Aston Villa is climbing for WSL security, but how did this come to this?

The full -time whistle blended and the Ebano salmon Ruggì.

The Aston Villa wing deserved the output show. His performance in the 2-1 victory of the Super League (WSL) of Villa against Liverpool was clear and bladder when necessary. And villa needed it.

It was Salmon’s shot in the 89th minute that bounced the Liverpool defender Jenna Clark and moved away beyond goalkeeper Rachel Leads, putting an end to a sad series of six subsequent defeats of the League and presenting the coach head Natalia Arroyo with the first points of his mandate since he joined in January.

The last two parts to suffer from many consecutive defeats in the same season were Bristol City in May 2024 (nine) and reading in May 2023 (six). Both have been relegated.

So Salmon Ruggì and pumped his fist towards the skies.

That villa is even mentioned in the same phrase of relegation scrap, not to mention the active attempt to escape one, it would have been a unfathomable forecast at the beginning of this season. Guided by the former Engini Rachel Day striker, this team ranked seventh in the world for the overall transfer expenditure in 2024, above Manchester United and Manchester City. They concluded the 2022-23 season in the fifth and last season in seventh place.

A huge three points 😍 pic.twitter.com/zjhmtvduaq

– Aston Villa Women (@avwfcoffial) March 30, 2025

Yet this was the existence of Villa for most of the season, a state of incredulous escape for a team that should, on paper, fight in the high end of the WSL.

Arroyo was appointed in January after the dismissal of Robert de Pauw, the Dutchman who left Villa stopped a point above the relegation point after nine games in charge. Six games in Arroyo’s mandate, the existence had not changed and the Spaniard admitted last weekend after the 4-0 defeat of Villa against Manchester United that she and the team feared what could happen if the results had not gone on their journey.

And while Liverpool opened the markings in the second half, Marie Hobinger moves on to convert her penalty, that fear seemed to be debilitated.

It was a goal that, as regards miniatures for the seasons, was cruelly lucid.

Noelle Maritz beats a terrible passage to Missy Bo Kearns …

… and Liverpool’s Ceri Holland has launched himself duly, the midfielder followed a tangle of frenetic legs of the villa who tried and, finally, he cannot express a mistake that came from a corner of the villa.

“Noelle (Maritz) was telling me, the first thing when I was trying to hug her and celebrate, that she was sorry,” Haroyo said at full time.

“He didn’t want to do this step. But probably the whole season was a bit like that. We have to accept it. We really have to focus on every action, every detail. We have to fight for this, but I like the reaction. After an error, what do you do after this? Reacting, trying to solve the problem. This is the only thing we can control. Today we could celebrate.”

The change of managers in rapid succession and the relegation threat made it laborious to incorporate a philosophy. In the same way, the signing of a brilliant talent does not equate to assemble it and the eight summer purchases of Villa, including the record of the club that sign Gabi Nunes of Levante, are still struggling to make fun of their synergy.

Against Liverpool, the spaces between the players were sometimes amazing and protruding, the connections an unknown cacophony that got up.

But the goal of Villa Conceded tells a wider story. As shows the graphic designer of objectives (XG) below, Villa started to grant more possibilities at the end of last season, has started badly the new season and has since fought to turn on their attack.

However, in general, things were not much worse than last season and Villa was enormously performing to both ends of the field.

The quality of the shots on the target that have granted estimates that the average team would bring about 29.5 goals this season. Villa has actually granted 36 (excluding its objectives), the largest performance of the division. Likewise, they generated 20.2 xg and scored 18, also the largest negative difference in the League.

Salmon’s goal was his first since November 2024, when Villa defeated the rivals of relegation Crystal Palace 3-2. Villa has worked to produce in the last third this season, ranking 12th (fund of the WSL) for great possibilities created (19), although they are ranked first for great possibilities (47.4 percent).

The loss of Kenza Dali, who left for the wave of San Diego della Nwsl in January, was evident while Villa worked to carve out the clear possibilities against Liverpool.

While Villa was deserved winners for their response to go to goal, they were also lucky. Liverpool was unable to make more possibilities in the box and put Olivia Smith forward was not put aside with a slight injury of the hip, perhaps they could have been punished. But the fight against Liverpool has been encouraging, if not a reminder of the quality that this team possesses.

“In recent weeks, we have felt as if we were fighting, fighting and never getting anything,” said Arroyo. “Today, after their goal, it seems the same. But the face we showed today was fantastic. Of course, the situation is bad. We are trying to build a villa for the future that has to do with our present. The pressure will still be there because the work is not done. We still need other points.

“But we have to rely on this identity. We are talking about the type of pillar we want to be and the pillar that we are building is a pillar that must be aggressive, which must compete until the last second of the game, to go through the difficult moments of the game.”

(Photo above: Jan Kruger/Getty Images)