Tottenham Hotspur head coach Rehanne Skinner says that the team believe that results will begin to turn after suffering their seventh consecutive Barclays Women’s Super League defeat on Sunday afternoon.
Spurs went down 2-1 to Manchester United at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium with the unfortunate Molly Bartrip scoring an own goal which decided the match.
The pressure is rising on Spurs to get points on the board but head coach Skinner and her side believe that results will turn in their favour sooner rather than later.
“For the first games (of the losing run), we didn’t deserve to win them and that was the situation that we were in before Christmas,” Skinner said when speaking in the post-match press conference. “Since coming back after the New Year, I think we were unlucky not to get something out of the Villa game’s second half performance, last week against Chelsea we did really well and were unlucky not to get a result out of that one and today, I feel like we should have had something out of this.
“It is disheartening and disappointing from that perspective but I think when you take into context the way that we have played before Christmas against how we are playing now, there are a lot of positives that can be taken out of that.
“As a team, we believe that we are going to get the results and it is just a matter of time. Prior to Christmas, we didn’t earn results but now, the tables have turned and we are working really hard. I am really proud of the players’ performance from start to finish today; we showed belief and confidence from the first whistle until the final whistle and we kept battling until the end to try and get ourselves into it. Those characteristics will help you to get results and we are absolutely confident that those results are coming.”
It was a tough moment for defender Bartrip who put the ball into her own net just seconds after Spurs had equalised through Beth England. Skinner put the responsibility on the whole team for their poor reaction to getting back into the game.
She said “For her in that moment, it is a really difficult one for a defender to have to take. I don’t think she should have been in the position where she has had to make that decision; the team as a collective have to be better in that moment after we have scored a goal. We have to manage the game much better than her having to make those sorts of choices.
“As a defender, sometimes it is part of the job unfortunately and it doesn’t quite go how you want it to but she’s one of us, we will look after her and she knows that the team supports her. Ultimately, it is not just about her in that moment, the whole team has to do better.”
Tottenham Hotspur return to action after the international break with a Vitality Women’s FA Cup fifth round tie against Reading at The Breyer Group Stadium on Sunday 26 February 2023.
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