Manchester United manager Marc Skinner criticised his side's first-half performance in their 0-0 draw against Aston Villa, as the Reds Women's Super League title hopes suffered another significant blow.
The result leaves his team outside the Champions League places in 5th. However, the Red Devils do have a game in hand on 3rd and 4th placed teams Brighton and Arsenal.
United started the game on the back foot, with Villa's relentless pressing causing them issues.
"In the first half we weren't good enough. We were too far off the press, we were too wide, too stretched. We couldn't get the forwards to press, we couldn't get the midfielders to jump, and the defenders were too far behind. We looked disjointed," Skinner admitted.
However, the United boss did see improvement from his side in the second half: "At half-time, we fixed a couple of things to control spaces but it wasn't tactical, just about adjusting shape, space. We pulled the wingers lower, and inside which meant when Villa headed it we could pick up that second ball quicker.
So that's basically the theory of the game. Second half we were miles better but we have to be better throughout the whole of it," he said.
-
On challenging for trophies
Despite sitting 5th in the WSL table, Skinner is adamant that his team still have their sights set on winning silverware as they look to build on last season's FA Cup triumph.
"We know what the challenge is. We know where the teams are ahead of us, we know what they're doing. We've still got to play them.
"We want to push up this table. We want to be at the top. We want to qualify for Europe and we want to win leagues and we want to win cups, we want to win trophies. Of course we do.
"But we're also a brand new team that are moving again within the fourth season.
"We know where we're heading. We know what we've got to do. Tonight we have to do better first half and I think we win this game of football," said the United boss.
Despite guiding United to their first major title last season, with an emphatic FA Cup final win over Tottenham Hotspur, some fans are still not convinced Skinner is the man for the job. At half-time, boos and chants of Skinner rang out around Leigh Sports Village.
On the chants, Skinner said "That’s part and parcel of being at Manchester United, everyone can have their opinion, and that's the job. For me, what I know is that I will deliver winning football for this club, for this team and the players know that. We've just come off the back of an FA Cup and guess what? We're still unbeaten.
"We're still unbeaten and yet you get that opinion which is absolutely fine by me but it doesn't deter me. For me it's about making sure our players are in the right space to win games of football. We had a problem in the first half, we weren't aggressive enough and we'll fix that going into the Leicester game."
-
On defensive solidity
Although it was a disappointing result for the Reds, Skinner praised his team's defensive solidity as they kept a clean sheet.
"I know we all want to attack and we all want to score goals. There is also an art that we cannot, cannot forget, which is defending. If you don't win the game, then you must make sure you don't lose it, and that's really key," he said.
"We want to score more goals. We want to win games of football, but you also have to start from a solid base."
The 41-year-old manager heaped praise on two of his defensive players in particular - Gabby George and goalkeeper Phallon Tullis-Joyce.
On George, who has recently regained her place in the side after recovering from an ACL injury, Skinner said: I think she's steadily been growing. It's probably only under 15 matches she has played for Man United, because of the injury. So for her to come and produce that quality, they put two or three different players on her and she still had to maintain that pace and still cover the central channel on that invasion part for the block.
"I thought she was great. She was my player of the match because I felt that she had a key part in the defensive structure, but also towards the second half."
Over the summer, the Red Devils saw number one goalkeeper Mary Earps depart the club for Paris Saint-Germain - a worrying sight for fans. However, Skinner has been impressed with how Tullis-Joyce has stepped up into the number-one spot and made it her own.
"I thought she made two or three fantastic saves tonight, which we ask our goalkeepers at Man United to be able to make big saves. I thought both Phallon and Gabby were excellent, they're growing in their roles."
-
On Grace Clinton's performance
After returning to United over the summer having spent last season on loan with Tottenham Hotspur, Clinton has caught the eye of United fans with her creativity and attacking flair.
As the team's current top scorer in the WSL, the 21-year-old has been integral to United's attacking play, but she failed to find any form of rhythm against the Villans and had limited impact.
Skinner spoke on how she was forced to operate in a slightly deeper role than usual: "We should have gone into a more aggressive shape quicker, we just didn't step into it. Grace should have been up into the second ten pocket but the back line didn't get into that shape quickly enough.
They played negative on the first build which meant we couldn't step higher. Grace would have been in the higher pocket then and you'd have seen that part. So, the team have to be responsible for that."
