Manchester United play their final game of the calendar year on Sunday when second tier Sheffield United visit Leigh Sports Village in the Continental Cup.
Neither team can progress to the knockout stages of the competition, with Marc Skinner’s United eliminated last week by Aston Villa and Manchester City wins, despite comfortably beating Everton.
But Skinner, who has overseen significant improvement in the WSL in the first half of this season, is still determined to end 2022 on a high.
At his pre-match press conference, the United boss spoke about potentially bringing some youth team prospects into the squad, the possible return of Aoife Mannion, as well as discussing wider topics such as plans for rest over Christmas and the upcoming January transfer window.
“I think everyone will be available to pick from. We’ve rotated in this cup before. What I might look at the weekend is potentially bringing a couple of the youth players in, to maybe birth them and give them an opportunity. That depends on [having] a lot of players that are waiting to play anyway.
“I can’t think of one yet that is a doubt for the game.”
“That’s still an option. She was going to play [for the Under-21s on Wednesday]. It was going to be on 3G so we didn’t take that risk before Christmas because there was no need (note: game was later postponed anyway). She’s trained with the group so there is a possibility of her being on the bench – I wouldn’t bring her into the game, it might just be to get her back involved with the team and so on.
“New Year was always when we were looking to bring Aoife back in and what we were looking for in the fixtures coming up. We’ll have just have to watch where we’re at with the team come Friday and Saturday this week.”
“She will definitely be one of those in contention. She’s been very good all year, had a little injury but has come back. [She] trained with the group [Wednesday] and I thought she was excellent. She will definitely be one we’re looking at if we do give exposure in this moment.
“Jess Simpson, if she hadn’t been injured, she would have been one as well. Obviously, Saf [Middleton-Patel] would be as well. Ella Kinzett and Keira Barry have been doing well. There are a lot of players doing well that are fitting that next mould we will be looking at into the New Year.”
“This is a big indicator for us. It’s a game that has no consequence in terms of qualification, but it all the consequence in terms of…
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