The large query at the beginning of this season – the identical one which’s been requested over the past six WSL campaigns – is whether or not anybody can finish Chelsea’s dominance.
The Blues received final time period’s trophy by going 22 video games unbeaten in Sonia Bompastor’s first season on the helm – a part of a home treble as they lifted the Girls’s FA Cup and League Cup too.
In truth, it has been greater than 500 days since Chelsea final misplaced a league recreation – a 4-3 defeat at Liverpool on 1 Could, 2024.
Manchester United got here near ending that streak on Friday night time in a top-two encounter and Skinner was pleased with “probably the most courageous efficiency” from his gamers.
“We’re constructing. You possibly can see it, you may sense it,” he stated.
“We’re upset to not win the sport. The probabilities we created, not many groups might create that in opposition to Chelsea. So for us to try this and in the best way we did it was credit score to them [the players].”
Since their promotion from the Girls’s Championship in 2019, United have quickly emerged as WSL title contenders, ending simply two factors behind Chelsea in 2022-23.
The next season they received the FA Cup – their first main ladies’s trophy.
Whereas a draw in opposition to the present league leaders could also be deemed a missed alternative for United, former England striker White believed it confirmed how far the membership has come.
“You must have a look at that consistency,” she stated. “They’ve performed 11 instances in opposition to Chelsea now and solely drawn as soon as, now the second time, so I feel it is actually good for his or her consistency and what they’re doing as a membership and a staff.
“It reveals it is working and so they’re bettering.”
Requested if Skinner deserved extra credit score for United’s rise to compete with extra established golf equipment, White added: “What he is accomplished with these gamers, the philosophy, the DNA, how resolute they’re.
“He hasn’t received the amount of cash or been capable of spend the amount of cash the likes of Chelsea, Arsenal or [Manchester] Metropolis have accomplished.”
About the Author
