Manchester United Women’s secret to beating Chelsea? Accepting they were underdogs

By
James BAOUCH
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Forty-one seconds.

That’s how long it took for Manchester United to score against Chelsea and begin to save their season. The 2023-24 campaign had been marked by injury and disappointment for Marc Skinner’s side, but a goal scored 41 seconds into an FA Cup semi-final can go a long way to fixing things.

Skinner entered Sunday’s game at a unique pressure point. The United manager is likely to be offered a new contract this summer but his stock with the majority of fans is at a low point. He had done well to turn the ‘Big Three’ of the Women’s Super League (WSL) into a quasi-Big Four, but disappointing results and unfortunate injuries have marked this season.

An adherence to a style of play with diminishing results without Ona Batlle and Alessia Russo had raised questions as to whether the United manager could adapt and find the correct formula to beat the biggest teams in the country.

United sit fourth in the league table, 15 points behind leaders Manchester City and unlikely to catch Arsenal for a Champions League qualification place in third. It was win or bust against Chelsea in the cup on Sunday, yet United surprised many with their fast start to the game.

Leah Galton seized upon a loose backpass from Eve Perisset in the opening moments before steaming into the final third. Lucia Garcia then headed in Galton’s looping cross to put United 1-0 up at a time when many fans at Leigh Sports Village were still getting comfortable in their seats.

Ella Toone improved the mood further in the 23rd minute, beating Melanie Leupolz with a clever dragback on the left flank before sending another cross towards the back post for Rachel Williams to double the lead. A goal from Lauren James just before half-time meant it wasn’t all smooth sailing for United, but they had sprung a surprise on Emma Hayes’ team.

“They had four entries into our box and two goals. We had 42 entries into their box and one goal,” was the Chelsea manager’s assessment of the first half.

After multiple defeats trying to beat Chelsea at their own game, United earned this victory by recognising they were underdogs and then playing like it. The front press that had been streaky and inconsistent in many patches of 2023-24 was more compact and dogged.

Instead of patient build-up patterns to lure the opposition further up the field, United looked to attack in a direct manner, getting the ball out wide early to set up crosses into the penalty area. On multiple occasions throughout the game, Skinner could be seen asking his players to overload one side of the pitch for Mary Earps’ goal kicks. The United manager would make a squeezing motion with his hands before Earps’ delivery.

This was an FA Cup win earned through defensive resilience, with players battling for second balls and looking to compress any available space for the opposition to play through.

“We needed to do something different that we hadn’t done in previous Chelsea games,” said Skinner after the result. “Today it was about being a little bit more direct, sacrificing a little bit without the ball. I’ve got Tooney going up to me at half-time going, ‘Gaffer, I’m doing doggies’, (multiple runs up and down chasing for the ball) but she knew why, and it’s moments like this where you create opportunities.”


Marc Skinner changed his approach in the victory over Chelsea (Nathan Stirk/Getty Images)

His side were made to suffer for large periods of the second half as Chelsea rallied in search of an equaliser. In three minutes between the 77th to 80th minutes, Earps, Aoife Mannion and second-half substitute Nikita Parris all received yellow cards as the team moved to alternative methods to slow Chelsea’s momentum. Hayes believed her side should have won two penalties in the game: one for a supposed handball from Katie Zelem and another for a tangle of legs in the penalty area between Williams and Niamh Charles.

After playing eight games in March and seeing multiple players feature in the international break, Chelsea were not at their sharpest, but Earps still needed to make a series of saves to deny them an equaliser. The England goalkeeper stunned the 6,876 in attendance when she got a strong hand to keep out a looping header from James in the second half, and was also brilliant when keeping out another effort from Leupolz.

When the full-time whistle blew, fans and players celebrated with equal parts elation and disbelief. For the first time since their 2018 (re)inception, United had defeated Chelsea. Skinner, who has spent much of the year battling criticism and questions over his suitability to take this side forward, has earned a fantastic opportunity to win silverware.

Victory on Sunday was earned not through the possession-based style of football Skinner had made his trademark in recent seasons but through United’s work when out of possession and how they adapted to the opposition’s in-game adjustments. Hayley Ladd’s defensive nous and ball-winning ability made her an astute second-half substitution, adding physicality to a near-note perfect scrappy underdog win.

“We’ve adapted. We’ve had to suffer without the ball,” said the United manager. “We didn’t like it. It was horrible. But, actually, we’ve had to suffer without it and now I can go and show that back to players and go, ‘There might be a 15-minute period of a game where we have to do that’, and now all of a sudden they’ve got that experience together.”

The upcoming FA Cup Final against Tottenham Hotspur will determine the first winner of the competition outside of Chelsea, Arsenal or Manchester City since 2005. Skinner’s new contract is yet to be confirmed by the club, but a positive result at Wembley will convince those inside and outside the club that he has more to do in charge of United.

Earps, Zelem and Parris are among those who could be out of contract this June in what could be a summer of upheaval. As new minority investor INEOS gets properly situated within the club hierarchy, Skinner’s ability to adapt and have his team roll with the punches will be of value.

United has a chance to make history on May 12. That opportunity was built from Sunday’s gutsy, well-drilled performance.

(Top photo: Nathan Stirk via Getty Images)



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