MALARD IN FOR TERLAND
Skinner went on to explain that Elisabeth Terland dropped to the bench in the wake of Thursday’s decisive Champions League hat-trick because he thought Melvine Malard’s attributes were a good fit for the specifics of facing Arsenal.
“I think in our plans, I have to get used to rotation,” the boss said. “We spoke about it [with Teri]. They don’t like [not starting], they know we have to [rotate], but they don’t like it. And she’s been incredible and she will continue to be incredible. I said that to her at the end of the day when I had to make the tough decision.
“I just felt that Mel stretched [Arsenal’s] two centre-halves a little bit better, she’s unpredictable, which would then mix them up and make them uncomfortable. I just adapted it to be able to break centrally as well, and that was really the key decision behind it. And I felt it was justified. Mel had a really good game as well. But that doesn’t mean that we can’t use that in Teri.”