Manchester United head coach Marc Skinner says that it would be wonderful to see his side lift the FA Women’s Continental League Cup, however, the priority must first be on competing with Arsenal in their quarter-final tie on Wednesday.
The Red Devils travel to Meadow Park to face the Barclays FA Women’s Super League leaders in the last eight, a side who have won the FA Women’s Continental League Cup on five occasions themselves, the competition’s best record.
When speaking to the media ahead of the match, Manchester United boss Skinner said that lifting the FA Women’s Continental League Cup would be a dream but the first task is for the team to show that they can compete with quarter-final opponents Arsenal.
“It’s something that we want to do, win trophies for our fans,” Skinner said. “Since we’ve come in, we have always said that is our aim, to win trophies.
“We would love to beat Arsenal and get to the semi-finals but we know how difficult that is, they’ve only just come in at this stage because they are a Champions League team and that’s quite important.
“For us, it is about really showing what we are. I would love to win a cup, I’d love to, our team would love to but what is more important for us is are we putting ourselves in a position to beat Arsenal? If we don’t do that and we just dream of winning a cup, we are never going to win a cup.
“We are going to have to be really resolute and defend properly in terms of real focus, real energy, real commitment and then we are going to have to attack with our qualities. If we do that, we deserve to go through.”
Arsenal were 2-0 winners when the two sides last met at the Leigh Sports Village in November. Manchester United had just one shot on target that day and Skinner said that the big thing to improve from that game is showing more aggression.
He said “They were very good attacking first half, they overloaded parts of our team to which we should have recognised as a team quicker. I felt that we could have been more aggressive and we could have had more grit and determination like we have had in our recent games. We know they have wonderful players but why fear that? Absorb that, take it on and really take our energy to Arsenal.
“I want us to grow from that. I want us to make Arsenal have to fear and defend against what we’ve got whilst also respecting the qualities that they have. I want us to really absorb the moment and show our psyche in the moment. We have earnt our right to be in this place so why don’t we put our best performance out.”
Manchester United’s FA Women’s Continental League Cup quarter-final tie at Arsenal kicks-off at 7.15pm on Wednesday evening and will be broadcast live on the FA Player.