Marc Skinner defiant as Man Utd taught hard lesson by clinical Chelsea

Manchester United supervisor Marc Skinner has declared that he by no means needs his workforce to ‘fear’ attempting to play the ball out from the again and insists remoted errors in key moments could be fastened following a primary WSL defeat of the season by the hands of Chelsea.

United went into the heavyweight conflict in opposition to the reigning champions off the again of 5 consecutive WSL wins, averaging 2.8 targets per recreation and conceding not even as soon as.

In entrance of a bumper crowd at Leigh Sports Village, it was a carefully fought and bodily first half through which either side had probabilities. United had been nicely within the recreation at that time, till a misplaced move from centre-back Millie Turner making an attempt to play the ball ahead into midfield was picked off.

From that, Chelsea scored inside just a few seconds by way of Sam Kerr after which doubled their lead solely moments later – a speedy moved from again to entrance – due to former United participant Lauren James.

Skinner’s facet pulled a objective again by way of Alessia Russo which had the potential to arrange a seismic remaining couple of minutes, just for Chelsea to kill issues off in stoppage time.

“We acquitted ourselves much better than we did against them last year. But we still can’t allow them to think quicker than us and move quicker than us in those moments,” Skinner mirrored afterwards, alluding to a 6-1 dwelling defeat to Chelsea 14 months in the past.

“There are controllable moments we’ve let ourselves down in. We lost in moments where I and the team felt they could have done better.”

In phrases of how United reply to this defeat, which sees the workforce slip to 3rd within the WSL desk, Skinner is thought-about tweaks slightly than main surgical procedure as extra large fixtures in opposition to Arsenal and Manchester City seem on the horizon within the subsequent few weeks.

“Players will make mistakes. What I have to make sure of as a coach is the thought process of that mistake because it was not the right time to [attempt that pass],” the boss mentioned.

“But that isn’t why we lost the game. We lost the game on speed of thought and concentration. Those are fixable that we’re going to work at. What we’ll find out when we go into the analysis of this game is these are the moments that matter in big games.

“I don’t want my team to ever fear trying to play out [from the back] when it’s the appropriate time. But these are the moments where you have to take control in big games and that is what we will learn from, no doubt. Now we’re more competitive but there are edges that Chelsea have that we’ve got to make sure we get for the games coming up.”

Russo, having scored the objective that had the potential to kickstart a late comeback, didn’t truly end the match when her workforce nonetheless desperately wanted one other one.

It was vastly disappointing to the hundreds of United followers contained in the stadium and lots of extra watching on TV within the UK and around the globe. Skinner was additionally dismayed at withdrawing her however defined it was mandatory following a current damage layoff and solely current return to motion.

“When you’ve had a hamstring [injury], we need to make sure we look after Alessia,” he mentioned. “I thought she was magnificent. It pained me as much as it pained everyone seeing her walk off the field. I would not have wanted to take Alessia off in that moment but it is where we’re at.

“The reality is we do not want that player to be niggled with something we can control. I’m hoping in the next couple of weeks when she comes back from international duty she will be up and ready for 90s.”

United have beforehand been cautious with Russo’s health, giving her a few weeks to coach earlier than giving her minutes off the bench in opposition to Everton per week in the past, as nicely as initially holding her again at the beginning of final season off the again of a long-term damage that had wrecked her 2020/21 marketing campaign.

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