Manchester United head coach Marc Skinner says that winning domestic trophies is an important step in the development of his team.
The Red Devils begin their chase of another trophy tomorrow when they take on Aston Villa at The Poundland Bescot Stadium in the group stage of the FA Women’s Continental Tyres League Cup.
All of the talk in recent weeks has been around Manchester United qualifying for the UEFA Women’s Champions League but Skinner believes that winning domestic trophies will help build the experience needed for European competition.
“Everyone thinks that money is a shortcut but it’s not, experience is the shortcut,” Skinner said when speaking to FAWSL Full-Time. “We are trying to gain as many different experiences as we can but you’ve got to gel them as a team.
“We have started the first two games very well, we have been dominant in both games. People will say that you should do well but that’s not right, the teams that we have played against are very good teams on their day. For us, Villa are the same, we as a group need to stay on top of ourselves, we need to stay focused and that’s what we can control.”
Commenting further on the Aston Villa fixture, Skinner said that his side are in for a tough game at The Poundland Bescot Stadium.
He said “They’re an organised side who now have quality on the ball as well with players like Rachel Daly and Kenza Dali….they’ve made some good signings, Danielle Turner adds quality.
“I think that it is going to be a very difficult game, it was tough there last year, I thought we should have won the game but it was tough.
“We have to make sure that we are firing and we are performing for us. If we do that, we can cause loads of problems but I expect a really tough game.”
Manchester United’s FA Women’s Continental Tyres League Cup fixture against Aston Villa kicks-off at 12.30pm on Saturday afternoon.