Over the course of the next three months, United will face some huge fixtures and extremely demanding weeks. The middle of November stands out, when Paris Saint-Germain’s trip to Old Trafford is followed four days later by the first Manchester derby of the season. Just for good measure, United will then travel to Germany to face two-time Champions League winners Wolfsburg three days after that.
But it’s not just the games with the big names that are important. All of these two-game weeks are vital if United want to progress in Europe and challenge in the WSL, with them needing to bring their top level every few days in order to get the results needed to do so. It’s a schedule that only a well-built squad can manage and, unfortunately, it’s hard to say that United have that at this moment.
Over the course of the next three months, United will face some huge fixtures and extremely demanding weeks. The middle of November stands out, when Paris Saint-Germain’s trip to Old Trafford is followed four days later by the first Manchester derby of the season. Just for good measure, United will then travel to Germany to face two-time Champions League winners Wolfsburg three days after that.
But it’s not just the games with the big names that are important. All of these two-game weeks are vital if United want to progress in Europe and challenge in the WSL, with them needing to bring their top level every few days in order to get the results needed to do so. It’s a schedule that only a well-built squad can manage and, unfortunately, it’s hard to say that United have that at this moment.
Last week, when the Red Devils travelled to Merseyside to take on Liverpool, they had just five players on their bench, one of whom was a goalkeeper. It wasn’t a one-off, either. Through the early weeks of the new season, United’s list of substitutes has been bereft of experience, with there only one occasion on which they’ve been able to name more than four senior outfield players to their bench. In the early rounds of Champions League qualifying, they had to make do with just two.
“I think Man Utd have let the women’s team down this year,” Carla Ward, the Ireland manager, said while on punditry for Sky Sports for the clash with Liverpool. “There’s an opportunity to bring more bodies in. They’re in the Champions League, they’re playing across all competitions. That’s such a small bench. It’s a thin bench.”
A key issue has been injuries. United have been hit with a lot of small niggles and knocks through the early weeks of the new campaign, meaning 10 senior players have already spent time on the sidelines, at various points. That’s significantly more than any other side in the WSL and especially more than their rivals for the top spots.
However, those situations have only served to highlight the lack of depth in this United squad, particularly as they prepare to make their debut in the Women’s Champions League proper.
Let’s take Chelsea as an example for comparison. It’s not an entirely fair one, it must be said, because the Blues have one of the biggest squads in all of Europe and that is why they have been one of the continent’s premier clubs over the last five years, as well as the dominant force in England. But, in other ways, it is also a good yardstick, given this is the team that has set the bar for everyone else to reach in the WSL.
On Sunday, Chelsea travelled to West Ham without Lauren James, Lucy Bronze, Naomi Girma, Mayra Ramirez, Niamh Charles and Kadeisha Buchanan. Yet, their bench was still full, with eight of the nine players senior internationals. Mara Alber, the talented 20-year-old German signed from Hoffenheim this summer, was the only exception.
United, meanwhile, had five names missing at the weekend and yet, that reduced their bench to one of five names, including a goalkeeper. Both of these teams will face off on Friday and then be in Champions League action in midweek. Both have ambitions of fighting on four fronts. Yet, only one feels set-up to do so.
Even Manchester City, who are not in Europe this year, were able to name a nine-player strong bench for their clash with London City Lionesses last Sunday, despite missing all of Lauren Hemp, Kerolin, Iman Beney and Lily Murphy. Seven were senior players in City’s first team and five of them were senior internationals.
United boss Marc Skinner has had his fair share of criticism since taking charge of the team back in 2021. Some of it has been justified, some of it has not. This, though, is not his doing. Throughout the summer, Skinner made it clear that he felt he needed more recruits, especially if his team made it through Champions League qualifying. “We then have to maintain two high level games per week,” he noted, a few days before the transfer window shut. “We’re probably going to need a couple more senior players to make sure that we have that balance week in, week out.”
Skinner’s belief was that they needed another two players, particularly in the forward areas. However, the only business United did before the window closed saw them let Grace Clinton go while adding Jess Park, thus not improving the depth of the squad. That it came with Clinton saying “the future of the club and I aren’t on the same page” in her farewell message will have left fans disappointed with the club, while Skinner’s comments that they weren’t able to compete with the likes of Chelsea, Arsenal and London City Lionesses, who all surpassed the £1 million mark with transfer fees in the summer, will have surely been disheartening too, given the stature of a club like Man Utd.
It’s even more frustrating for the supporters because the business that was done in the market was brilliant. Julia Zigiotti Olme has added a whole new dimension to the midfield and been superb since her arrival from Bayern Munich; Fridolina Rolfo is a two-time Champions League winner and a genuine game-changer in attack, as well as a versatile option who can cover at left-back if necessary; while Park is another who has made a fast start to life on the red side of Manchester, following her switch from rivals City.
There’s been nothing wrong with the actual signings made by the club. It’s just that they haven’t done enough over the summer to put the team in a strong position ahead of their first proper Champions League campaign. That’s especially the case in the back line, where injury to Millie Turner has left Maya Le Tissier as United’s only natural centre-back option right now, while players had to adapt to fill in at right-back when Jayde Riviere, the only natural option there, was sidelined.
It has been no surprise to see fans trying to get their message across to the club in home games, the latest of which was a goalless draw with Arsenal. As the Gunners flexed their depth by introducing subs like Beth Mead and Chloe Kelly, United held firm to get a point just a few days after securing their place in the UWCL league phase with victory over Brann. As the players did a lap of the pitch at full-time, thanking the fans for their support, a group in the main stand held up a simple but effective banner that has become a recurring sight in Leigh. ‘Invest in Man Utd Women’, it read, in plain black lettering on a white sheet.
In terms of signings, that investment will now have to wait until January. “I’m going to stress, I think in the winter window, we need to add to the squad,” Skinner had said three days prior. “I think we need a bigger squad. But I can’t do anything about it right now so my focus is making sure I’ve picked the right team at the right time, with the right changes.” It’s something he has said time and time again since the window closed.
But January may be too late. All of United’s games in the Champions League league phase will come before Christmas, as does Friday’s clash at home to Chelsea and a trip to Man City. Can the Red Devils get injured players back and manage this schedule with this squad, to the extent that they can still be in a competitive position in the WSL and the Champions League in the New Year? They have quality, that’s for sure, but it’s hard to look at the depth of this team right now and believe it can cope with the demands of a schedule it has worked so hard to get.
