Can the Manchester United Women’s team break into the top three?
After an impressive first season in Women's Super League Manchester United Women will be looking to push on and challenge for a Champions League position in just their third year as a newly reformed team.
After an impressive first season in Women’s Super League, Manchester United Women will be looking to push on and challenge for a Champions League position in just their third year as a newly reformed team.
Last season, their first season in the WSL and their second season as a newly re-formed club, the Manchester United Women’s team managed to break into the top four, losing just five times in the league and winning half of their games.
There was still a clear gap between themselves and the elusive top three, however, as Casey Stoney’s team finished thirteen points behind Arsenal, with Manchester City and Chelsea ahead of them in second and first, respectively. The London team, who did not lose a game in the league, took the top spot ahead of City after the final league table was decided on a points-per-game basis due to the suspension of the season.
Arsenal, City and Chelsea have dominated the Women’s Super League in recent years, with the teams retaining the top three positions since 2015 and all three having won at least one title in that period.
To have a chance of improving on their fourth place finish, and grabbing one of the two Champions League spots, United will have to improve their results against the top three.
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United lost all the games they managed to play against the League’s top three before the season was suspended, although they did beat local rivals Manchester City in the Continental Cup back in October.
The opening fixture of the 2020/21 season, however, saw United rescue a draw against reigning Champions Chelsea, with the game finishing 1-1.
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The game also saw an appearance from Pernille Harder, who signed for Chelsea this summer for a reported world record fee for a female player.
While United do not currently find themselves in the position to attract the same calibre of player as Chelsea and other successful teams––Stoney herself says that she and the club are committed to building the team at their own pace––they have made six signings this month in an attempt to push on in their development.
The summer singings include English internationals Lucy Staniforth and Alessia Russo.
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The club will also be joined by the experienced and two-time World Cup winners Tobin Heath and Christen Press, who won managed to get their hands on the trophy with the United States back in 2015 and 2019.
Heath will bring the more experience to the Manchester team, having won 168 caps for her country and two National Women’s Soccer League titles with the Portland Thorns. She was also shortlisted for the Women’s Ballon D’or in 2019.
Press, however, has previously played in Europe and managed to reach the Champions League Final with Swedish team Tyresö FF back in 2014.
The two Americans are not the only additions to the WSL from across the Atlantic, as this summer also saw World Cup winners Sam Mewis and Rose Lavelle join Manchester City and, what is likely to be the most high profile deal in the history of the WSL, World Cup Winner and US co-captain Alex Morgan sign for Tottenham on loan.
This summer has shown England to be an attractive location for some of the best and most high-profile talent in women’s football, but it remains to be seen if the fledging Manchester United can keep up with those around them and pose a challenge to the veterans of the league who stand ahead of them.
After a convincing 5-2 win against Birmingham in their second game of the season, next up for United is Brighton on the 4th of October.
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The player celebrations from Stockport County’s League Two trophy presentation are glorious
Danny Jones
If you’re a Stockport County fan, you’ve had a very good year as the Hatters have just been crowned League Two champions and will be back in the English third tier next season – safe to say they’ve been making most of the trophy celebrations.
Players and staff very much included.
Edgeley was filled with flares and even people climbing on rooftops when they officially secured promotion back to League One for the first time in 12 years – the second time they’ve managed to go up in three seasons – and there was a great attendance in Stockport town centre for the bus parade.
But it was last week’s trophy presentation back at the stadium that produced some of the most memorable scenes, with County topping off a season of impressive and often high-scoring performances on the pitch with plenty more pageantry. Cue the music.
We still haven’t stopped laughing at Kyle Knoyle.
From bringing Isaac Olaofe’s ‘Tanto’s on fire!’ chant to life to hammering home puns on names like Fraser Horsfall, no matter how obvious, these are the kind of deeply unserious celebrations we expect from a trophy presentation.
County fan or not, you’ve got to admit it looks like a good party.
It’s moments like these that players, fans and staff work hard all season for; to prat around like muppets in front of their adoring supporters. They even got assistant coach, Clint Hill, in the mix and, as it turns out, he proved to be one of the biggest ring-leaders.
We sincerely hope the Hatters keep trickling out more of these party scenes as we know there’s plenty more that fans would love to watch back.
We’re still yet to see captain Paddy Madden, who won Player of the Month for April, and the gaffer himself, Dave Challinor, who has comfortably secured his legacy as one of the club’s all-time greats.
Challinor and the club have made no secret of seriously eyeing up the Championship and who knows what else at County’s momentum continues to build, especially with a huge stadium redevelopment kicking off soon.
What do you reckon, Hatters – do you reckon a third promotion could be on the cards?
Erik ten Hag opens up on Man United’s failed Harry Kane and Frenkie de Jong transfers
Danny Jones
Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag has shed more light on his club’s failure to sign two key transfer targets in previous transfer windows, Harry Kane and Frenkie de Jong.
With Man United‘s interest in the proven Premier League star and England captain along with the former Ajax star turned Barcelona midfielder having been widely publicised last year, it was no secret that they were top of the wish list at Old Trafford but nothing concrete ever came of it.
Now, addressing the Kane and de Jong transfers directly for the first time, ten Hag not only admitted that he wanted to sign them but that he wasn’t given the full backing of the board to do so, suggesting that his squad therefore missed out two key talents that he hoped to build the playing style around.
Speaking to club legend Gary Neville in a Sky Sports exclusive, the 54-year-old was careful not to outwardly criticise the previous executives – the majority of whom have now departed – but confessed that they weren’t able to get either deal across the line.
As you can see, ten Hag revealed that he quickly identified Kane as the ‘proven’ striker who could have brought “30 goals” to the team but that they simply couldn’t get him, presumably down to the potential transfer fee and wage expectations.
The 30-year-old striker obviously went on to sign for German giants Bayern Munich and has now broken the record for the most goals in a debut Bundesliga season, not mention being on the verge of surpassing the highest-ever tally in a single campaign, held by Robert Lewandowski (41).
He went on to express that he has every faith in the striker they did manage to sign, insisting that 21-year-old Rasmus Højlund “will get there [to that level] but needs time” and was offered some of “the biggest potential” on the market when they snapped him up.
As for his fellow Dutchman, de Jong – who he previously coached as part of the hugely talented Ajax which impressed so many in 2018/19 – ten Hag hinted at the failure to sign him as being a key factor in why he couldn’t implement his tactics at United, telling Neville: “you have to bring in [the right] players”.
The three-time Eredivisie winner went on to explain, “You need the player with those typical assets and you can’t bring a player, say, here who has a [certain] style of play I don’t want to change his nature.”
With Neville naming de Jong specifically, ten Hag confirmed the name by adding that he envisioned a partnership between him and Casemiro or, indeed, Kobbie Mainoo eventually, adding: “They would have been really complimentary with each other, absolutely. That is the [type of player you need] if you want to play the Ajax style.
However, despite having reportedly agreed on a sizeable fee with Barcelona (the number of which has been much disputed), it came to be that de Jong seemingly didn’t want the move and preferred to stay with the Catalan club.
As a result, this meant that United had to continue experimenting with different midfield combinations and signing alternatives like Christian Eriksen and Mason Mount, who perhaps weren’t as high up on the list of transfer targets or as well suited to ten Hag’s desired approach on the pitch.
ten Hag ultimately went on to add that a laundry list of injury problems this season has also derailed the progress of his squad as a unit, with the Red Devils having been forced to utilise 31 different back-four combinations so far.
There have been some rumblings that de Jong could be open to another potential move elsewhere again this summer, but it’s fair to say that even if they were in the running it will take more than one player to get his side back on track.
You can watch the interview with Gary Neville in full HERE.
It remains to be seen how well ten Hag will be backed by the new footballing administration this summer but it is said United are willing to consider serious offers for several members of their first-team squad as they look to raise funds for any prospective incomings.