OTB Football
THE COYGIG POD Ep. 166 | WSL Returns! | O'Sullivan rumours | Man City's strengths | Off The Ball
14 Jan 2026
Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
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The Coigig Pod on Off the Ball in association with Cadbury, official snack partner of the Republic of Ireland Women's National Team. Hi everyone and welcome to another episode of the CoyGig podcast. My name is Scarlet Heron and today I'm joined by Karen Duggan. We're going to talk about the latest transfer news and obviously the WSL returned after the Christmas and New Year break.
So Karen, what's the crack? How is your Christmas and New Year?
Even lovelier to not have to head back into a pre-season after it and stay indoors unlike you. How is the weather in Scotland?
They're actually not too bad. The sunshine at the minute, we've had a few cold spells since coming back, but to be honest, it's the same as home. So it's nothing that I'm not really used to. But yeah, I mean... Have you turned into a glove wearer? No, never. That is, I will never be a skins wearer or a glove wearer. No, it's not my style. So still braving.
You wouldn't be allowed back in Monaghan if you did, is it? No, no, not at all. But yeah, still braving the shorts and t-shirts so far. But yeah, I mean, a lot of transfer news at home as well in the league. There's lots of movings this time of year.
Too much movement, too much movement, some might say. Don't know if I should get into it too deeply because I could get upset. And we want to start 2026 on a positive note.
Very fair, very fair.
Well, we can go into the big one, though, I guess we should talk about is Athlone's transfer news and the fact that they've one of their first. They've had a couple of a big transfer to WSL2.
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Chapter 2: What is the latest on the WSL after the winter break?
Great to see her get a few minutes for Palace. And then we have a few other bits of transfer news. Spurs are doing quite well. They have a few Scandinavians brought in. Martin Ho, who obviously was a brand for a number of years, has brought in a few reinforcements. And then obviously Mike Armando as well from Chelsea coming on loan.
And then we have a bit of a... We had a rumour a bit closer to home about Denise O'Sullivan possibly heading to Liverpool to help out Gareth Taylor's struggling side.
Yeah, and look, I think everyone knew in the lead up to the January transfer window that Liverpool were really struggling and that they would need reinforcements. It doesn't look like there's a huge amount of backing financially in terms of buying players in. So looking at loan moves, especially from Liverpool,
from America would seem like a clever move for Liverpool to go down and obviously you're not going to get much better than Denise O'Sullivan if that is something that she is interested in but also they're in such a tight spot at the minute it would be a very tough environment to go into I'd imagine but
Maybe that freshness and the fact that she hasn't been, you know, around the kind of heaviness that the club has endured in recent times. Maybe she could kind of spur them on a little bit in the dressing room. We know what a leader she is for Man United or for Ireland. And perhaps she could be that for Liverpool. They do need some sort of catalyst.
I think Gary Taylor was speaking again after their goalless draw yesterday. this weekend just about not being able to punish teams and not being able to get the end product get those goals when they really really need to obviously they've been conceding as well but
you know they need to start putting a bit of end product together and yeah it's going to take new players because at the moment they just they're too light you look at the bench like they had a load of kids on it before Christmas so so they need to do something hopefully they can in the transfer window because you can see that everyone is like shoulders to the grind they're doing their best but it's just it's not quite clicking yet and it's just so tight down there at the bottom of the league whoever does invest and it might just take one player to make the difference
Yeah, and if Denise was to make a move to the WSL, do you reckon that she is better than a Liverpool side to come into and play?
I think so. But at the same time, we know that Denise is, you know, she's based in America. That's her home team. That's the team that she captains. That is and has to be her main focus. This would be a project for her. So it's a different type of project. Obviously, there's no relegation in America. It would be a new challenge for her. And some people have that mindset where they would
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Chapter 3: What are the significant transfer news updates in the WSL?
And it hasn't affected her performances for England. You know, she's very much been a mainstay in that team. So now that she's done that, she probably is coming back and kind of saying, right, the WSL, the growth team. And that's partly due to what the England national team have done. But the growth there continues to be in the WSL compared to a lot of other leagues.
And she obviously is still young. She has ambition. Arsenal are always going to be competing. This year, it seems like a bit of a stretch, but also it will be a great move for Arsenal because as much as we would like it, Kim Little can't play forever. So there might be kind of thoughts of,
a transition there just in that midfield area we haven't quite seen someone who is ready to take over from Kim Little yet but if you get someone with you know a couple of Euros under their belt that would be a pretty good start for Arsenal if that's the way they're thinking it would be a good signing for you know any of the WSL teams to be fair but in terms of style of play I do think Arsenal would be a good fit for
Yeah, definitely. And I think we've seen that at the weekend, just with their sort of possession-based football, like she'd fit right in. You see that with England all the time, just controlling that midfield area for Ciara Walsh usually. So yeah, I mean, this game, I'm sure you were watching it, a draw with United, a bit of a...
a dull affair and Arsenal obviously had had all the momentum as it's kind of summed up their season so far as you know all the momentum all the possession and just can't seem to put the ball in the net and fall into this choice but I think probably yeah match performance um but Arsenal just you know they keep trying and knocking on the door and United to be fair we've talked about their defensive record just stood proud and went down to 10 men and saw it out
Yeah, they did. I mean, we're all looking forward to this game because we're looking at that fight for Champions League and how that's going to go. Obviously, Arsenal are pipping that at the moment because United, you know, United now before this game had two draws, one win, two losses.
not in a great run of form so for United especially going to play her down that is absolutely a point gained and when you consider the possession stats and it's mad like you're right in saying it was a bit of a dull affair Arsenal had you know if you look at the stats they had 25
shots but a lot of them really came to nothing they were six on target and you could probably pick out like you say Tullis Joyce she probably did two or three really good saves but when you have that many shots and your shots on target and your conversion rate is not matching up there is something wrong and obviously Renee Slaggers after the match she was happy that they're having more shots but
they she was saying that they need to work on their belief and like striker is it's a tough position usually it is um the most confident player on the team that does play up front but maybe that's just telling that there is a lack of confidence there um at the minute you know we saw caldente you know swiping at things that she never usually would you know she's usually so composed um obviously rusa worked really really hard but um
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Chapter 4: How could Denise O'Sullivan impact Liverpool's performance?
There'd be a big fat fine for that, I think.
Yeah, no, I think that worship's fine anyway, but just when you think you were dead, it can't get any worse if you want to bring your new sign-in on.
And even the penalty was harsh, like everything went against them. The first and second goals were just one misfortunate, one terrible, and then the penalty, you know, If it was a 2-0 loss, you take that as West Ham. You kind of say, oh, there's something to work from here, the same way Everton did against Man City.
But 5-0, that's when you're in a relegation battle and you're off the back of a tough 2025. That's not how you want to start your year.
yeah especially for a new manager coming in as well but speaking of bad days Ashley Neville did not have the best debut Ashley Neville has been at Tottenham Hotspur for probably as long as she can remember made the move over the Christmas period to Leicester and on her debut for Leicester playing her old club she scored the only goal of the match but unfortunately it looks like she forgot what team she was on because she scored an own goal and they lost 1-0 so
Yeah, I mean, it was it was one of those corners. It's a difficult one to deal with. It was Suman whipped a ball into the front post, but there wasn't a huge amount of pressure on from Spurs across the front post. It was I think it was miscommunication between the keeper and her or the communication coming too late and you're kind of half in the air and.
you you had just you can't go back then um which is a pity for Leicester because I thought they they were pretty bright at times I thought um on the counter-attack mailing was was good um uh O'Brien got up well and Mushan was bright for them but yeah um
when like that when things aren't going for you they're just not going for you but Spurs yeah it's just it's a win under their belt and the fact that they're ahead of United they're breathing down Arsenal's neck they won't really care that it wasn't an A plus performance from them they've got like you said earlier Hamano in now like that's that's a big one they've done well in the transfer window they're showing ambition there so
I wouldn't bet against them just because I do feel like this is a different Spurs to what we've seen before I think there's a lot more resolve in them they're not as headless and gung-ho and all out attack that they've got a bit more balance this year obviously I'm hoping for United that that's not the case and they've got a harder run of games but three points straight back at the start of 2026 to get up into fourth they'll be very very happy
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