‘I feel we have better tools now’ – New-look Manchester United excites Skinner

Manchester United head coach Marc Skinner believes that his new-look side are better equipped to deal with the Barclays Women’s Super League’s challenges this season.

After ending the 2022/2023 season as runners-up, The Red Devils were only able to record a fifth-place finish last season. The focus this term will be to compete for a higher league ranking and to perform more consistently.

Manchester United have lost the services of the likes of Lucía García, Katie Zelem and Mary Earps over the summer, however, the club have made some exciting additions with six new faces coming in so far. When commenting on his squad in a Barclays Women’s Super League media event, Manchester United boss Skinner said that he has a more complete group this year and that he is excited to lead the team into the new campaign.

“It definitely feels fresh,” Skinner said. “I think you can feel my energy when I talk about them. I get excited about my team and what I know we can do. I feel we have better tools now in our players to deal with situations than last year.

“I want to be better in those big games. I class the Liverpool games as big games and we lost both of them on set-pieces. 

“I feel energetic and refreshed. I feel the team is the same but different. We still have the same identity of Manchester United, we still have the same core and values but we’re different. We have a young group, they say you don’t win things with kids but I hope I can say at the end of the season that we can. More importantly, I’ve been at Manchester United for three years and I feel I can take us further with this group. We’re not there yet, we have more to do and it’s going to be difficult. I have the utmost respect for every coach and team in this league. We have a never say die attitude of a Manchester United team and that’s what we’re looking towards.”

Skinner went on to discuss the club’s summer transfer business in detail. He explained the reasons why the new signings were brought to the club whilst issuing a reminder about the injured players that Manchester United will have available again this season.

“I just think we’ve got more variants in terms of what we can do with the team,” he said. 

“We lost Zel [Katie Zelem], we lost Mary [Earps], two big characters but Dominique [Janssen] has come in who is just an incredible player and an incredible character as well. 

“We’ve changed our tact this year, we are looking for young and hungry but we have to balance that with experience.

“Bringing Simi [Awujo] in, we wanted to adapt our midfield, move our midfield line so that we can be more mobile. I look at Anna [Sandberg]; if you remember, early last season we lost Gabby [George] and we didn’t have the balance of a left-footed left-back. Something as simple as being able to play the ball down the line for an invading run we couldn’t do, so teams could lock us on that side. We went into the market for Anna Sandberg who is an incredibly young talented player with a great mentality. 

“Elisabeth Terland is probably one of the most gifted finishers I’ve come across in the game, Melvine [Malard] came back and Grace [Clinton], Emma [Watson], Gabby [George], Jess Simpson coming back are like new signings.”

Former Brighton & Hove Albion forward Terland could really catch the eye for Manchester United this season. She netted 13 goals in 22 Barclays Women’s Super League outings for her former club last season and Skinner is confident that the player could make an even greater impact in the opposition box in 2024/2025.

He said “We were looking for that goalscorer that we could rely on to get goals if we feed her and give her that opportunity. We create lots of chances, so we wanted someone in the box. Even in pre-season, in the games that we’ve played, she’s scored goals in the box and she’s ruthless.

“Even after scoring 13 league goals last year, she agrees that she could’ve had a lot more. There are still things that she wants to work on in her game and I see a real hunger. Young and hungry, it’s how you have to be.

“Last year, we finished fifth and we didn’t want to finish fifth but we also won an FA Cup, added the first trophy domestically in the top tier. We created history but we needed to evolve, we needed to do something different and I feel that we are striking a balance this year between young and hungry and experience.”

Manchester United kick-off the new Barclays Women’s Super League season with a fixture against West Ham United at Old Trafford on Saturday 21 September 2024. Tickets for that match are on-sale now and can be purchased by clicking here.