Manchester United Women kick off their 23/24 WSL campaign tomorrow where they will face Aston Villa away at 12.30.
It will be an interesting match up with both teams investing well in this Summer’s transfer window.
Last year, United finished second in the table behind Champions Chelsea whilst Villa finished in fifth.
It was a close contest in their last meeting though as the game ended 3-2 to United with Millie Turner clinching the winner in the dying moments of the game.
It will be the fans’ first chance to see new signings Geyse and Hinata Miyazawa in action, who are predicted to be an integral part of Marc Skinner’s set-up this season.
Geyse impressed in pre-season scoring two fantastic goals and linking up well with joint top goalscorer from last season, Leah Galton, going forward.
Meanwhile, Villa also have some fire power going forward with last year’s Golden Boot winner Rachel Daly in attack and former Red, Kirsty Hanson.
Speaking ahead of the clash, winger Leah Galton singled those two players out, saying: “Kirky’s [Kirsty Hanson] there now, she’s gone back to Villa and she’s a threat, she’s a great player.”
She continued: “You’ve got Rach [Rachel Daly] who scored a lot of goals for them last year, so we’re going to have to be smart with who we look at and how we play against them, but it will be a very good test for us.”
Their new goalkeeper, Van Domselaar, also impressed on international duty mid-week as she made a number of brilliant saves to help the Netherlands to victory over England.
Meanwhile, it’ll be interesting to see Skinner’s team selection as mid-week he criticised the scheduling of the international fixtures coinciding with the start of the season and claimed the opening game could end like ‘walking football’.
In his pre-match press conference, Skinner gave insight into his preparation time with his players ahead of this game: “I’ll give you a glimpse to our side of it, I will have had most of my squad, not all of them, most of them for five days of training.”
He continued: “That is all I’ve had. It is what it is. I will have had zero days with all of my squad.”
“From my perspective, it’s not ideal but it’s also part and parcel of what is going to be a growing game so we’ll go through teething problems before they exist as a natural occurrence in years to come.”
New signing, Emma Watson, picked up an ACL injury on international duty ruling her out for this game and the rest of the season.
“I think governing bodies need to look at when players rest and how they rest and when they re-coup because we all know that, even mental fatigue can cause injuries so I think we need to be careful of that,” Skinner said.
Mary Earps has had a busy Summer with England plus the speculation surrounding her future may mean that her mentality heading into the new season is not where it was at the end of last season.
With Tullis-Joyce coming in to the side, however, Skinner does have a strong plan B up his sleeve.
In his pre-match press conference Skinner insisted that there will be opportunities for all of his squad this season as they look to compete in the WSL, FA Cup, Conti Cup and, for the first time, the Champions League.
“If we can then continue in the latter stages of Cup competitions and the Champions League, then absolutely everyone will be used and have their opportunity to play.”
Despite Skinner’s comments over his lack of preparation for this opening game, historically, United have had some fantastic results against Villa and they will surely feel confident heading into this clash.