5 days Ago By Daniel Hepburn
Manchester United Women duo Elisabeth Terland and Millie Turner have been slammed for their ‘embarrassing and unsporting’ behaviour during this weekend’s 2-0 win over Leicester City in the Women’s Super League , which has propelled them into fifth - level with Arsenal Women - in the standings. Marc Skinner and his entourage continued their flawless run in the 2024/25 WSL campaign thanks to goals from Terland and Celin Bizet Ildhusoy – but their triumph at the King Power Stadium has been marred by their never-seen-before tactic of putting off the Leicester goalkeeper. The visitors – who were founded just six years ago in 2018 – were preparing to take a free-kick in the 54th minute of play and to earn an advantage over their opponents, goalscorer Terland and veteran Turner stood in front of Foxes shot stopper Janina Leitzig in order to obstruct her view.
GIVEMESPORT Key Statistic: Manchester United Women have the best defensive record in the WSL this season, having conceded just twice in seven games. With the score finely poised for the Red Devils at 1-0, they were doing everything in their power to increase their buffer and ease the pressure with the aforementioned pair spotted lifting their arms further to block the view of Leitzig, who was trying to correctly set up her wall. Referee Stacey Fullicks was quick to spot their unusual ploy and instructed them both to move away so that play could continue.
Terland and Turner made sure to quickly return to an onside position after being urged by the official in charge to move. The world transfer record in women's football has been broken three times since 2022. Had they remained beyond the last remaining Leicester Women defender when the free-kick was played, the pair would have been pulled up for obstructing Leitzig’s view in their novel approach to gamesmanship.
The visiting side, who won their first game in four outings after three consecutive draws, were unable to profit from the dead-ball situation but have still drawn criticism online for their ‘school playground’ tactics. Ian Stringer, a football commentator for talkSPORT, posted the footage on X (formerly Twitter) with the caption of “What do we think to this? I haven’t seen it in football before. Fair? Unsporting?” In response, one fan said: “Embarrassing really, no respecting coach would allow this at a professional level surely? School playground tactics.
” Another supporter suggested that the referee should have been more strict with her approach, “Unsporting. Ref should’ve told them to pack it in the first time they did it.” while one fan insisted that what they did was a yellow card offence: “That should be two yellow cards for unsporting behaviour.
” “Embarrassing, unprofessional and unsporting.” On the footage, a fifth fan went the extra mile and suggested that Turner and Terland’s joint act was up there with the most embarrassing things they have witnessed in the beautiful game: “That’s honestly one of the most embarrassing things I’ve ever seen on a football pitch.”.
