WSL talking points: Beard remembered as ‘incredible human’ on sombre weekend | OneFootball

Reid’s star rises as Arsenal hold firm

Katie Reid impressed again as she helped Arsenal keep a clean sheet against a Manchester United side that had scored nine times in their opening two league games. The 18-year-old centre-back has stepped up to the starting XI in the absence of the injured Leah Williamson. “She’s really good,” said the Arsenal manager, Renée Slegers. “She has a growth mindset, so she always wants to learn and wants to get better. But doing those things in your safe environment [at] training where everything is isolated, that’s something; coming out into the Women’s Super League and doing that on such a high level against top opposition, top players, I’m just so impressed with her. We knew that she could do this and this is the type of player she is.” TG

Match report: Manchester United 0-0 Arsenal

Jeglertz spoiled for choice as City kick on

Manchester City’s 5-1 dismantling of Tottenham on showed just how much depth Andrée Jeglertz has at his disposal. The loss of Lauren Hemp to an ankle injury in the first half would have been a huge blow to any side, but City’s strength in their forward line was on full show. Kerolin came on and put in a player of the match performance alongside the impressive Aoba Fujino, who opened the scoring. The visitors outclassed their opponents, fashioning 25 chances with 10 on target. City had five players on the scoresheet, illustrating how they can cope even when Bunny Shaw is misfiring. Grace Clinton, a deadline-day signing, made her mark with a goal and assist in a 25-minute debut. Martin Ho, the Spurs manager, cut a frustrated figure as his side wilted under the pressure, a bump back to earth after an impressive opening two wins. SD

Beever-Jones extends Chelsea’s perfect start

Sonia Bompastor described Aggie Beever-Jones as a “complete player” after the 22-year-old added to her goalscoring account against Leicester. Beever-Jones maintained Chelsea’s 100% WSL record with a close-range strike in the seventh minute. It proved to be decisive, with Chelsea clinching a 1-0 win at Kingsmeadow. The head coach said: “Confidence is the crucial factor for Aggie. She has a lot of quality; I already said that from last season. As an individual player, she has a lot of quality: out of possession, but also on the ball she can run in from behind. She’s a complete player and confident to score. It’s great for us and the team.” EH

Kafaji begins to weave her magic at Brighton

Rosa Kafaji has not had the easiest time settling into life in England since her move from BK Häcken in the summer of 2024. After a year on the sidelines at Arsenal, a loan move to Brighton was intended to kickstart her WSL career. If Sunday’s performance against West Ham is anything to go by, it is working. The 22-year-old announced herself to the home fans at Crawley with a performance that illustrated exactly what she can bring to the team. Her instinctive give-and-go to set up Kiko Seike for Brighton’s second goal showed relationships are starting to develop. It was Kafaji’s audacious finish for Brighton’s third, however, that fully displayed her quality. Brighton won 4-1, leaving West Ham yet to register a point. SD

Sørensen calls for courage as Everton lose again

Everton were beaten for a second time in a row at Goodison Park, succumbing 2-1 to London City Lionesses, but their manager, Brian Sørensen, believes his team simply need more time to gel. “Last year all the teams we played, they never adapted to us; I could predict their lineup and know what shape they were playing,”he said. “Now we are seeing they are adapting much more to us, so they are changing their shape – that’s why we tried to mix it up. It’s just [building] that confidence in the way we want to play. You need to have more courage and be more bold. I’m very confident it will come and, with the squad we have, it’s about growing and learning.” TG

Clubs and fans honour Beard’s memory

Aston Villa’s home match with Liverpool was postponed on Sunday after the death of Matt Beard. WSL clubs paid tribute before the three games that did go ahead with a minute’s silence. Fans also gave a round of applause in the 47th minute in memory of the 47-year-old. Chelsea and Leicester came together with a floral tribute before their game at Kingsmeadow, while Marc Skinner provided a touching message before Manchester United’s match against Arsenal. “Beardy is an incredible human. He has and will continue to leave a legacy in our game,” he said. “It’s a very sad day but there’s some solace in knowing that his memory will always live on.” EH

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