Manchester United Women head coach Marc Skinner has held his pre-match press conference ahead of Sunday’s Adobe Women’s FA Cup tie against Burnley.
The boss provided the latest team news during the media briefing, suggesting that new signing Hanna Lundkvist is “likely”
to make her first United start in the absence of Jayde Riviere, who will serve the one-match suspension she acquired after being sent off at Arsenal last time out.
Skinner also ruled out Fridolina Rolfo with a niggle, while confirming that Leah Galton, Gabby George and Ella Toone will remain sidelined this weekend, before adding that Toone will be back before the end of the season.
As well as providing the latest on the squad, Marc also discussed the affection his United side has for the FA Cup, a potential loan move for young Mared Griffiths and the departure of much-loved striker Rachel Williams to Leicester City on Thursday.
Read the key quotes below…
TEAM NEWS
“So, obviously, Jayde's out for a one-match ban. So, this will mean she misses this game. Only Frido has a little niggle, so she'll miss this game. Then there's still Tooney, Gabby and Leah, and then that's it. Everybody else is fit and ready to be selected.”
LUNDKVIST LIKELY TO START
“Lea [Schuller] hasn't played a 90 until since November, so she trained for a week, she's just getting used to the team, so it's just about introducing her slowly. Hanna, we had the same conversation. How I speak to the players is I ask them if they're ready. And they both agreed that they're probably not ready to start right now. But coming into the weekend, it's probably likely that Hanna will start. We're still assessing the front options, so I think they'll be they'll be ready within the next few weeks for sure.”
“She'll be back before the end of the season. So, it's probably about six to 10 weeks, depending on how it was from the point of it. So, you're probably looking around six to eight weeks [from now], something like that. So yeah, she'll be back before the end of the season and ready to go. We'll be looking forward to welcoming her back. [Will she miss the European games?] Potentially, there's a potential she could be back going into those windows. But it's one of those, it moves every day, it gets better every day. So, we will obviously wait and see that, but it's what's best for Ella as well, as she's coming back from it. We can't rush her back, but I will say that she'll be ready for football before the end of the season, for sure.”
THE FA CUP IS ROMANTIC
“We've got to three finals in three years in the FA Cup. So, there's a romantic kind of feeling about this cup, but, I can't stress enough, we can't take it lightly. Burnley might be a couple of divisions below, but they're an aggressive team that wants to be in the WSL. I think their ownership have been very clear on that. So, we have to take this game seriously. I want to see us build as well. There were parts of the Arsenal game – [in the] context, we took a draw out of it – but there are parts I want to see us improve. I want to see us improve with the ball. I think we can be more aggressive with the ball. Defensively, I thought were excellent, so I want to keep that. But I want to get us back into rhythm, I want to use these games to help us get back into rhythm and really hit it hard.”
“Rachel's one of those unique footballers one, for me, that will forever be a fantastic part of my memories of football. I think she's iconic for our club. I remember getting a lot of grief when we brought her in, I think she was 34 at the time, then the important goals and the important parts she's played [have happened]. She's almost carved at that point a historical kind of position for herself, which is this Ole Gunnar [Solskjaer] super-sub kind of situation. But she'll forever leave with my gratitude and thanks, and she'll forever be a Red, Rachel. I can't speak highly of her enough and, as I say, she'll forever be a fantastic part of my memories in football, both at Birmingham and at Manchester United.”
LOOKING FOR RIGHT LOAN FOR GRIFFITHS
“I want to stress is that actually it's really difficult to jump straight into a senior team, so we have to get the right moves for them. We'd love a move for Mared in this window to be able to get her the consistency of [game] time. There's key attributes or key kind of decisions that have to be made in youth development. It's consistency of time and I think on the field and that exposure to that. So, that's what's going to happen. We're looking for all the players that are in those positions to be able to go to the right team and get the minutes that they need, in order to help them come back to Manchester United and be effective. So, we are looking at that. It's something that both Matts [Johnson and Hargreaves], are looking at and have been for a while with the agents to try and get the right move for those players.”