Marc Skinner: United Women boss reveals how to maximise Jess Park’s talent

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·21 Februari 2026

Marc Skinner: United Women boss reveals how to maximise Jess Park’s talent

Manchester United Women achieved an impressive 5-0 aggregate victory over Atletico Madrid to reach the quarter-finals of the Champions League.

They will not stop there, as they face Chelsea in the fifth round of the FA Cup on Sunday afternoon.

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Head coach Marc Skinner spoke to the press in his pre-match press conference, and the comments were carried by the club’s official website.

Potential returns

Skinner confirmed that it is possible Fridolina Rolfo and Elisabeth Terland may be ready for the match at the weekend.

He stated, “Frido picked up a knock against Leicester. It was an innocuous one. We’re still assessing her for Sunday. If she’s not ready, hopefully she’ll be available after that, for the final. We’ve got a couple more days to evaluate. It’s basically a dead leg that we just need to manage. It’s similar with Teri. She got whacked on the halfway line in the first game against Atletico. We’re just managing that as well. Hopefully both could be back, but we’ll see over the next few days.”

The manager also confirmed that Swede Julia Zigiotti was substituted off at half-time as a precaution, as she has been feeling under the weather lately.

Pause on FA Cup seeding plan

The United coach also gave his thoughts on the FA’s plans to pause the idea of seeding certain teams in the cup next year.

He claimed, “great news. On Sunday we’re playing one of the best teams in English history, and it’s an early-round draw — but that’s football. That’s the beauty of the cup. There’s an element of luck in competitions. Drawing Chelsea might feel like rough luck, but that’s part of it. It’s what makes the cup special.”

Skinner was then asked whether also facing Chelsea in the League Cup final next month would change his approach, and he confirmed that it would not.

He retorted, “no — I’ll try and win it. Hopefully we’ll have more players back for the final, so we can adapt a bit. We’ve already started planning for Chelsea. They’re a tough team. People talk about them being under pressure, but that’s because their standards are so high. It’ll be a difficult game. But we’re a team that stays in the fight. We’ve got quality and we can unlock teams. We’re aiming to go through. We lost to them in the final last year, so we want to put that right and get through this time.”

Poor record

The head coach was then asked whether he thinks about the fact that United have only beaten Chelsea once in their history, and he replied, “honestly, no. Over many years Chelsea have invested heavily and built depth, so we’ve been catching up. That’s the reality. We respect them — of course we do. But you can’t respect them too much or it works against you. We have to go out and try to win the game in our way and make it tough for them.”

International break

After Sunday’s game, a large number of players will head off on international duty.

He admitted more injuries were a concern, but that he would not be pulling any players out, as that is not what the club is about.

Skinner added, “some will stay because they’re recovering. For those going away, you naturally worry — like your children going overseas. But there’s no point spending two weeks worrying. We’ll deal with anything when they come back.”

Jess Park

Finally, Skinner touched on the quality Park has brought to the team.

He was asked about her role moving forward with England, and Skinner confirmed he would discuss her with England manager Serena Wiegman.

When asked to comment on how Park has been so successful at United, he claimed, “sometimes club football acts as an audition for international football. At City, Jess had a very defined role. Here, we’ve given her more freedom. If you keep her in one space, it can stifle her. But if you allow her to drift and find different areas, she creates chances and scores goals. She’s had so many goal involvements already this season.”