Manchester United punished Aston Villa in their Women’s Super League clash at Old Trafford in front of a record crowd of 30,196. Five goals from five different players demonstrated the depth and quality within this United squad under Marc Skinner.
Katie Zelem, Leah Galton, Alessia Russo, Ona Batlle and Rachel Williams found themselves on the score sheet, but manager Skinner said they wanted more: “Believe it or not, as a group we’re happy with the result but we could’ve won it [by] more.
“We’re setting our standards that high, that actually, there were times in this game where we could’ve been more clinical. At half-time, as a group, we wanted more from ourselves.”
READ MORE: Manchester United player ratings as Toone, Russo and Batlle deliver vs Aston Villa
The Reds headed for the break 2-0 up after Zelem and Galton found the net, before punishing the visitors with another three goals in the second half, all of which came from open play. United occupied the majority of the ball, which considerably hampered Aston Villa's opportunity to gain momentum - even top scorer Rachel Daly struggled to impact the game.
The sheer fluidity and creativity from United's style pulled the away side to pieces Skinner said: “The third goal is what we want, the movement, the play, the composure, the manipulation of the opponent.”
For the 3-0 lead, Ella Toone received the ball on the right flank and after a glance at the box she played a simple cross on the deck for Russo to tap home. Quick one-touch play from both kept them one step ahead of Villa. Toone's movement on the flank drew in Villa’s backline, opening up the middle of the box for an unmarked Russo to punish the visitors once more.
Skinner said: “What I really like from us at the minute, is we don't look like we’re just going to cross it every time, and that's all we do.
“If you look at how many different goalscorers we have this year, it's because we needed that last year. I’m sure you watched some games [last season] and thought, ‘I don't know if they’re going to get a goal’ [whereas] this year we can get a goal from a cross, we can turn in front of you, we can go one-vs-one.”
United are far from a one-trick pony. They have had 13 different goalscorers so far this season, scoring 23 in total in the league. In the whole of last season, they only had 11 goalscorers across the whole of their WSL season.
With their five-goal win over Villa United have leapfrogged Arsenal into second. Chelsea remain in top spot after their 8-0 win over Leicester.
The Reds' next WSL action is the derby against Manchester City at the Etihad on Sunday, December 11, the penultimate fixture before the Christmas break.
