Arsenal’s Kim Little and Leah Williamson have been selected for Hege Riise’s Team GB squad at this summer’s Olympic games, however, Gunners stars Beth Mead and Jordan Nobbs have not made the squad of 18.
This is the first time that Team GB will have a women’s football team at the games since London were hosts in 2012. Players from England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are eligible for a squad of 18.
Scottish midfielder Kim Little makes the cut- Kim was part of the squad in 2012- as does Arsenal defender Leah Williamson. Leah’s versatility, given that she can play in defence and midfield, were key to her selection. Gunners defender Lotte Wubben-Moy is on the standby list.
However, Jordan Nobbs and Beth Mead are surprise exclusions. Mead was highly valued by previous coach Phil Neville but did not make Hege Riise’s first England squad earlier this year with Riise citing underwhelming scouting reports. Mead has since fought her way back into the England squad, with a reduced number of 18, she has been omitted from the list for Tokyo.
Nobbs is an even more surprising exclusion from the squad though a positional change has probably cost her. Nobbs has played in central midfield for the majority of her career but spent all of last season playing as a wide forward, a position where Team GB has plenty of depth. The availability of Scotland duo Caroline Weir and Kim Little has bolstered Riise’s midfield options.
Other Arsenal players expected to play at this summer’s Olympics are Australians Steph Catley, Caitlin Foord and Lydia Williams, as well as Dutch striker Vivianne Miedema. Danielle van de Donk will also be selected for Netherlands but she is likely to leave the club this summer. New recruit Mana Iwabuchi will also form part of the Japan squad. Anna Patten hasn’t been selected for Team GB while Jen Beattie was not available to Hege Riise due to a back problem while Lisa Evans has been managing an achilles issue.
This Jordan from the wide was always going to end here. It is class from Arsenal that we made our most loyal player in the last 10 years miss out one of the biggest tournaments in her career, because we did “tactics”. It wasn’t worth it for Arsenal, it wasn’t worth it for her and in the irony of things players Arsenal prefered to her, left us in the first oportunity they got. Good to see loyalty rewarded.
Yup. I feel so bad for her.
I know we’re all biased and all, and I’m sure it’s a hell of a job to make these decisions, but I don’t have a good feeling with Hege. Partly she’s just going for players that are assumed to be there like Millie Bright (who I’m not a huge fan of), Karen Bardsley and Jill Scott. But then suddenly she’s like Jordan who? Beth not making the squad of 18 (which is very little!) isn’t too surprising, but leaving her right out of a squad because her stats were bad…. like she hasn’t seen how she’s made an impact on… Read more »
I don’t think you are wrong. With the exception of Meado’s omission this squad has Phil Neville mentality written all over it. Forget current form just pick the established names from City and Chelsea. Maybe I am a grumpy old git but am I the only one who sees the stupidity in attracting tens of thousands of the world’s elite sports(wo)men and their entourages to a country which is still struggling to control a Covid pandemic? I would think that if these games were being held in a European country they would either be postponed again or cancelled altogether by… Read more »
Two defeats and a draw isn’t exactly a great start, either.
Jill Scott’s inclusion raised my eyebrows. I know she’s experienced…but so is most of the squad!
England didn’t improve under Phil Neville and I can’t see that changing.
I can’t give you 10 thumbs up for this comment but I fully concur!
Being Dutch I might also be a bit biased towards Sarina, but I see them as the favorites to win the Euros. There will be plenty of players keen on showing what they’re worth to her, including Jordan and Beth. Sarina will definitely get the fire back into that squad.
Let’s hope so they have gone backwards in the last few seasons.
Houghton and Bright are the weak spot of this team, IMO.
JM might have gone, but, make no mistake Jordan’s exclusion from the GB squad is down to him playing her out of position the whole season.
I think this is probably true but I think there’s a good chance Riise leaves her out anyway. This is a very, very safe, conservative squad. Riise is, imo, a manager that under indexes players that take shots and make chances and I think it will show in Tokyo too. I expect this team to go out in the group stages- maybe they can get through as one of the best third placed teams.
The problem of Joe’s use of Jordan aside, as far as Riise is concerned she is just doing the minimum required. Team GB, as far as I can see it’s Man city with just a few addons which should be coming home fairly quickly.
It is IMO disturbing that Riise shows no enthusiasm with regard to team selection.
Sooner we can get our players back the better to get a decent pre-season in with the new tactical genius Edu and Vinai are about to appoint!
Unfortunately, we might have to wait until after the final for what’s left of our Dutch contingent.
Have Little, Weir or Fishlock played any matches with the group from the England NT yet? I didn’t think they had–and if not, how do you pick a Team GB when you haven’t seen the candidate players from Scotland/Wales playing with the English group? (If I’m wrong, nevermind!) I think leaving Fishlock out of the squad might be Riise’s biggest mistake. Scott is a good, experienced player–but Fishlock, at her best, is special. Isn’t Scott a holding mid? I think Fishlock is more box-to-box and maybe that was a factor. I think Monte struggled to figure out Arsenal’s best 10… Read more »
Fishlock was not picked.
Let’s celebrate our captain and potential future captain being included firstly 🙂 Of course it’s a great shame for Beth + Jordan but this was not unexpected. Lotte being selected as a Reserve is a pleasant surprise & probably to her too. Agree with Marieke that no way should Jill Scott be included nor KB. I also feel Bright can be unreliable. Georgia is an exciting pick but obviously an excessive amount of City players are in the squad – I wouldn’t have selected Ingle, White or Parris, but Meado, Cuthbert & Toone instead. And our Kim is the clear… Read more »
Couldn’t see them winning the Euros with that squad never mind a competition open to the whole world! Five or six years ago they may have had a better chance but in 2021???
I am aware this is a GB team but there are so few non-English in it what’s the difference?
You may (or may not) be right Peter – but I’ve seen online commentators on YouTube say that Kim Little is the missing link in the English team. And Caroline is also special, much more effective than Keira or Sophie – so let’s not write them off so early & cheer them on in July 🙂
On recruitment, how about trying to poach Cuthbert, who must be pinpointing her exclusion to lack of games….and we do need a striker!
We need a manager first so that we know what sort of football the team will be expected to play. Joe left saying he had created an “Arsenal way” but as we have seen that only works for a percentage of the games. The new incumbant must have different tactical ideas for at least some of the games i.e. the tougher ones and will need to determine which areas of the squad need strengthening. With Jill gone, DvD going and who knows what Malin will be doing but she certainly will not be playing we only have 3 midfielders so… Read more »
Makes me laugh that Riise is today saying that picking the GB squad was the toughest decision she has had to make. Yeah right! Selecting 11 Man City players, 2 Scots and a token Welsh player out of 18 is pretty tricky. GB are not playing Norway at any point in the tournament, are they?
Have they accidentally published the 2012 squad list by mistake?
Difficult to be optimistic about this squad’s chances. I’m still looking for improvements from the Phil Neville era. Kim’s there, of course, and I do like what I’ve seen recently of Lauren Hemp. But still lacking a quality left back and a pair of centre backs who are either vulnerable to top-class attackers (Millie Bright) or with their best days behind them (Steph Houghton). I’ve been trying to understand the structure of the Olympic competition; it looks like three groups of four with winners and runners up, plus the two best third-place teams going through to the quarter finals. Team… Read more »