Marc Skinner reacts as Manchester United suffer first defeat of the WSL season against Chelsea | OneFootball

Manchester United Women boss Marc Skinner refused to lay the blame for his side’s loss against Chelsea on goalkeeper Phallon Tullis-Joyce.

United suffered their first defeat of the season on Sunday, at the hands of Chelsea.

Guro Reiten scored the only goal of the game as she converted a first-half penalty. Mayra Ramirez was brought down by Tullis-Joyce, which resulted in the spot-kick.

The Reds managed just one attempt on target and hit the crossbar with one of their only two other shots. Chelsea on the other hand, registered six shots on target from their total 13 cracks at goal.

The result left United in fifth place in the WSL standings, nine points below table leaders Chelsea.

After the final whistle, Skinner spoke to MUTV and was asked whether he had put an arm around Tullis-Joyce, who has been brilliant all season and recently earned her maiden call-up to the United States national team.

Skinner said, “She’ll be hyper-critical of herself but nobody else. She is fantastic, makes world-class saves, comes and commands her area fantastically well. These things happen, they invade…it’s a one-two. We switched off for a second and she’s got a decision to make.”

“Unfortunately the player [Ramirez] gets there before her. But I’ve got no qualms whatsoever about her quality, what she did and how she played. I’m extremely happy with her growth already.”

On the team’s performance, Skinner remarked, “We had to be cautious first half. What you can’t see is the wind…but actually from our perspective, I felt that we duelled well and stayed in the game when we needed to and we opened [up] when we needed to.”

“And overall, the performance was excellent. We probably deserved a little bit more, when they get their chances because we’re open because we’re trying to get back into the game and create a little bit more. But from my perspective, I couldn’t be happier with the players’ commitment, attitude.”

“The growth from this game will be incredible and it will serve us for the future games, no doubt.”

Skinner explained that there were some “dubious decisions” in the game which went against United. He noted that the players got a bit frustrated but that was to be expected because of the physicality of the match.

Feature image Matt McNulty via Getty Images

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