More Skinner backlash and United's attacking struggles exposed at Kingsmeadow
An away trip to Chelsea emphasised the season-long issue Manchester United are having in front of goal.
On Sunday, Manchester United lost their first game of the 2024-25 season with a 1-0 defeat to WSL leaders Chelsea at Kingsmeadow stadium. The winning goal was a penalty, scored by Guro Reiten in the first half.
A 1-0 defeat away to the team that many would argue is the best in the country right now could be seen as a closely fought game and not an awful result. This isn’t how many United fans have viewed it with frustrations rising once again.
Slow first half
For the first time since United entered the WSL, they failed to register a single shot in the first half of a game. United have started a lot of games in the WSL this season with little attacking intent.
In half of the games United have played in the WSL so far this season, they have registered three or fewer attempts in the first half: two shots (0 on target) vs. Aston Villa in the first half, three shots (two on target) vs. Arsenal, three shots (one on target) vs Everton.
In each of these games, it has been a different attacking outfit starting. This indicates a lack of attacking creativity may be coming from the tactical setup of the team.
After the Chelsea game, United captain Maya Le Tisser spoke about how the team “did the game plan the whole game.” The “game plan” was United opting for a more counter-attacking approach.
This in itself is a tactic that can work against Chelsea - as United saw success in the FA Cup semi-final win over them in April earlier in the year, however, it didn’t work out that way this time.
Skinner won’t be a stranger to criticism surrounding some of his post-match comments over his tenure at Manchester United.
The Chelsea defeat was no different, with an online backlash sparking after Skinner said: “We came here and we gave everything. Even though we took a defeat, I'm really happy with that performance.”
After seeing this quote, fans have started to question the standards of the club if that level of performance is one to be very happy with.
United only managed three shots in the whole game, with only one of those being on target, generating an XG of 0.2, while Chelsea managed an XG of 2.1 [per FBRef].
“It's not a defensive mentality, but you have to have a defensive mentality when you're playing against top teams. Games are too much now to just go attack attack attack,” Skinner added.
While this does have an element of truth, other WSL teams, such as Spurs, Liverpool, and Aston Villa, have all shown more attacking impetus against Chelsea despite being lower in the table.
Is this Skinner’s way of admitting this United team can’t go toe-to-toe with Chelsea?
If this is the case, this shows another level of disconnect between the management and United fans, with many feeling this current squad is the best on paper we’ve seen in Manchester.
So, why can’t this team compete on the attacking side against better sides? Many fans again would point towards the manager and coaching staff.
Poor performances all season
Just looking at the results, United now have one win in their last five WSL games.
However, performances across the board in the WSL, for the most part, have been somewhat underwhelming with most attacking stat metrics when compared to last season (after the first eight matches).
Goals per match - 1.4 (24-25) — 1.9 (23-24)
Shots on target per match - 4.5 (24-25) — 5.7 (23-24)
Average possession - 46.8% (24-25) — 57.3% (23-24)
Accurate passes per match - 300.6 (24-25) — 416.1 l(23-24)
[All stats FBRef]
While not every game is going to be full out attack and goals galore, there is an expectation with Manchester United that you will see the team playing on the front foot.
United must have more attacking intent and aggression. Both are things Skinner has spoken about wanting to have in his team, but we aren’t seeing this translate onto the pitch.
For now, United sits fifth in the WSL table. One point away from a place in the top three, which will be the target for the club this season. So, results in isolation aren’t far off from where they will want to finish.
Football is a results-driven business, however, fans want to be entertained and I would struggle to find many United fans who can say they’ve been entertained watching many games this season.
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What says everything is Chelsea had more problems dealing with the wind than with United. It's oddly like the men's team last season where I look at how this team's playing - and it feels they should actually be lower in the table.
He is tactically inept how he is still in a job only ineos can answer that and at the moment they are consumed with the men’s team but now is the time to show skinner the door before he further alienates the fans and also more players which he does on a regular basis