Manchester United Women boss Marc Skinner has admitted that Dominique Janssen is in a race against time to be fully fit and available for Saturday’s FA Cup meeting with Wolves.
United are set to take on Wolves at New Bucks Head in the fifth round of the competition.
Janssen, who has been a key player for United this season, managed 65 minutes of action in last Sunday’s 1-0 win over Tottenham Hotspur before she was taken off with an apparent injury.
Simi Awujo replaced her and saw out the rest of the game.
Ahead of the visit to Wolves, Skinner sat down with club media and said about Janssen, “We get an assessment today. So I think it was actually a physical knock, so hopefully it’s maybe a bit of bruising or something we can see.”
“I’ll update when we find out later today.”
On the impact Janssen has made to the team since her arrival in the summer from Wolfsburg, Skinner remarked, “I think Dom does so much of the hard work that nobody sees.”
“I think I’ve said this two or three times and what I hope is that people watch her game differently, and they don’t watch it just for what she does on the ball.”
“They watch for how much of the ground she covers. Watch how many times she makes the opponent turn away from playing forwards because she’s already in a blocking position, a screening position, and then she’s pressing.”
“And I think that’s a really important part, because what it does is then, it pushes them back the defensive line and we can press again. It’s those details that I want people to start watching, because I think she’s added so much quality to our team. I think that’s another reason why we are the way we are now.”
United are undoubtedly the favourites over Wolves. However, Skinner has urged his players not to be complacent as the hosts may spring a surprise.
“I think we say it’s ours because we’re the holders, but actually, there’s going to be a lot of other teams that want to take that from us for themselves. So I think that gives you that added incentive, that added energy, but we also want to represent our fans and the club. We’ve got a tough challenge, I know.”
“You know Wolves might be two tiers down, but actually, you know, they’ll try and make it a cauldron-based affair, I’m sure. And they’ll try and get the energy of their fans going.”
“We have to be at our very best, I have no doubt about that. That’s the challenge I have for our players and for our staff going into this game.”
Wolves vs. United kicks off at 17:15 GMT.
Featured image Ben Roberts Photo via Getty Images
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Derick Kinoti
Derick Kinoti is a football writer at The Peoples Person who has covered Manchester United and the game extensively for many years. He is a keen analyst with expertise in SEO and journalism standards. Derick is convinced Wayne Rooney is the true GOAT and won’t hear otherwise!
