Manchester United came back from the international break with a powerful statement on Sunday, thrashing Liverpool 4-0 at home, and rising to third in the WSL.
Two goals in each half from Elisabeth Terland, Leah Galton, Dominique Janssen and Melvine Malard saw Marc Skinner’s side seal a comfortable three points.
Liverpool arrived at Leigh Sports Village plagued by injuries to several key players, and aware it would be a tough afternoon, but it was their lack of creativity that killed them out of the game.
Their struggles continued after Sunday’s heavy defeat, and they still have just two wins out of nine over two months into the season.
Manchester United, however, silenced a lot of critics with their performance. Leading up to the clash, Skinner had faced a lot of questions over his team’s lack of identity, especially after a challenging 1-0 defeat to Chelsea at the end of November.
But Sunday’s display was the perfect response, and with four different goal scorers, they lifted themselves up to third before the rest of the day’s matches.
The deadlock was broken in the 33rd minute when Elisabeth Terland nestled the ball past Teagan Micah in the bottom right corner.
Worsening the blow, United doubled their lead in quick succession as Leah Galton fired an over-the-top ball from Dominique Janssen into the roof of the net with immense power.
After the break Liverpool enjoyed a brief spell on the front foot and searched for a way back into the match, but the hosts’ summer signing Janssen had other plans.
Scoring her first in a Manchester United shirt, the ball fell perfectly to the Dutch, allowing her to arrow it past a box full of Liverpool defenders.
The best goal of the afternoon, however, was easily Melvine Malard’s, volleying home yet another Janssen assist at the back post.
Without a doubt, Janssen had an excellent stand-out performance and earned herself three goal contributions as well as the Player of the match award.
“I really had a lot of fun today,” she told Sky Sports after the game.
“Everything clicked well for me. There are bits and pieces I still need to do better. Honestly I am happy with my first goal for United, but getting the win is the important thing.
“Today was good. It was important to get the first goal and then follow it up with the second soon after. It was nice that we got the job done today.”
Featured image courtesy of Steven Taylor.