Manchester United head coach Marc Skinner insists that his side have not performed badly this season and it has simply been a case of not turning their efforts into results.
With half of the season gone, The Red Devils are 10 points adrift of Barclays Women’s Super League leaders Chelsea. Manchester United have managed to win back-to-back league fixtures just once this term.
When speaking to the media ahead of Wednesday’s FA Women’s Continental Tyres League Cup fixture at Manchester City, Manchester United boss Skinner defended his side’s performances this season. He believes that The Red Devils have dominated the majority of their games, although getting results has been a problem.
“If you look back at our performances, in almost every game, we should have won,” Skinner said. “We’ve had chances to win the game.
“We are not performing badly, let me be very clear about that before you look at results. If you go back and watch every single 90 minutes, Manchester United were probably the best team statistically and in performance in all-but-two of those games. You have to dig deep into performance and that’s what I do every single day.
“I’m happy with the team’s performance, their energy and their commitment towards what we are trying to do. We are in a moment where we are not picking up results but that happens in football at times. It digs and builds your resolve even more and that’s exactly what I want from my team. If you want to win things, you’ve got to take these punches and roll with them. We are doing that and we will fix them.”
Despite Manchester United’s challenging league position, Skinner said that the importance of cup success has not increased. The Red Devils are focusing on each game equally as it comes along.
He said “The reality is that we go into every game to try and win it. We shift our focus to Manchester City now, a tough away task. It’s a derby within this competition, we want to progress and we want to add silverware. The sole focus moves to this game then it moves back to Villa [in the league].
“As much as we are seven to 10 points behind, we have to chase, that’s the reality of the situation and that’s what we will do. We don’t look at anything other than a challenge.
“We will go and try and give ourselves the best chance to go through in this competition to try and win a cup then we shift our focus back to winning games in the league, that’s all we can do.”
Manchester United’s FA Women’s Continental Tyres League Cup fixture at Manchester City kicks-off at 7pm on Wednesday evening.