GOALWith the likes of Mary Earps and Nikita Parris having left over the summer, Marc Skinner will need other players to step up over the coming campaign
Rachel Williams, the Manchester United striker, is delighted that the Red Devils will kick-off their Women's Super League season at Old Trafford. That's not because it's an iconic ground or because there will be a big crowd – it's because she knows the team has some wrongs to right after their last visit.
That was on the final day of the 2023-24 season, when Chelsea absolutely battered the hosts in a thumping 6-0 win that secured a fifth-successive WSL title. It was a dismal display from United, one that made the post-match scenes a little awkward. Just a week earlier, they had beaten Tottenham in the FA Cup final to win the women's team's first major title and this league fixture offered a chance to parade the trophy around the ground. Yet, you could forgive those who left before that celebration, given what preceded it.
"How can we go into an FA Cup final, but then we go into the last game of the season, and it's two totally different games?" Williams pondered last week, at the WSL season launch. "I like the fact we're going back [to Old Trafford] because, for me, those feelings on that last day are still very raw. No matter what team it is, we now know that we have to go there and perform the way we know we can and let the fans leave happy knowing, ‘that's a good start for us'.
"I know people say that whole thing of, ‘don't get carried away with the highs and [too] low in the lows’, but for me, the lows sit with me a lot more than the highs, then it gives me that extra 10 percent to go into those games and think, ‘I've got to go another level now, because it wasn't good enough when I was last here’."
It's clear that Williams doesn't just feel that way about returning to Old Trafford. For United, this whole upcoming season has that sentiment of wanting to show that they are better than 2023-24 suggested. There were glimpses – like that FA Cup triumph or victory over Chelsea in the semi-finals – but not on a consistent enough basis to back-up their 2022-23 title challenge, with a disappointing fifth-placed finish instead the outcome last term.
With that desire to be better, some exciting summer signings and important players returning from injury, can United compete with England's elite again? Or will the impact of high-profile departures, doubts surrounding head coach Marc Skinner and concerns about the club's commitment to the women's team dominate the narrative in another underwhelming campaign?
