Marc Skinner's Manchester United: Formation, style of play and key players
Tactical deep dives on all 12 Barclays Women's Super League sides from The Cutback and Football Manager
The Cutback has partnered with Football Manager to deliver a series of articles that go deeper on the tactics and gameplay of the world’s leading football management simulation game ahead of Football Manager 26’s release.
This year, women’s football features in Football Manager for the very first time, so to get fans ready for a brand new experience, The Cutback has put together the ultimate insights on FM26. Find out about the secrets of building FM26, dive into the tactical details of all 12 Barclays Women’s Super League sides and hear about the next gen talent that will feature in the game.
The next team to be profiled in this deep dives series is Manchester United.
Formation: Last season, Manchester United were primarily associated with a 4-3-3, balancing a holding midfielder with two more advanced options. However, this campaign has seen a subtle but important shift. With Grace Clinton departing and players like Jess Park and Julia Zigiotti Olme arriving, Marc Skinner has leaned more towards a 4-2-3-1 structure. In this setup, Ella Toone now functions as the central attacking midfielder, who pushes higher between the lines, while Zigiotti and Hinata Miyazawa form the double pivot. Within this pivot, Miyazawa tends to drop deepest, operating closer to the defensive line, making her role more akin to a deep-lying playmaker. Zigiotti, by contrast, has greater license to roam box-to-box, pressing higher when needed and supporting attacks.
This adjustment has given United a more balanced presence in midfield: Miyazawa secures the base, while Zigiotti adds drive and verticality, always maintaining midfield balance, as we saw in the opening game of the season against Leicester. The forward line is led by Elisabeth Terland, a target forward who holds up play, links with runners, and provides aerial dominance.
On the wings, there is a clear asymmetry. On the right, Park now operates as the regular starter, offering a far more creative and interior-oriented profile. Unlike Bizet, whose role last season leaned heavily on work rate and defensive coverage, Park plays almost as a hybrid right winger/attacking midfielder, constantly moving into the half-spaces to link with Toone and combine in tight areas. Her ability to receive between the lines, accelerate in short spaces and provide final-third creativity has quickly made her one of the team’s most influential players. She pairs with Jayde Riviere, the more aggressive of the two full-backs, who overlaps consistently and pushes high into the final third.
On the left, Melvine Malard plays as a more attacking inside forward, cutting inside and looking to score, but her side is balanced by Anna Sandberg, the slightly more conservative full-back, who provides more defensive cover. Fridolina Rolfö’s arrival adds further depth and a slightly different profile on this side. While not yet a consistent starter, she offers pace, direct running and strong attacking instincts from the left, allowing Skinner to rotate the role depending on opponent or game state.
This deliberate asymmetry allows United to maintain stability while still committing numbers forward. The opening 4–0 win over Leicester City illustrated this new balance: Toone pushed higher into the box, Terland pinned the back line, Riviere surged forward on the right with Bizet covering transitions, while Malard attacked more directly with Sandberg carefully timing her runs.
In possession: In the first buildup, the centre-backs spread wide, the goalkeeper offers herself as the central option, and Miyazawa drops in consistently to form the base of a 3+1 diamond. Her positioning ensures United retain control under pressure and stabilises transitions. Zigiotti, meanwhile, operates slightly higher, stepping forward to support more advanced combinations and only dropping deeper against more intense press.
The asymmetry between the flanks is evident. On the right, Riviere advances aggressively as more of a wing-back, often overlapping Park, who is more interior-focused. Park frequently drifts inside earlier in the action, enabling quicker vertical combinations. Her presence allows Riviere to time overlaps aggressively, knowing Park will occupy the half-space and act as a creative connector rather than a traditional touchline winger. On the left, Sandberg remains more conservative, still overlapping but slightly more cautious, like a classic fullback. This gives the left winger freedom to attack as an inside forward, cutting inside to link with teammates, to shoot from the edge of the box, or to box-crash.
When sustaining possession, the 4-2-3-1 often morphs into a 2-4-3-1, with full-backs high on one side, Miyazawa sitting alone in front of the centre-backs, Zigiotti pushing higher as a linking midfielder, and Toone floating between lines. The attacking midfielder’s quick combinations and vertical instincts are crucial: they are both the conductor and the runner breaking into the penalty area. One key mechanism is the weak-side runner. As play develops on one flank, the opposite winger darts inside behind the defence, with Toone (or Park if employed centrally) looking to release them with a through ball. Against Leicester, both Malard and Terland benefited from this pattern, timing their inside runs very effectively. Despite these strengths, last season United still lacked a natural deep-lying playmaker who dictates tempo. Their buildup was most effective when played quickly; if slowed, they risk becoming predictable, circulating harmlessly outside the block. Zigiotti’s mobility and box-to-box presence might help offset this, especially as she is more used to operate in deeper areas during the first buildup. Toone remains the main creative fulcrum, tasked with ensuring vertical progression and providing creativity around the edge of the box. But in these sustained-possession phases, Park often becomes an auxiliary No.10, joining Toone in the central lane and giving United dual playmakers between the lines. This has improved the team’s ability to break compact blocks and create spatial rotations in the right half-space.
The emphasis on quick vertical combinations, short passing links and immediate occupation of advanced zones gives their approach the hallmarks of a vertical tiki-taka style, prioritising fast progression over slow circulation.
Out of possession: Last season, United emerged as one of the league’s stingiest defences, blending compactness with intensity. Their standard out-of-possession shape is a 4-4-1-1 or 4-2-3-1, with the wingers often dropping in line with the midfield. Zigiotti and Miyazawa shield the defence as a double pivot, their contrasting roles complementing one another: Miyazawa offers control through positioning, indirect challenges and interceptions, while Zigiotti offers more physicality in direct duels and tackles. The different profiling and defensive workrate of the wingers was generally adequate last season, especially with players like Celin Bizet providing strong defensive coverage on the right and compensating for more attack-minded profiles such as Malard on the opposite flank. This year, with Park now operating as the regular right-sided option, the picture has shifted slightly: she offers less continuous defensive volume than Bizet but compensates with sharper counterpressing and quicker reactions in short spaces, helping United close central routes immediately after possession is lost.
However, the contrast between winger profiles can still become problematic against stronger opposition, particularly in defensive transitions. The end of last season offered two clear examples: the 3–0 FA Cup final defeat to Chelsea, where United’s flanks were repeatedly exposed, and the 4–3 loss to Arsenal, where transitional weaknesses were punished despite United’s attacking output. The addition of Rolfö does, however, provide a potential solution on the left, as her experience operating both as a winger and as an auxiliary full-back gives United a more defensively reliable wide option when additional coverage is required, like in United’s recent 2-1 win against PSG.
Against these stronger sides, the midfield stays slightly more compact, with the pivot focusing on closing central access. Against weaker opposition, Toone joins Terland higher up more, creating a 4-4-2 press that applies immediate pressure on centre-backs and the opposition’s deep playmaker. The pressing scheme is nonetheless assertive regardless of the opponent: Bizet often pushes up alongside Terland, forcing opponents into crowded central areas, with the intent to trap inside the opposition and apply immediate aggression. A calculated risk in this system is the centre-backs stepping high to aid counterpressing and challenge forwards even when they drop deep. This anticipatory defending disrupts opposition buildup but leaves space in behind. The 3-1 defeat at Liverpool highlighted vulnerabilities when opponents overload central areas with narrow structures, pulling defenders like Turner higher and opening channels for direct balls.
Key players:
Ella Toone – Toone embodies United’s identity. She thrives in the attacking midfield slot, dictating tempo in the final third, combining with wide players, and timing her runs into the box. Her long-range shooting remains one of her trademark weapons, often providing a solution when United struggle to break compact blocks. Both a creator and finisher, she always showcases her ability to influence multiple phases and always steps up in big moments.
Jess Park – Park has rapidly become one of United’s most decisive attacking figures. Operating primarily from the right but constantly drifting inside, she acts as a creative fulcrum in tight spaces, linking midfield and attack with quick combinations. Her low centre of gravity, acceleration over short distances and refined technique allow her to excel in half-space play, while her long-range shooting and timed arrivals into the box make her a dual creator-finisher threat. Crucially, Park’s versatility gives Skinner multiple structural options: she can function as a pure No.10 in a more central build-up, or even as an advanced No.8 when United shift into a midfield-heavy shape.
Phallon Tullis-Joyce – Tullis-Joyce has been integral to United’s league-best defensive record of last season. Her shot-stopping ability is among the finest in the WSL, consistently saving more than expected goals suggest. She is comfortable going long, often launching directly to Terland, fitting Skinner’s preference for vertical transitions. Although the whole defensive line has been commendable, the American international really added the cherry on top and was a driving force in United’s third-place finish.
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