For Manchester United, the riddle remains: how do you beat Chelsea in a cup final?
· Yahoo Sports
Rule No 1: It’s best not to dither in front of Chelsea’s Lauren James.
That’s putting it too politely, so let’s try again: Don’t dither in front of Lauren James.
Visit goldparty.lat for more information.
Now add in a seven-letter word starting with the letter after E in the alphabet, tag on a photograph of Manchester United defender Dominique Janssen splayed on the floor, another of goalkeeper Phallon Tullis-Joyce in a similar heap, and a third of Chelsea lifting yet another trophy that doesn’t belong to United.
Then nail it to the inside of United’s dressing room. The team bus. Turn it into a lettered friendship bracelet: D(F)DIFOLJ.
Of course, Sunday’s 2-0 League Cup final defeat to Chelsea is bigger than just James and a record that now reads six goals against United in all competitions for Chelsea, her most against any opposition. James is just a metaphor, the face of United’s greater torment: Chelsea and the big occasion.
It is now 16 defeats from 19 meetings for United, a third successive loss in a final after succumbing in the 2023 and 2025 FA Cup finals. United’s solitary win arrived in the 2023-24 FA Cup semi-final, a competition they went on to win for the first time in their history.
And there is a metaphor to paw at there. That if Chelsea weren’t always in the way, perhaps United would have experienced far greater triumph by now. But Chelsea — with their eight Women’s Super League (WSL) titles, six FA Cup trophies and now three League Cup trophies — are usually in the way.
That remains a problem for United head coach Marc Skinner who, even as Chelsea suffer their worst league season in a decade with their squad depleted of key figures and his own side sitting one point above them in the WSL table, cannot seem to cross this albatross.
“It’s a mindset thing,” Skinner said in his post-match press conference. “It’s frustrating that it’s against Chelsea in a final that we don’t produce the moment of clarity we need. We lost the FA Cup final (against Chelsea) last year on moments, now here again.
“I have to find a solution. We have to stop getting closer. We just need to be there, or above them.”
Admission is the first step to recovery, of course, even if using an 80th-minute break in play while his goalkeeper received treatment at 2-0 down to impart tactics to the rest of the side felt like an objectively poor time to start considering solutions. A knight readjusting his armour after having been lanced twice. Who is this for? Who is fooling whom?
Or perhaps this is simply part of the process of bridging the gap to Chelsea. There is no denying United have slowly done so.
United technically registered the same number of shots as Chelsea (15), created the same number of big chances (one), and registered just seven fewer touches in the opposition box (28 vs 21). Lisa Naalsund’s performance alongside Julia Zigiotti Olme was sharp enough to banish thoughts of the absent Hinata Miyazawa, who is absent at the Asia Cup. Centre-back Maya Le Tissier was a usual step above.
Yet, it is difficult to recall a time when Chelsea might have felt the cold hand of defeat creep down their spine. Seven of United’s shots came from outside the box, compared to three of Chelsea’s. Passes were clunky, shots were ponderous, and a jittery angst chased United’s movements like shadows.
Asked whether composure in the final thirds could be coached or if it was purely down to psychology, Skinner said he was hellbent on finding out. Admirable, certainly, though there are certain things that can be coached in the meantime.
The decision to play Elisabeth Terland as a No 10 behind Ellen Wangerheim as the nine was, in one part, inspired. It was also convoluted when considering Wangerheim is at her best receiving crosses, something neither Terland nor roaming forwards-cum-inverting-wingers Jess Park or Melvine Malard supply. The result was a fussy, gridlocked penalty box that plays into Chelsea’s hands — specifically those of 19-year-old centre-back Veerle Buurman.
James might have been the recipient of the game’s POTM award but Buurman arguably deserved it, not that any of Chelsea’s players put a foot wrong. Sonia Bompastor’s side were tenacious in occupying space, and dogged in denying United the opportunity to create their own.
But it would be disingenuous to suggest Chelsea’s execution was down to mere psychology.
When Bompastor was forced into unforeseen changes as defender Nathalie Bjorn, making her first appearance since undergoing hamstring surgery in December, was forced off just two minutes after replacing Kadeisha Buchanan (who was also making her first start since December), there was no sense of alarm. Sjoeke Nusken simply shifted to right-back, where she played once before in the Champions League and from where Chelsea inevitably grabbed their second as Nusken found Beever-Jones with a looping cross.
“It’s my job as a coach,” Bompastor said. “I come into every game being really prepared with many options. I didn’t have to think a lot (when Bjorn was forced off). I knew our options.”
Which is perhaps in part why Chelsea’s performance and, eventually, their celebrations felt so comfortable. Their movements in the press appeared as routine as their eventual guard of honour as United slumped to collect their runners-up medals.
The League Cup might lack the prestige of the FA Cup or WSL trophies but there is a particular rite of passage that laying claim to this trophy — won by only Chelsea, Arsenal and Manchester City since 2011 — imparts. It is a default badge of England’s best. In a season of unprecedented turbulence, then, this was world order maintained; a re-settling of Chelsea into the worn leather of Winning Silverware.
For Skinner’s claims of finding a solution, it is a reminder of the challenge he faces.
“It’s in our DNA,” James told reporters. “We just find a way to win, whether we play well or not. We need to use it as momentum and use this game as another step forward and try to achieve our dreams.”
This article originally appeared in The Athletic.
Chelsea, Manchester United, Women's Soccer
2026 The Athletic Media Company