Here’s a team of the week for Matchday 15, comprising the games played on the 2nd and 3rd of March 2024. A quiet week on many fronts, borderline formulaic in some ways, but that just allowed each mighty roar within that much louder.
GK: Mary Earps (Manchester United)
LB: Steph Catley (Arsenal)
CB: Millie Turner (Manchester United)
CB: Nathalie Björn (Chelsea)
RB: Emma Koivisto (Liverpool)
LM: Nikita Parris (Manchester United)
CM: Fuka Nagano (Liverpool)
CM: Victoria Pelova (Arsenal)
RM: Johanna Rytting Kaneryd (Chelsea)
CAM: Viviane Asseyi (West Ham United)
ST: Mayra Ramirez (Chelsea)
I’m sure Manchester United have played better and had no players in this eleven but in what proved to be an offbeat week of play, stranger things have happened. Millie Turner was queen of the press in their draw with West Ham, a strategy that Nikita Parris has benefitted from all season, looking a different player to last time out. Mary Earps may well be suffering from the England-number-one syndrome where it seems as if she has to save three penalties and score a goal to have a good game, and it is easy to forget how frighteningly good the top stopper is — she proved once more against West Ham, and though Earps and her fellow Red Devils might be disappointed with a draw, they can’t be too upset ‘cos when you come up against a repositioned Viviane Asseyi, you should thank your lucky stars for any number of points. Mackenzie Arnold and Katie Zelem shone through that game too, but were ultimately kept out.
Three Chelsea players make it in here too, and three goalscorers at that. Nathalie Björn has strolled into this team like she never wasn’t there, and Mayra Ramirez has filled the Sam Kerr-shaped hole just as seamlessly. There can look like a slight lack of star-power in this Chelsea side at the moment, what with a few recoveries still progressing, and maybe a fear-factor that was once rampant ain’t so present, but if they’re looking for one of these players to fill that role, Johanna Rytting Kaneryd is that player. She continues to grow exponentially, and she looked positively fearless against The Foxes. Jelena Čanković is a Chelsea player unlucky to miss out, and on the opposite side, Leicester’s Jutta Rantala is an absolute revelation this season.
Manchester City kept pace in the title race against Everton and though neither side have a player in the eleven thanks in part to a strangely stilted game, The Citizens can throw a round of applause the way of Leila Ouahabi and Jess Park. There’s also no players from the stand-out game of the week between Bristol City and Brighton, but just as the game did, Brighton’s Pauline Bremer, Katie Robinson, Vicky Losada, and Elisabeth Terland stood out, along with Bristol City’s Ffion Morgan — a constant driving force in the relegation candidate’s ranks.
That leaves two more teams that lost (Aston Villa and Tottenham) who have a player each to mention (Kirsty Hanson and Kit Graham, respectively) along with two more teams that won (Arsenal and Liverpool) who have a few players each to mention (Beth Mead, who has come back like her injury never occurred, and a Liverpool trio of Jasmine Matthews, Grace Fisk, and Mia Enderby). But both victorious sides can count a brace of players in the eleven with Arsenal putting forth the ever-vibrant Steph Catley alongside the calm and creative force of Victoria Pelova, while Liverpool send up ‘The Marauder’ Emma Koivisto and master and commander Fuka Nagano — four players that said in this kind of isolation make up one helluva terrifying team.
In a weird week it could have been difficult to isolate a Player Of The Week, but thanks to Johanna’s statement of intent, Rytting Kaneryd takes the crown this time out. For Goal Of The Week, five attempts sprung to mind, those being Nathalie Björn’s intervening lob (not winning due to a clearance error), Lauren Hemp’s smooth stroke into the corner, Hanna Bennison’s pinpoint consolation, Megan Connolly’s free-kick, and Viviane Asseyi’s chip. Of those five (four)… I think it’s gotta go to Bennison. In what has been a tough season for The Toffees, the young Swedish international has oft been a bright spark and strikes like this one are a reason why.
Keep it streets ahead,
C.L.R.
