MANCHESTER UNITED ARE STILL IN THE RACE FOR THE WOMEN'S SOCCER LEAGUE TROPHY DESPITE THE STRUGGLES MET BY THE RED DEVILS DURING THIS 2020/21 SEASON

What's the worst-case scenario? 

A couple of players get injured and miss a couple of games? 

Big deal! Manchester United has up to fifteen more players on the bench. The team will be fine! The Red Devils can still operate even with a few injuries. The situation is under control! Right? 

 

Wrong! The situation being faced by Manchester United is certainly not under control because here is what manager Casey Stoney has on her plate at the moment. 

Coming into the 2020/21 season, Manchester United had stocked on three important positions- the center forward position, the center midfield position, and the defensive position. This decision presented the Red Devils with the choice of not providing extra wingers for Manager Casey Stoney which the club graciously accepted with Manchester United clearly working under the assumption that current starting winger Tobin Heath and Leah Galton will be able to stay fit and fill both flanks for Manchester United throughout the entire 2020/21 season. 

There's an old saying that goes like this “Don’t put all your eggs in one basket.” In Manchester United’s case, this old saying appears to apply perfectly at this point in the season with the Red Devils not only losing star winger Tobin Heath out with an ankle injury scheduled to return in mid-April 2021 but also Manchester United now have to dig deep to find extra quality on both flanks after the latest news of star winger Leah Galton scheduled to be out of action for an extended period due to an ankle injury picked up in mid-February.  

 

Manchester United will look to Ivan Fuso to be the next woman responsible for injecting a bit of quality into the team on the left-hand flank but Ivana Fuso just recovered from the injury she suffered last December. An injury that kept Fuso out of action for a long period, Manchester United must be careful and avoid loading pressure on the shoulders of players such Ivana Fasso and Jess Sigsworth to push themselves further than needed as this might just result in Manchester United adding yet another injured player to the injury list. 

Manage and contain must be the name of the game for Casey Stoney’s Manchester United side. With two crucial players in Tobin Heath and Leah Galton, the Red Devils will pay extra attention in the way the team is managed to avoid extra injuries while attempting to pick up as many points as possible to stay within touching distance of leaders Chelsea in the Women’s Soccer League table while Leah Galton and Tobin Heath make their way back to full fitness and back into the starting XI. 

 

Like manager Casey Stoney said in her recent post-match press talk following the match against Manchester City, the international break has arrived at the right time. 

The above statements from the Manchester United women’s team could not be any more fitting at any other point in the season except right now! 

This season’s Women’s Soccer League competition has just entered its international break and to manager Casey Stoney’s point, a break away from club football might just be the answer the Red Devils needs to snap the minor, unfortunate, situation Manchester United currently find themselves in with injuries and with the Red Devils lacking top form at this point in the season. In terms of injuries, Manchester United continues to count down to the return of two key missing players in Leah Galton and Tobin Heath. 

With Leah Galton being the player with the most possibility of making the quickest return to action in possibly three weeks or less, Manchester United is understood to be prepared to trigger the “next man up” or in this case “next woman up” mentality by deploying other talented players such as Ivana Fuso and Jess Sigsworth out on the wing to Ella Toone maintain a place in the center of the park where she can dictate play quite effectively for Casey Stoney’s team. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Let's face, Manchester United women's team are not having the best run at the moment- and to be honest, Manchester United men's team are not in the best place either in this season’s Premier League competition after dropping six of their last twelve points in the Premier League competition. Six out of twelve! Terrible statistics for a team that was seemingly in a good position to possibly pose a strong challenge for the Premier League trophy. 

But that is the problem. Manchester United has become a team that is well suited with the adverb NEARLY. Let this message not get lost in the mix in this article because this is a very important message that Manchester United manager Cassey Stoney’s had subtly relayed at the end of her post-match press conference after the loss to Reading which was Manchester United need to do better if the Red Devils are to reach the summit in any competition.  

 

 

“I think we still dominated the ball but it doesn’t matter,” she said. “It doesn’t matter unless you take your chances. If you create chances, you have to take them. 

“I don’t like to talk about luck. I think you finish your chances or you don’t and we didn’t.”      

    (Cassey Stoney-Ryan Lee Gregory. Fawslfulltime.co.uk. February 8,2021) 

   

 

But despite both Manchester United managers indirectly admitting that the race for both the Premier League and the Women’s Soccer League trophy now turned incredibly difficult to win, Manchester United are still not out of the race for the trophies yet in both the Premier League competition and the Women’s Soccer League competition.  

 

Manchester United still has time to mount a final push for the WSL trophy especially after the recent international break that took place in February 2021 because the break gives Manchester United a rest from the League. Meaning, the recent international break gives the Red Devils a chance to step away from the non-stop action taking place in the Women's Soccer League and present an opportunity for manager Cassey Stoney's team to collect their thoughts and return to the WSL mentally stronger, ready to make a final push for the top of the Women’s Soccer League table with leaders Chelsea and Manchester City still with a handful of difficult games coming their way.