Marc Skinner ready for Manchester United to face “well-oiled machine” Chelsea | OneFootball

Marc Skinner at Wembley in 2024 (Photo by ADRIAN DENNIS/AFP via Getty Images)

Marc Skinner is preparing his Manchester United side to face Chelsea in the Women’s Super League on Friday – and is well aware of what a tough game it will be.

United are second in the league at the moment, behind the defending champions, who lead the way. Both teams are unbeaten in their four matches, with Chelsea winning all of their games and United drawing one.

And in his pre-match press conference, the United head coach spoke to journalists of the slickness of the Blues’ system.

“They’re such a well-oiled machine,” he said. “They just do what they need to do to get by. They have incredible quality, depth in quality that they have built over many seasons.

“I think they just are a really well-oiled machine. It’s by far the most difficult challenge in the WSL right now, of course it is.”

And of the degree of difficulty the match is likely to pose his team, he agreed: “It’s difficult. When you play a team that has different ways to fix it – I don’t think they’ve been playing as well as Sonia would want them to, that’s natural as it’s the first part of the season – I’d expect the toughest of challenges this coming Friday.”

Marc Skinner: I’m proud of how hard the players work for each other

Praising his team’s defensive resoluteness – having conceded only a single goal in the league so far this season – he said: “It’s the whole team’s work ethic. You don’t get clean sheets if you just defend really well as individuals. We defend as a team and I think that’s the key reason we keep so many clean sheets.

“It’s always challenging when you play teams like Chelsea, because they have so many ways they can score. For us it’s just making sure that we try and minimise those, try and score ourselves, and then balance the game.

“I’m incredibly proud of how hard the players work for each other. That shows.

“That’s the unique team spirit that we have.”

He added that Anna Sandberg will be back in the squad following her absence last weekend through illness, and revealed that Millie Turner’s knee injury is not as serious as had been feared but that it would keep her out of action until Christmas.

Manchester United host Chelsea at Leigh on Friday, 3rd October.