As the festive period ends and 2023 looms close in the distance, what sounds like a winter break for Marc Skinner and his Manchester United squad is more of a quick rest and unwind before recharging the batteries to go again in the New Year.
Following their final win of 2022 over Sheffield United in the FA Women’s Continental Tyres League Cup, The Red Devils knew that they had four weeks to reflect and then go again as they face newly-promoted Liverpool in their first Barclays Women’s Super League game of 2023 at the Leigh Sports Village.
When reflecting on the first half of the season before the Christmas break, Manchester United boss Skinner said that he has been delighted with his side’s development off the back of a summer of change.
“I’m really proud,” said the Manchester United boss. “We had to transform a team as I never got the chance to last year, so bringing seven players in and then seven or so out, that’s some massive transitions.
“For us, the way the girls took that on board, have shown their qualities and have kept the consistency high….I’m really happy with the girls’ progression, the group’s progression, the attitude of the group and the personality showing.”
Manchester United have three January fixtures to prepare for in the New Year with two Barclays Women’s Super League matches and a Vitality Women’s FA Cup fourth round tie against either Blackburn Rovers or Sunderland at the end of the month. Skinner says that he is looking forward to a busy start to 2023.
He said “I’m so excited for the New Year. I’m so excited to see the evolution of this team more importantly because we all know you can win or lose any game, any day depending on having a bit of luck and so on. For us, it’s consistency in our performances
that I’m really happy with, so that gives us lots and lots of energy.
“I think I worked it out that if you get to the FA Cup final, we will have roughly 17 or 18 games left, so if we can maximise all of those next year then we’ll give ourselves a really good run in and put ourselves where it matters at the end of the season.”
January brings the re-opening of the transfer window and Skinner will go into the transfer market with his eyes wide open for new players who could fit into his plans well.
“We’re going to look to see if we can manoeuvre the squad and maybe bring some players in if it’s the right option for the club at the time,” said Skinner confidently. “We will always be looking in windows anyway to see if there’s potential to improve the squad. Even after how well we’ve done now, we can’t stand still.
“If the right player becomes available for the next part of the project then we have to look to move and if it fits right with the club and everything with the team, we’ll always do the work behind the scenes to make sure the individual fits.”
Manchester United will travel to Malta for a pre-season training camp in early January before returning to England to complete their final preparations for the second half of the season.