Marc Skinner: United boss gives honest thoughts on Melvine Malard | OneFootball

Manchester United Women secured an impressive 3-0 victory over Atletico Madrid on Thursday night in the Champions League.

They must now focus fully on their upcoming match against London City Lionesses on Sunday as they aim to hold onto second place in the Women’s Super League table.

Speaking in the pre-match press conference, Manchester United head coach Marc Skinner was asked about the result on Thursday and was clearly delighted with how his side performed on the night.

Result vs Atletico

Commenting on the game he said, “honestly, really happy. The pitch was very difficult to plan for, for both teams. I think they were able to train on it, which gave them a bit of an advantage. But I felt we were ruthless when we needed to be, in both attack and defence — almost vintage us, really.”

He explained that sometimes it is not necessary to play the prettiest football, but that the goals were of “incredible” quality.

Anna Sandberg

One negative from the match during the week was that Anna Sandberg was forced off injured early in the second half.

Commenting on her availability for the weekend, he stated, “Anna will miss the game this weekend. Frido (Rolfo) will also be out. Tooney (Ella) and Leah (Galton) remain unavailable. Everyone else should be fit and available. Anna’s doing okay — we’ll assess her over the next couple of days and update going into the Atletico game next week. But she’ll miss this weekend.”

Julia Olme

The summer signing has been in fantastic form and has scored four goals this calendar year.

Skinner was asked if he thought the player was underrated by others. He replied, “if people outside underrate her, I definitely don’t. She’s one of those brains on the field that you go to as a coach. If you need a little more impetus, she’s pre-thinking.”

He also claimed that London City have improved under their new coach, Eder Maestre, and that his ideas are gradually being implemented in the side.

Injury updates

Reflecting on the fitness of his squad, he claimed, “Fredo (Rolfo) we’re hoping will be available for the Atletico game next week. There’s still no update on Leah (Galton). Ella Toone is on track — hopefully around the end of March she’ll be back with the group. Then it accelerates once she’s back on the field. If there are no further setbacks — and so far the healing process has been good — we should see her toward the end of March.”

He also confirmed that the League Cup final against Chelsea next month will likely come too early.

Ruthlessness

Asked how his side have improved this year, he explained, “I think it’s maturity. My team has an ideology about playing attractive football and building possession. But it’s the way we mix the game that keeps opponents unsure of what we’ll do.”

Reflecting on the win in Spain on Thursday, he stated, “the goals the other day were ruthless. In the balance of play, you might say we were the better team — but in the boxes, we were definitely the better team. I’d rather be that team than one that plays lovely football up to the boxes but scores nothing and concedes.”

Melvine Malard

The Frenchwoman was in outstanding form on Thursday, scoring a superb goal and providing two further assists.

Asked about her impact on the team, he claimed, “I absolutely adore Mal in our environment. She’s such a bundle of energy. When you see Mal, you know she has the personality to play for Manchester United. The pressures are always there, but she brings this effervescent energy. She’s playful, links for others, and the detail on her pass to Ziggy for the goal was perfect. That shows she’s in a free-flowing space, not trying to force performance. If we can keep her in that space, she’ll be fantastic for us.

On London City

Finally, he claimed that United must focus against London City as they aim to compete in all competitions at the highest level.

He explained, “we have to be very focused in possession. Leigh Sports Village is wide and big, so even to block, they have to get their distances right — otherwise we can open them up. There are areas we know we can exploit, but we must be fully focused on destroying counterattacks quickly. That will be key to the game.”

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