“Almost telepathic”: Skinner identifies exciting new partnership which propelled United Women to 4-0 demolition

Manchester United Women manager Marc Skinner was delighted with his team’s 4-0 win over Leicester City in the opening match of the Women’s Super League season.

United ran out 4-0 winners in a dominant display, with Ella Toone, Elisabeth Terland and Melvine Malard all finding the back of the net.

Speaking to the club’s official website, Skinner gave his views on the match.

Better than expected

Commenting on his side’s fast start where they were 2-0 up in the first 25 minutes he said, “really good, really professional. The start of a tough week for us. The quality, the play today is almost quicker than it should be right away. So the girls have hit the ground running and a really solid performance.”

Skinner also claimed that his side really should have added more goals to their total of four which is “really pleasing and another clean sheet which we love here. All in all, a really good day and the only problem was the rain.”

Knockout advantage

Skinner also highlighted that his side had an advantage owing to the two knockout Champions League games they have already played against PSV Eindhoven and Hammarby.

He added, “we spoke about using it as our competitive advantage. We have played two knockout games already while everyone else has just played friendlies.”

Skinner elaborated, “for us it is important that we got the high energy we wanted out of the first half. We didn’t really know about Leicester with all the changes they have had, so I thought the girls adapted really really well.”

Telepathic midfield

The manager also praised his new signing Julia Zigiotti and her performance alongside Hinata Miyazawa in the middle of the park.

He stated, “they work off each other so well, almost telepathic at times. You saw when we introduced Jess (Park) as well, her and Tooney interact well together. Jess has played for a structured club where what we want to do is try and create a little bit more freedom, so with that freedom we can rotate and be more fluid, so I think you saw that in full effect today and that looked really exciting for our fans today.”

The head coach then looked forward to United’s huge tie away to SK Brann in the Champions League on Thursday.

He claimed that it was great that his strikers are “firing early” and this will help “settle” them ahead of a vitally important season for the club.

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