Fresh off the win against Arsenal, Manchester United Women returned to Old Trafford to put on a dominant display to put five goals past Aston Villa to the delight of the fans. Head coach Marc Skinner chose to line up in 4-2-3-1 formation that was used against Gunners with no changes made to the starting eleven.
Mary Earps was between the sticks, with Maya Le Tissier and Millie Turner the centre back pairing. Katie Zelem and Hayley Ladd were at the heart of the midfield. The front four consisted of Alessia Russo, Ella Toone, Nikita Parris and Leah Galton who were looking to continue their impressive form.
Dominant opening half
It was a record attendance at Old Trafford and United were on the front foot from the very start. Our first chance came within the first ten minutes when Russo and Toone linked up on the left wing with the former swinging a cross into the box. Leah Galton reacted first but her initial touch meant the ball ran away from her and Villa’s goalkeeper Hannah Hampton retrieved the ball.
The Reds took the lead on the 13th minute to the roar of the home crowd. Captain Katie Zelem opened the scoring from close range. Russo’s shot was parried away by Hampton inside the six yard box. Zelem’s run at the far post was not picked up the opposition and she found the net. This was her second goal at Old Trafford having scored against Everton back in March.
This gave United the momentum to press home their advantage further. However, Villa threatened to get themselves back into the game when Alisha Lehmann’s effort on goal was saved by Mary Earps.
The opposition threat was not to last as United struck their second goal of the game in the 28th minute following a great team move. We exploited the space in behind that Villa had left open. Russo had held up the ball from Ona Batlle’s throw in before passing it through to Ella Toone. Our number 7 hit a superb pass through the opposition defence with Leah Galton firing past Hannah Hampton.
Minutes after the second goal, Russo could have made it three but her effort went wide of the post. United were then under pressure when they did not clear a Villa corner and Mary Earps had to save Freya Gregory’s effort on goal.
The opposition thought they had claimed one goal back through Alisha Lehmann in the 42nd minute. Earps had parried Gregory’s shot with Lehmann tapping the ball into the net. However, the goal was ruled out for offside.
Second half sees more of the same
As we went into the second half, United were as dominant as ever and eager for more goals. Batlle played the ball in behind to Toone who hit the ball across the box with Russo firing the ball home to make it three in the 51st minute.
With the opposition now 3-0 down Villa started to see more of the ball having a handful of efforts on goal. Rachel Daly’s shot was easily gathered by our keeper. Earps was then called into action having to save Alisha Lehmann’s fierce strike. Villa created a number of opportunities but their efforts were not threatened the United goal.
Despite Villa’s efforts to get themselves back into the game, it was Marc Skinner’s side that struck for the fourth time. As they had done throughout the match, the team combined perfectly to put the tie to bed. Ona Batlle made an excellent run into the box with her shot hitting off the bar and post to go into the net.
Galton looked like she had added her second goal of the game with ten minutes left to go. However, the referee had blew the whistle for an earlier foul which resulted in a free kick for United. Zelem was not able to convert the free kick on goal.
The Reds added the fifth and final goal in stoppage time. Substitute Rachel Williams tapped the ball into net after great work down the right by Ona Batlle.
The victory sees us second in the table ahead of Arsenal on goal difference and three points behind Chelsea, who have played a game more. This was our sixth clean sheet of the season having scored 23 goals and conceding only five goals.
Head coach Marc Skinner reflecting on the game afterwards that he had to remind the players at half time that standards are high as he wanted to see a better performance.
“It means the world. It means the world to play in front of our fans at this wonderful stadium. The irony is, I wasn’t that happy with our performance. There were moments, quality goals. But we didn’t move like we normally do.
“We had a word at half-time. As a manager, you’d think I would be happy with the result, which of course I am, but we want to put performances on. We want to be better.
“It was just about movement. We’re not a team that likes to have shadows on us. We block our passing lines we have to move out of them and at times it looked like we were allowing individuals to make their decisions.
“It wasn’t choice words, it was reminders. Because I want to see progression. Our quality was there, you can see that. I’m not angry or upset – we just want to set standards really high here. That’s all it is.”
Marc Skinner speaking to Sky Sports after United beat Aston Villa 5-0
Ella Toone explained that the team were happy with the three points and the five goals.
“We’re feeling good. We’re feeling confident as a group that we can go out and put on big performances like we did today. Our standards are that high that we aren’t 100 per cent happy with that performance.
“We want more from ourselves. But we’re happy with the three points and five goals.
“[Alessia Russo] makes me look good a lot of the time. We’ve got that relationship on and off the pitch. That always helps. I know what Alessia’s strengths are. I work well with her and we link up well.”
Ella Toone speaking to Sky Sports after the 5-0 win