‘We’ve got to take our chances’ – Manchester United must be ruthless against West Ham says Skinner | OneFootball

Manchester United head coach Marc Skinner says that his side must be ruthless and take their chances when they face West Ham United this evening.

The Red Devils travel to The Chigwell Construction Stadium to face The Hammers in their latest Barclays Women’s Super League match.

When speaking in the pre-match press conference, Manchester United boss Skinner emphasised the need for his side to take their chances and be prepared for West Ham United’s counter-attacks.

“They still playing a similar style [under Rita Guarino], slightly different,” Skinner said. “I think [Riko] Ueki is a huge player for them but it’s an incredibly talented front-line. We always have to be prepared for that, we have to be prepared for counter threats on that pitch. 

“It’s not a massive pitch, so you’ve always got to be prepared for that. It’s always a game where you have to play the pitch as well as the team on it. 

“We have to try to take the game to West Ham as much as we can but I absolutely believe that we have to be fully-focused when we are with the ball because their threat on the counter-attack is real. If we want to win this game, we’ve got to take our chances, create many moments where we can take our chances and that will be the key.”

Manchester United return to action just three days on from their 2-0 defeat to Chelsea in the Subway Women’s League Cup final. Skinner gave details of his side’s preparation in such a short space of time.

He said “It’s more about individual meetings at this point. We will walk through the game plan, do some video and then go out on the [training] field to maximise freshness then we go down [to West Ham].

“Our girls have been good at that, they’ve got used to it with the Champions League. We will look forward to the challenge of it.”

Victory for Manchester United would result in them cutting the gap between themselves and league leaders Manchester City to six points. The Cityzens dropped points at the weekend as they drew 0-0 with Aston Villa. Skinner says that all that Manchester United can do is focus on themselves.

He said “All we can do is try to gain points and drag them back. It’s different when you’re being chased to being the chasing team, so we will see how Manchester City react to that. All we can do is focus on chipping away at the points tally.”

Manchester United’s Barclays Women’s Super League fixture at West Ham United kicks-off at 7.15pm this evening.