Manchester United head coach Marc Skinner says that West Ham United manager Olli Harder has done a good job with his side this season.
The two clubs meet at The Chigwell Construction Stadium this evening as they contest a Barclays FA Women’s Super League fixture. Skinner and Harder will face each other for the very first time with Manchester United yet to play West Ham United this season.
When speaking to FAWSL Full-Time ahead of the match, Manchester United boss Skinner gave praise to his opposite number Harder for the work that he has done in turning West Ham United’s fortunes around.
“He’s done a great job,” Skinner said. “When you give a coach time to really embed their ideas and recruit their way, you can see the best of what they can do. They seem to have solved their injury problems and he has been in a position where he can show his qualities.
“Listening to him, he is an intelligent guy. The way he wants to play and the way he sees the game are slightly different to how I do but all credit to him, all credit to West Ham, look at where they are and some of the performances they have given.
“It is going to be a tough game but I have nothing but respect for him and what they are doing down at West Ham.”
Manchester United’s previous trips to West Ham United have produced goals but Skinner is unsure of whether the latest meeting will be the same with several factors coming into consideration.
He said “There are factors that play into these games, West Ham are coming into the game a day later than us – we played Saturday and they played Sunday. There is going to be some aspect of that and they have an important game this weekend as well so they have some difficulties to manage.
“We want to keep it as exciting for us as possible but not for them. They are a good team, they have some unorthodox methods to attack you and to defend, they are very aggressive on one v one situations and with the space that they give you, if you can evade them there is space to exploit. They have very good players and it is a very difficult challenge going to them.
“We are preparing our team for a tough challenge, we can exploit them but we have got to make sure that we do not allow them the spaces that they enjoy too.”
Manchester United’s Barclays FA Women’s Super League fixture at West Ham United kicks-off at 7.30pm.
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