. I mean, I don't know, could you
29:10
say that this one has higher stakes than the Chelsea match?
29:13
I think you could because of the Champions League and.
29:15
Yeah, I think that's totally fair.
29:17
And you got to remember we're playing them, we're playing you
29:20
again in five days in the League Cup.
29:23
So it could be you can see a lot of Manchester City in the near
29:27
future and it's still very live that we draw each other in the
29:31
Champions League, which let me just go back to talking more
29:34
shit. I hope we do draw you because I
29:36
don't want to play Leon, I don't want to play Leo, Nord, Chelsea.
29:43
I'd much rather play your team. All right, well, wait till one
29:47
Jen and nice Swunger suits up for the.
29:49
Let's go talk about that later. Yeah.
29:52
And the McCabe suspension obviously above all, you know as
29:56
well, I don't think I think that song is going to be ready even
29:58
if that were on the table, probably could expect some
30:00
preseason form from Jenna as well.
30:02
Sure. I want to talk a little bit
30:04
about the transfers because last show we got into it a little bit
30:09
NWSL versus WSL and it was a little bit tongue in cheek about
30:12
what's going to happen. You know, so and so they're,
30:14
they're monitoring the Treaty Robbins situation all of a
30:16
sudden. Now if, if that Treaty Robbins
30:19
situation gets escalated from just monitoring to like now
30:22
there's some kind of negotiations happening, it might
30:25
be time to hit the panic button for the league.
30:27
And I, and I saw a lot of talk today, specifically the league's
30:31
fine, still competitive, still the most competitive league, so
30:34
the best league, etcetera, etcetera.
30:36
Sure, but there's only so many. There's only so much talent that
30:41
could walk out the door and that still hold.
30:43
Yeah, because now, you know Ketaline's comments, I thought
30:47
about that pretty much all week. You know what she's saying.
30:49
I need to go to a place that's going to prepare me differently
30:53
than the NWSL will. You can't really overlook the
30:56
fact that like Alana Kennedy, who we also mentioned headed
30:59
back the other way from City now to Angel City, she very clearly
31:03
could not defend at the highest level in the WSL in the
31:07
Championship. Like like it could just be it's
31:09
a stylistic change coming back to the WSL.
31:11
But now it's Germa, it's ghetto lean.
31:14
It's nice longer. Who who obviously isn't wasn't a
31:16
world beater, but a recognized player, like an established US
31:20
woman's national team player. There was rumors about Sam
31:24
Coffey and Chelsea flirtation, you know, like, and then there
31:28
was a little bit of ire from the general internets about, you
31:31
know, if Emma Hayes is, is sort of like guiding all of our youth
31:35
financial team talent over to to England into Chelsea,
31:38
specifically Tarsiane. Another one.
31:41
I mean, you know what's going on here and and at what point, you
31:46
know, does the panic button need to get get smashed here?
31:49
So I think it's interesting because we're we're coming off a
31:52
a year where Barbara Rabanda, Rachel Kundanagi and Temwa
31:58
Chiwinga came into the NWSL, right?
32:01
So like panic is a strong word. It's a great, it's a great
32:05
sports talk show word. Should they panic?
32:08
Dude, is it time to hit the panic button?
32:10
Don't panic. All that stuff like I like, I I
32:14
get it. I will say the Tarsiane signing
32:18
to Leon, that caught me off guard.
32:20
And to see the price tag and to know that Leon saw the value in
32:25
that and was like, yeah, look, like we saw what Houston Dash
32:28
did last year. But anybody with a with a brain
32:31
who watches football and who likes football knows that
32:34
Tarsiane is going to be even better than she is now.
32:37
And she's already quite good. That one caught me off guard to
32:41
be like, what is what is exactly happening here?
32:44
Because if if the other big clubs and we we had some folks,
32:48
you know, talk to us about it in the YouTube comments of like,
32:51
well, you know, just abolishing the salary cap doesn't fix it.
32:53
And to all the folks who were saying that we haven't replied
32:56
to every comment yet, But you're right.
32:58
I mean, I don't mean to say like, yeah, boss salary gap and
33:00
everything will be fine. Like, obviously you'll need to
33:02
establish like revenue sharing. And like, honestly, I know this
33:05
is gonna sound crazy. Some of the stuff that Major
33:07
League Baseball does to like be a salary, very capitalist sport.
33:11
That's still, I think they've, I think there have been nine
33:13
different World Series winners in the last 12 years.
33:15
Like you could still create some kind of competitive balance.
33:18
But the thing that I think people should be more afraid of
33:20
than if you abolish the salary cap, then Angel City and Gotham
33:25
when Washington Spirit will be the three best teams and they'll
33:28
dominate. If these clubs don't start
33:30
paying the competitive salaries, just Chelsea, Lyon and Barcelona
33:33
are just going to keep getting better overseas in the chat
33:36
because they're they're trying to win the Champions League.
33:39
Absolutely. And they aren't facing those
33:40
same limitations, right? And they're in an arms race
33:43
against each other. So, you know, you look at 11
33:46
chess move is Germa to Chelsea for over a million.
33:50
And now you have Tarsiane to Lyon, the same position for just
33:54
under a million. It's hard not to see the move,
33:56
counter move nature of those two.
33:58
All the while, two massive talents plucked from the WSL.
34:02
So I mean, I don't have the answer.
34:06
Collective bargaining agreement, salary cap, you know, the
34:08
international slots, the allocation, you know, all of
34:10
that stuff is is those are the mechanics of it.
34:13
But I definitely, definitely do know that it just cannot be that
34:18
the grand perception is that the better football is played over
34:22
there. And if you want to play the best
34:23
football, you have to go over there.
34:25
Like that really does harm the league.
34:27
That is such a good point, and we can only lean on the we're
34:31
the most competitively league stuff until whatever the tipping
34:35
point is. Too many great, great,
34:38
recognizable worldwide players go over there because then you
34:42
can be the most competitive league in the world.
34:45
But if you're the most competitive league with a bunch
34:47
of, and I don't mean this in a disrespectful way, but a bunch
34:49
of players who are non marquee players just playing a bunch of
34:52
really competitive games, people still want to see the stars.
34:56
Yeah, 100%. And I think, you know, I don't
34:58
know, we like to cross sports here, but think about college
35:01
football. It's like, it looks like, okay,
35:02
Conference USA is the most competitive conference.
35:04
It's like, okay, sure, graceful. What do we do with that?
35:07
I don't know. Conference USA is a funny pull
35:10
in the context of this conversation also, by the way.
35:14
Thank you. I didn't put that second
35:16
connection together. You know, obviously I'm a brand
35:20
thinker, you know, So like the only thing that I could think
35:23
about was what can the league do to amplify the stories around,
35:29
let's say the finals and the semi final, You know, really
35:32
kind of like Super Bowl lies. You know, when you think about
35:34
the big game in the United States, you already know what
35:36
that is. When you think about the
35:37
tournament in the United States, you already know what that is,
35:40
you know? So how can the NWSL grab a
35:43
little bit of that? And it's already in a weird
35:45
position where you've got the shield and then the playoffs,
35:47
you know, so those are just the nature of physics are drawing
35:52
energy from each other, you know, and I'm not sure exactly
35:55
what that means, but the Champions League is such a draw,
35:57
you know, to be able to play in that massive stadium, all of
36:01
Europe watching, it's got the history from the men's, you
36:03
know, So like there's so much baked into it.
36:06
You know, it's always going to be attractive to top top level
36:10
players. But I think the danger is in
36:11
just kind of like the the other perception of like I've got to
36:15
I've got to switch up if I want to kind of take my career to the
36:18
next level. It's going to be a real issue.
36:20
I do want to shift gears a real quick the Crystal Dunn era in
36:24
Gotham. Well, obviously nice while we're
36:25
out the door. Yes, we Brian Lynn Biendolo now
36:28
Crystal Dunn is the latest of the the Gotham exodus.
36:33
I continue to think there has to be something a foul there.
36:37
What was your take when you saw Crystal Dunn decided, hey, I
36:39
need to move on? Yeah.
36:41
And the announcement being that she's moving on and she's
36:43
pursuing other opportunities. So I mean, I don't know if that
36:47
is just PR speak or nice speak for I want to go somewhere else.
36:51
And I, you know, I won't, I won't burn the bridge on the way
36:54
out, but I do want to make it clear I'm going somewhere else
36:58
because I want to go somewhere else.
37:00
I think you're right. It, it seems like this might be
37:03
one of those stories where a little comes out and then a
37:06
little more comes out and then eventually the dam breaks.
37:09
So, you know, you don't know what it is, whether it it it
37:12
might not be some dark nefarious thing.
37:14
The red flags have been raised, the alarm bells have sounded.
37:18
Something weird is going on. You know, you call it a the
37:22
Gotham exodus. There's just a lot of talent
37:25
walking out the door. I mean, this was, you know, the
37:28
US women's national team in the NWSL.
37:32
Or like, I forget how the way people were phrasing it for a
37:34
while. So when Crystal Dunn leaves, she
37:37
walks out the door with all the composure, all the respects, all
37:42
the accolades. Everybody knows when she who
37:44
walks in the locker room, you have a champion of champions
37:47
among you. Massive loss for Gotham on top
37:51
of the other big losses that they've that they've already
37:53
suffered. Yeah.
37:54
And, and it's not just on the pitch, right?
37:57
Like you look at these are 4 recognizable faces from the
38:00
national team, Yasmine Ryan, it's probably like the the most
38:03
recent, but broke through it in a big way.
38:05
So you're losing talent on the pitch.
38:08
And obviously there could be, there was some salary questions
38:11
as to how they were able to even amass that much talent, right
38:14
from a marketability standpoint. You know, you lose extremely
38:18
recognizable players that all were still contributing, you
38:21
know, at different levels, but all definitely contributing.
38:23
I think it definitely really hurts.
38:26
One other bit of personnel news that I wanted to hit.
38:28
Mal Swanson hasn't yet reported to Chicago.
38:30
I think as of today, there was a quote from Mal where she says
38:33
that I quote, I'd like to thank the club and fans for their
38:35
understanding during this time. I appreciate the kindness and
38:38
encouragement for my team mates and all the stars staff and I
38:40
hope to be back with the team and playing in front of our fans
38:42
as soon as I can. End Quote.
38:43
So that's encouraging, but also didn't report, you know, and
38:47
Chicago is like, you know, kind of had a little bit of a
38:50
middling season. All in all, I think you are
38:53
definitely on to something where there's so much more going on
38:56
behind the scenes. And I think that that that we
38:58
know, you know, and I think when you see these big players just
39:01
kind of move, especially after a year or maybe even less, you
39:05
think about like a Jessica Silva 2 makes your way to Gotham and
39:08
now has already basically signed her paperwork to to be on the
39:10
way out, you know, as a super short term, you know, kind of
39:13
rental. Yeah, a totally independent of
39:15
the NWSL versus the other leagues internationally, but
39:18
just within the league. They're clearly teams that are
39:21
doing it right. They're clearly teams are doing
39:23
it less right. And I think we're starting to
39:25
see that kind of they're out in some of these transfers.
39:27
Yeah, and you're, I think you're just gonna that's the nature of
39:30
of every pro sports league. So I think it's it's interesting
39:34
to monitor. I I wonder with Mel Swanson's
39:36
situation, she didn't report, but I think, I feel like her
39:39
quote would indicate that she plans to report.
39:42
Hopefully all is well there on the family front.
39:45
And you, like you said, you never know what's going on with
39:46
somebody. But hopefully, you know, we see
39:49
her back in in the jersey, no longer the Red Stars, the
39:52
Chicago Stars or pardon me, Chicago Stars FC.
39:55
Make sure you get it right. Nailed it.
39:58
Couple other moves. Let me know if any of these
40:01
caught your eye in any kind of way.
40:02
Messiah Bright traded to Houston.
40:04
Houston says 100K of interleague transfer funds to Angel City and
40:08
the transaction includes up to 50K in additional performance
40:11
based incentives. I'm interested to see that one.
40:13
I thought she she looked good in stretches for your Orlando Pride
40:17
the year before last. She never really hit her stride
40:20
with Angel City. I think that Messiah Bright is a
40:22
kind of player who she needs to be in a situation where you just
40:25
put her in at #9 and let her play, let her develop, see what
40:30
she has. She has good size.
40:31
She she has, she has a good ability to get into areas that
40:34
are dangerous. So I just want to see her play
40:37
more. I want her on the pitch more,
40:39
getting more opportunities. A. 100% Yeah, definitely,
40:42
definitely a Messiah Bright fan. Just making you make me laugh
40:45
when I remember when we were breaking down her original move
40:48
from Orlando to Angel City and I was kind of like, Oh yeah, I
40:51
think, I think she's from Lai. Think she's from California.
40:53
Look, she's from Texas. OK, so so that you know, that
40:57
Cape kind of gave full circle with with Messiah going back to
40:59
Houston. It does say here she's from
41:01
Dallas, but details, details, details.
41:04
A couple other moves. Tamwa, she extends through 2028.
41:07
Thompson sisters, they extend through 2028 as well to stay in
41:11
Angel City. Hannah Bedford signs with the
41:13
Courage for two years, with a mutual option for 2027 coming
41:16
over from the Utah Royals. Any of those moves?
41:20
Any notes on those? I think Bedford could be sneaky
41:23
for North Carolina Courage. I think it was like I I love
41:27
their offseason so far. Obviously there's not a lot to
41:30
dislike. I mean, obviously you lose
41:31
Ketaline, but you add Jaden Shaw, you add Narumi Mira, now
41:36
you add Hannah Bedford. It's hard to count out Shawn
41:38
Nehas and and everything that he's putting together over
41:41
there. Yeah, that makes sense.
41:42
I was just to the expected on goals guys, and they were
41:45
talking about Gotham kind of clearly having slipped from the
41:48
top four in the maybe the top of the league.
41:49
Looking more like a top three could open the door for a team
41:53
like the Courage. Some rumors, some some warmish
41:56
rumors too to contend with out in Europe, according to Angel
42:00
Perez from Mundo de Portivo. Angel reports that both Ingrid
42:04
Engen and Kira Walsh both want out of Barcelona, with Engen
42:09
linked to Lyon and Kira Walsh linked to Chelsea.
42:13
Yikes. I'll say if Barcelona lose those
42:17
two players, I think we are out of the hyperbole zone with
42:21
regard to saying I'm not sure that they're still top dog
42:24
because to me, Kyra Walsh is that worst.
42:27
Barcelona's third best player. I mean, people are going to say
42:30
Patiuello 10 days out of 10. I'd rather have Kyra Walsh than
42:33
Patiuello. But I love Patiuello's game.
42:35
She's a young player. She's going to improve quite a
42:37
bit. But I just think Kyra Walsh is
42:38
incredible. She's one of the, I don't know,
42:39
5 or 6 best players in the world.
42:41
Chelsea do not have a player like that.
42:43
It's also bumming me out that Kira Walsh was has been linked
42:46
to Arsenal forever and they have been able to close the deal.
42:49
If Kira Walsh goes to Chelsea, I mean, I think they at least
42:53
become the betting favorite for the Champions League.
42:56
I like it. That's a good, that's a good
42:58
take. If they get Kyra Walsh, then you
43:02
play Walsh and Cuthbert at the same time.
43:06
Do you? Are they, are they your double
43:08
pivot defensive midfielders? That would be pretty good.
43:11
Yeah. I mean, I feel like Cuthbert,
43:13
you know, roams a little bit farther up field, probably kind
43:16
of eats into like what Nuskin does a little bit.
43:19
They'd be, I mean. Deep at centre mid, yeah.
43:21
And I think just to kind of rewind back from an NWSL
43:24
standpoint, you can clearly see quite the gap, you know, with
43:28
like that much talent. I mean, because these are
43:30
players that shine on the international stage, they shine
43:33
in Europe, they shine in the Champions League.
43:35
And now they're all kind of like grouping onto this, onto this
43:38
Chelsea side, a little bit terrifying.
43:40
Yeah. I mean, I wonder how much of
43:41
that it's. It's even hard to say though,
43:43
because obviously Emma Hayes is so widely respected in world
43:48
football. I wonder what Sonia Bombast
43:50
store is kind of cooking over there.
43:52
I mean, clearly, or maybe, you know, let's posit this, let's be
43:55
the first podcast to throw this out there.
43:58
Maybe Emma Hayes is pushing Kyra Walsh to Chelsea also.
44:01
Maybe she's just, she's expanded her reach and now she's just out
44:05
here moving all the chess pieces to Chelsea.
44:08
Emma, you fooled us with this US women's national team
44:10
appointment. Now you're just taking over
44:12
world football and rigging the game for Chelsea.
44:14
Quite the elaborate ruse. And then for Barcelona, Kyra
44:18
Walsh, what do you do there? I don't know that they have the
44:21
player necessarily waiting in the wings that steps into that
44:23
role. Yeah, that would be interesting.
44:25
It would definitely be, you know, like you said, like you'd
44:27
be losing depth. But OK, so we think about their
44:30
midfielders. Yeah, obviously have Alexia, you
44:32
have Bone with T, you have Patri.
44:34
They list Kika of Nazareth as a midfielder.
44:37
I think she's more of an attacking focus player,
44:39
personally. Vicki Lopez, I think largely the
44:42
same. Hard to tell with Lopez, though,
44:44
because she's such a young player.
44:45
They probably, they put her in attacking spots.
44:47
Now, who's to say that she doesn't kind of develop, you
44:50
know, grow maybe into more of a midfield player.
44:52
But yeah, you know, you could always play CGH in the midfield,
44:55
too. I feel like you could kind of
44:56
drop her. And Claudia Pina is an option.
45:00
There are no shortage of good players.
45:01
But your point stands. I think there will be a lot of
45:04
questions to answer. But luckily we, I mean, we're
45:08
worldwide. We got homies who can answer
45:10
this question. So please, MLS, please jump into
45:14
jump into the YouTube comments. Anybody, all all the Barsa fans
45:17
who have been kind enough to support the show, let us know
45:20
what are we missing? What happens next?
45:22
Love that great call. One other rumor ish to hit Chloe
45:27
Kelly via her Instagram had some interesting things to say.
45:30
Did Chloe Kelly and I quote? A key lesson I've learned in my
45:33
life is that whilst I can't control someone's negative
45:35
behavior towards me, I can control how long I am prepared
45:39
to tolerate it. End Quote.
45:42
I don't like it, not that I, I, I don't, it's not that I don't
45:46
like that Chloe Kelly said it. I think she should be honest and
45:49
I think she should speak up if she feels like, you know, she is
45:52
experiencing that negative behavior toward her.
45:54
Her comments in that IG post would I think lead me to
45:58
believe. I don't think I'm jumping to any
45:59
big conclusions here, but her comments would lead me to
46:03
believe that perhaps the club is hesitant to approve a transfer
46:08
to Manchester United because they are obviously blood rivals
46:12
and and fighting for a Champions League spot.
46:14
I want to quote a wise man who once said this about players
46:18
transferring. This coach was asked about a
46:20
player transferring to a rival team and if he has ever stood in
46:23
the way of that in his time and during his managerial career.
46:27
He said quote never ever. I give my opinion to the club
46:30
and they decide if the transfer suits both sides and the player.
46:33
Why? I think that means you're a
46:35
small club, big clubs, they don't care.
46:38
They make decisions for the benefit of all three parties,
46:40
players and both clubs and agents sometimes and quote, I
46:44
love that you could write a book on the and agents.
46:47
Sometimes I want to hear all those stories, but I want to go
46:51
one more step here. This manager, this mystery
46:53
manager, you probably already know who it is, also went out to
46:56
say quote, so really it's not a problem.
46:58
They want to go to Chelsea or United or Liverpool, whatever,
47:01
what's the problem? They're happy to be there.
47:03
The club is happy with the transfer, the other club is
47:06
happy with the amount of money they spend.
47:08
It is fine. End Quote.
47:09
That is from 1. Joseph Guardiola, the manager of
47:14
the lesser known Manchester City team, the men's team.
47:16
So I am in fully support of that.
47:18
Obviously, you know, I'm a Pep guy, but in general if a player
47:21
wants a transfer and they are eyeing a certain club.
47:24
The other part of this though is that that other club has to pay
47:27
fair market value. If that other club is is willing
47:31
to pay fair market value, do the deal.
47:34
Don't worry about, Oh no, if I transfer Chloe Kelly over to
47:37
United, they're going to beat us for a Champions League spot.
47:39
Play the matches, trust yourself, trust your scouting.
47:42
Do what you got to do. Go win the games.
47:44
Yeah, 100% because I mean, if you think she could beat you,
47:46
then you don't let her out out the door to begin with, right?
47:49
Totally agree with that. All right, man, quick
47:51
programming reminder in the coming weeks, we'll continue to
47:53
track all 8 Champions League clubs across Europe.
47:56
They're all in action this weekend, kicking off Friday and
47:59
I think wrapping up, I think Friday, Saturday, Sunday,
48:01
Monday, we've got our 8 champions in teams in action
48:04
across all four of those days. Should be a great weekend.
48:07
We'll continue to track these personnel changes in the NWSL as
48:10
well as any big European moves as they happen.
48:12
And find a reminder February 7th, YouTube, your boys will be
48:15
live 11:00 AM Eastern, 8:00 AM. Pacific, immediately following
48:19
the UEFA Champions League quarterfinal draw.
48:20
Be sure to subscribe, mark your calendars for that.
48:22
Should be a ton of fun and you'll see what hit for.
48:25
I think we did it. I will say live, live production
48:28
meeting on the show. I realized once again, OK, so
48:32
we, we talked Chelsea, Arsenal, that's good.
48:34
That covers some things. We talked Aston Villa, City, we
48:37
talked the ITC Darby between Arsenal and Manchester City.
48:41
I don't know, are we, are we becoming too pigeonholed here or
48:44
do we need to expand to the other matches in the league?
48:47
I'll let you guys answer in the comments, but what do you think,
48:49
Do you know? I mean, I kind of like the track
48:52
of these Champions League clubs vibes.
48:54
And I think tangentially, you know, like a team like
48:56
Manchester United, you know, there's a Chloe Kelly
48:59
connection. They're now in second in the
49:00
league. So I think it's going to
49:02
naturally open the doors for what's happening across the
49:06
other leagues. I think Barcelona, they play
49:08
Levante this weekend, Leon's got Montpellier.
49:11
That'll be some good opportunities for us to check
49:12
out those two sides. Nice.
49:13
So I think you know, like keep our finger, as many fingers as
49:17
we can on as many pulses as we can to kind of try to keep up.
49:20
I like it and you just open the door for me to take a free shot.
49:23
Manchester United, if you'd like us to talk about you more, make
49:25
the Champions League. Easy peasy.
49:28
Well, be careful what you wish for.
49:30
All right, man, I think we did it.
49:31
It's been another percent of the channel.
49:33
Thank you, thank, thank you for watching, listening, following,
49:34
liking, subscribing, just playing, hanging out with your
49:37
boys. And remember, like if you liked,
49:39
subscribe or follow into the channel, YouTube, Spotify, Apple
49:41
podcast or wherever you like to watch or listen.
49:43
Leave us a review over your favorite podcast app.
49:45
Links to all of our socials in the show notes of this episode.
49:47
And I do mean all of our socials, Instagram, YouTube
49:49
threads, Blue sky, your boys are out here.
49:51
Connect with us. We love to hear from you.
49:53
And a big thank you Michael's as well, Mr. Grant Angle for, well,
49:56
he'll be an enemy this weekend, but for now, he's my guy.
50:00
I appreciate you bro. Up until likewise, buddy, up
50:03
until the point of the match. Then 90 minutes we don't speak.
50:06
That's fine. And then five days later, then
50:08
we have to take another 90 minutes of being enemies in the
50:10
League Cup. Totally fine.
50:12
I wish you good luck in all your other endeavors, but prepare to
50:15
be crushed. That's cool.
50:18
You got to have some more faith. You're making it less fun when
50:20
you don't, when you don't fight back a little bit.
50:22
I mean, come on. Like we lost two of our last
50:24
three WSL matches. Well, you know that I have to
50:27
swing wildly, you know, I mean, like, you know, last week we're,
50:31
we're taking the WSL and it started, started then with a big
50:35
gigantic win at, at Chelsea. And now it's, it's pretty much
50:38
over. You know how I'm with Leanne.
50:40
Let's just blow it all up. Leanne also, by the way,
50:45
mentioned that in jest that she she thought she would she would
50:49
have drawn a $5,000,000 transfer fee if.
50:52
Let's go, let's go. She's, of course.
50:55
A fucking course. Let's go.
50:57
Damn, if I had the 5 million, that's a.
50:59
That's a That's an easy check to sign.
51:00
No doubt shout out to the legend.
51:02
As always, great friend of the program Leanne Sanderson and
51:05
thank you to everybody else for checking us out.
51:07
We will talk to you all soon and we will see you next time.