Manchester United blew past Championship side Durham on Sunday with a 5-0 win to progress into the Vitality Women's FA Cup quarter finals. Albeit being a slow start during the first half, the second half made up for the lack of action in the first 45.
Vilde Boe Risa finally unlocked the Wildcats just before half-time with a faultless free kick that soared right into the top corner. With the upper hand, United went on to punish the visitors throughout the second half as Leah Galton, Hannah Blundell, Alessia Russo and Nikita Parris all hit the target.
Messages ahead of games are Manager Marc Skinner's forte, and today he revealed the conversations he had with the players ahead of kick-off: “Before the game, I wanted them to think about what it feels like when they’re at their happiest. So forget football, human feeds the footballer, right? So I asked them ‘what are you like at your best?’ as a reflection question [without an answer].
“I then asked them ‘how do you feel when you’re at your best’ and again I didn't mean in football and the final question was ‘can we be present in between the whistles?’"
While pressed to be in the moment, United's flow when getting forward was malfunctioning. The Reds found themselves offside nine times in the 90 minutes, Lucia Garcia, Martha Thomas and Leah Galton were all struggling especially with Durham’s defensive set-up being so deep.
Skinner added: “We said [at the break] that the pitch isn't giving us the fluidity of two-touch play, it's giving us a three-touch play game so you have to have a touch then a settle touch, then play [the ball].
“We were moving on the first touch and so we’re offside loads of times so we asked them at half time to move on the second touch and once they did that, Leah [Galton] runs behind and we score the goal.”
United’s five goals came from five different plays and scenarios, again, highlighting the creative capabilities and technical ruthlessness Skinner’s side can be in the attacking third. He said: “Every team we’re playing at the minute is deep blocking, so we have to find a way.
“I know in training Vilde [Boe Risa] likes to practise free kicks so I think her and [Katie] Zelem had a conversation and decided it was her range and it’s a wonderful free kick and Alessia’s [Russo] header was a good goal as well.”
He continued, “You can only do the job on the day, and we did the job today. But, we just have to keep progressing. There were parts of the performance today that were a little bit sticky and needed to be a bit cleaner so we will work on that, but we’re happy to be in the next round.”
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