2023/24 Women's Super League Season Preview

In this issue: Grading the transfer window | State of the team | Predicting the starting XI | Narratives across the league | Bonus predictions!

The Women's Super League season begins this weekend, and Spurs Women have been readying for the new campaign. This preview will prepare you for all the WSL action ahead!

I'm using the same format as my Men's Premier League preview with both Spurs-centric and league-wide topics, so grab a beverage of your choice, sit back, and get ready for another exciting WSL season—hopefully with 100% less relegation scrap.

Grading the transfer window

The WSL transfer window closed on September 14, with Spurs making two deadline-day signings in addition to three permanent signings and one incoming loan completed earlier in the window. Two players went on outgoing loans as well. These moves came after seven departures at the beginning of the window, including two retirements.

My score out of 10: 6

There are a few positives and negatives to weigh when assessing Spurs Women's summer transfer business.

The positives:

• prioritized peak-age players for permanent signings

• identified promising young players for loans

• made key additions to the spine of the team

The negatives:

• didn't replace all of the outgoings

• lacked a true marquee signing to keep up with investment by other clubs

• left the squad a little lopsided across the formation in terms of depth

While I think that our transfer business was mostly adequate, I still worry that we haven't kept pace with the teams around us in the WSL pecking order (some of whom had very strong recruitment) and certainly didn't do enough to make an immediate leap toward challenging the top clubs.

Keep in mind that the new manager, Robert Vilahamn, wasn't appointed until July 7 and no incoming transfers were made until after that announcement. The World Cup also delayed some of the final transfer decisions until the tournament was complete.

It's also worth noting that as fans, we were unable to view any of the pre-season matches this season. So everything I'm about to say comes with the massive caveat that I haven't actually seen any of these players play in a Spurs shirt yet, and can only go off what I know about them from their time at their previous clubs and with their international teams.

The first signing of the summer and the player I'm most excited about is Luana Bühler, a Swiss centerback who primarily plays on the right side of a CB pairing or back-3, but can also fill in at right fullback. I think she will provide some much-needed impetus in our backline when it comes to contributing to the attack. She's very comfortable on the ball and a proactive ball-winner as well. We got to see some glimpses of what she can do at the World Cup, though her tournament game time was limited by a knock. Bühler will provide a link between the defense and the midfield which was sorely lacking last season.

I wish there was another defensive signing to talk about, but unfortunately, there is not. The left fullback depth chart is very slim at the moment, and in fact, the only players who can reasonably play at that position—at least until any January reinforcement—are two players who generally prefer to play on the right side (Asmita Ale and Ashleigh Neville, the latter of whom is arguably better utilized in the attack) and a midfielder (Angharad James, who appeared to play at LB in the pre-season friendlies). Not ideal, to say the least! A common complaint last season was not being able to put players in their best positions due to injuries and lack of depth, and that could be a recurring issue this season, especially in defense.

The next signing was a loan player, Grace Clinton. She joins us for the season from Manchester United. She's a bit of a utility player in the attack, able to play across the forward line or even as a 10. She showed a lot of promise on her previous loan last season at now-promoted Bristol City, so expect her to get a decent amount of minutes at Spurs as we also aim to grow as a team.

Olga Ahtinen was the next permanent signing. She's an experienced box-to-box midfielder who likes to get involved in the attack and is comfortable on the ball. We've needed to add better passing to the squad, so Ahtinen's technical ability will be a big asset. However, it's unclear if she'll be comfortable (or willing) to take on the defensive midfielder role that has been vacant since Maéva Clemaron left the club last summer. The lack of a player in this role was a big reason our defense became more of a liability than the strength it was in the previous season.

We undoubtedly needed to recruit another keeper since Tinni Korpela left at the end of her contract, but out of all the available players on the keeper market, the player we landed on was not even on my radar. Barbora Votíková is a Czech international who joins us from PSG. Her tenure at that club was marred by a long injury absence, so it's difficult to say what kind of form she'll be in to start the season. That creates an interesting dilemma, because our other senior keeper, Becky Spencer, has just come off an incredibly strong campaign in the World Cup with Jamaica. Spencer seemed to fall out of favor last season but definitely made an argument to be given a new chance at the starting role because of her recent international form. Either way, I hope that one of the keepers is able to nail down first-keeper status so we don't have to see a repeat of the last two seasons, wherein Spencer and Korpela shared the game load evenly. Some stability between the sticks would be beneficial for the backline, too.

Then on deadline day, we made two signings: one permanent and one loan. Martha Thomas joins us from Manchester United on a permanent contract, although in the short term, she is the clear injury replacement for Beth England. She had limited game time at United but features regularly for her national team, Scotland. I don't think there's any real chance that she provides true competition for the starting striker role once England returns from injury, but Thomas is decent (if not thrilling) depth for the forward line. Speaking of depth in the attack, Zhang Linyan is on a season-long loan to provide an additional option on the wing. She featured in the World Cup for China and is a very promising young player. Unfortunately, she won't join us straight away because she's currently competing in the Asian Games.

So again, perfectly decent signings, but most of them aren't going to truly move the needle for Spurs. Most of the departing players weren't going to either, to be fair, although I think it's a serious mistake not to bring in a like-for-like replacement for Kerys Harrop at leftback. Sending Lenna Gunning-Williams out on loan made sense for her development since she had only just signed her first professional contract, but I wonder if Nikola Karczewska will benefit that much from a year at a mid-table Frauen Bundesliga team rather than learning the new Spurs system under Vilahamn.

State of the team

Now let's take a look at the remaining squad in conjunction with the new transfers.

I touched on the goalkeeper situation already, but the only other thing to note is that young keeper Eleanor Heeps appears to be sticking around with the first team after a couple of loans in recent seasons that didn't seem to go very well. I doubt she will see much if any game time unless it's in the cups, so presumably it's for the benefit of training with the senior team and learning from Spencer and Votíková's example.

Although Shelina Zadorsky signed a contract extension for a further year at Spurs, expect her to be replaced in the starting XI with Bühler. I think Bühler and Molly Bartrip will make for a strong CB partnership, even if the fullback situation is up in the air. We don't know if Amy Turner is carrying an injury, but she didn't feature in the pre-season friendlies. There's also a bit of a wild card with young player Gracie Pearse staying with the team rather than going out on another loan. She could be an option at either centerback or right fullback. Otherwise, expect to see Neville and Ale getting the majority of starts on the flanks.

The midfield feels pretty well stocked, albeit skewing more towards the attacking side. I'm excited for Ria Percival to get a full season in after missing most of the last campaign with her ACL recovery. She's quite a versatile player and could be a solution to the lack of a true defensive midfielder. Side note: Drew Spence scored a beautiful free kick for Jamaica in their last game, so can she please do that for Spurs, too? Eveliina Summanen became quite a goal-scoring threat for us at the tail end of last season, so expect that to continue. And then there's the mysterious Ramona Petzelberger...

In the attack, where the majority of our new signings will feature, we also have some exciting young wingers in Jess Naz and Celin Bizet, as well as Ellie Brazil, who missed the majority of last season after an early ACL injury. Kit Graham has already returned from her own ACL recovery and looked good in her appearances at the end of last season. She brings creativity and boundless energy to Spurs' attack. Rosella Ayane also returns after signing a two-year contract extension, which is probably a year too long in my opinion—but hopefully she can build on the upward trend in her form at the end of last season. I wish I could say she had a strong World Cup with Morocco (who did shock everyone by getting out of their group), but she did not.

Now let's all light a prayer candle for Beth England's swift recovery. It's never a good situation to be without your squad's best player to start the season, and that is doubly true now that she is the new captain. In case you missed it, her vice captains are Ahtinen and Bartrip, worthy choices—if somewhat surprising in the newcomer's case.

All we really have to go off from the pre-season results are, well, the results. We only conceded one goal, which is great, but we didn't score a single goal ourselves against WSL opposition. From the match reports shared by the club, it sounds like we did create a lot of opportunities at least, and just lacked clinical finishing. Again: get well soon, Beth. I suppose we can consider it somewhat reassuring that we held our own against some teams that I would safely say had better transfer windows than we did.

If I had to make a prediction about where Spurs Women will finish in the table this season, I would say 6th. This is partially me trying to temper my natural optimism because of how frankly disappointing last season was, but it's also just being realistic. I don't think we did enough in the transfer window to gain an edge over teams like Aston Villa and the Manchester teams, to say nothing of perennial contenders Chelsea and Arsenal. But we should (key word: should) be better than six other teams, at least on paper. We're going to need a big boost from the new manager and a new style of play to ensure that theoretical advantage becomes real.

Overall, I just hope morale stays high and we create a solid foundation to build upon into next season—at which point Vilahamn has stated he wants the team to be beginning to challenge for Champions League qualification. That's a big leap, so the team will need to buckle down this season and prove that we belong in the upper half of the WSL table. Perhaps another marquee January signing could aid us in that quest.

And hey, maybe we can go on a cheeky cup run? That's less likely in the League Cup, where Arsenal got dropped into our group at the last minute due to crashing out of the Champions League in the qualifiers, but there's always the FA Cup.

Predicting the starting XI

It's all but impossible to predict lineups for the Women's team since we never get proper information about injuries, but I will do my best with the info (and some speculation) that we have. This starting XI also has a touch of wishful thinking to it, full disclosure.

Here are my picks for matchday 1 against Chelsea:

Much as I would personally prefer Spencer to start in goal, I just have a gut feeling Votíková will get the nod, especially since Spencer is coming off mid-week travel from Canada.

It pains me to not include Summanen in the starting XI, but at the same time, she has the potential to be a game-changer off the bench.

I could easily see Clinton getting a start either in place of Graham or Naz, but Vilahamn may prefer the experience of the latter two for the opening match against such a difficult opponent—the most difficult in the league, let's be honest.

Who would y'all have in your starting XI? And who would be your first player off the bench? It's Summanen for me, as mentioned above, but I'm also excited to see Clinton and Zhang in action.

Narratives across the league

For the final section, let's take a look at some of the other teams in the WSL and the key storylines for the 2023/24 season.

Are Manchester City getting left behind?

After falling out of the Champions League qualification berth last season, it's a legitimate question. And you can't even make the argument that not being in European competition will help them focus on the league, because they were knocked out in the qualifiers last season and the lighter schedule didn't help them secure a top-3 finish. It also didn't help them win a domestic cup.

You'd think their disappointing season would have been a wake-up call, but they only made one incoming transfer this summer—one! To be fair, it's Jill Roord, who is certainly a quality player. But still. Manager Gareth Taylor usually fails to fully utilize his squad to begin with, though, so I guess the lack of new recruitment might be a moot point.

City stagnating leaves an opening for a new challenger to enter the race for the coveted Champions League qualification spots. Which brings me to...

Aston Villa are (almost certainly) the real deal

Carla Ward's management has revolutionized Aston Villa's prospects, alongside some of the savviest transfer recruitment in the league. Building on their key additions of Rachel Daly, Kenza Dali, Lucy Staniforth, and Jordan Nobbs, they have now brought in Daphen van Domselaar, Lucy Parker, Ebony Salmon, and Adriana Leon, in addition to converting Kirsty Hanson and Anna Patten's loans from last season in permanent contracts.

This team just makes me green with envy, I'll be honest. They have been ambitious where we have been pragmatic, and it shows in our diverging paths.

Aston Villa did finish a full 10 points behind Manchester City last season, but I would bet on them to bridge the gap thanks to their transfer business.

Can Bristol City avoid immediate relegation back to the Championship?

The short answer: probably not.

The long answer is that they simply don't have the squad to compete with the majority of WSL teams, despite being so dominant at the top of the Championship last season.

However! West Ham and Everton will probably give them enough hope to think they could just scrape safety. Both teams had pretty mixed transfer windows and have weakened considerably compared to their squads last season. I would hate to see Rehanne Skinner get drawn into a relegation battle again with her new club (West Ham), but there's a high likelihood it's going to happen. Hopefully she learned some valuable lessons from going through that stress with Spurs.

Fresh talent from the World Cup

Unlike Spurs, who largely recruited before or from outside of the global tournament (Zhang being the exception), many teams across the WSL used the World Cup as an opportunity to scout exciting new players.

The big one is, of course, Golden Boot winner Hinata Miyazawa, who signed with Manchester United. They also brought in Brazilian forward Geyse, formerly of Barcelona.

Arsenal signed several impressive players off their World Cup performances, including Amanda Ilestedt, Kyra Cooney-Cross, and Laia Codina.

Even West Ham got in on the action, signing Riko Ueki of Japan. Spurs faced her last summer at the Women's Cup when she was with Tokyo Verdy Beleza, so we will be well aware of her attacking threat.

I will end this preview with my one spicy hot take, which is that Rachel Daly is going to repeat for the Golden Boot. I would not have made this prediction if Beth England was fit to start the season though, for the record.

Even though I'm trying to protect my heart and not get too hopeful about how Spurs Women's season is going to go, I'm still excited to see how it all plays out!

If you want even more Spurs Women 2023/24 season preview content, check out these podcast episodes from N17 Women and Hometown Glory:

Let's all get behind the team!

COYS

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