Man Utd reaping rewards of improved squad depth after flying WSL start

The biggest thing that held Manchester United back last season is the same thing that has been their biggest improvement so far this season: squad depth.

United cruised to a 4-0 win over Brighton on Sunday to win their first three games of a WSL season for the first time. They have scored 10 times over those three wins, are yet to concede, and have scored seven times in the first halves of their two home games alone.

It could have been a challenge for United to take Brighton apart in the manner they did to Reading last month. The notable absentee from the squad was Alessia Russo, ruled out through injury and not yet fit enough to return – she could be back at the end of the month.

• Man Utd 4-0 Brighton: Player ratings - WSL

But even without Russo, United started the match with an international calibre striker in Nikita Parris. They were able to bring other international players in Martha Thomas and Adriana Leon later in the game. Leon even scored her first goal in a red shirt.

“As good as our players were last year, we didn’t have that depth in terms of an ability for different ways to score goals,” Skinner reflected after the game.

“Congratulations to Adriana on her first goal today because it’s a great finish, predatory instinct as well. It’s all credit to her. Rachel [Williams] came in today, Nikita started. Martha came in. We need that depth because we’re going to need different ways to score goals this year.”

As good as United have been so far in 2022/23 – Skinner has previously remarked that they need to be ‘exceptional’ to finally finish in the WSL top three and qualifying for the Champions League – there has been a slight difference between first half and second half performances.

At home there has perhaps understandably been an inclination to drop off when leading so handsomely at half-time – that wasn’t there on the road against West Ham when it was still 0-0 at the interval and it was obvious there was second half work to do.

The self-confessed ‘perfectionist’ in Skinner wants more consistency over the whole 90 minutes. It may not be that important now, but against the WSL’s toughest sides it could be key.

“The first halves [at home this season] have been exceptional,” he went on to explain after the final whistle at Leigh Sports Village, where United have now won nine WSL home games on the spin.

“Second half, I still want more from our team to be able to control the game. I felt that we wanted to score more goals, which is great, but we need to know that a team that conceded three in the first half is probably going to make that more difficult by banking up in their half.”

Brighton did change formation at half-time which brought them more into the game after being so out of it in the first half. But United eventually regained control before scoring a fourth.

“Once we weathered that storm, we got control of the game again and should have scored more. First half, exceptional. Second half, little moments where we were exceptional but I want to keep pushing that consistency,” Skinner said.

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