Marc Skinner: Man United Women coach defends unusual tactical tweak | OneFootball

Manchester United Women were held to a frustrating 0-0 draw with West Ham United.

The result means that they have lost ground in the race for the top three.

They currently sit in third place, but Arsenal are only three points behind with two games in hand on Marc Skinner’s side.

United were looking for a positive response after the bitter defeat to Chelsea in the League Cup final, but they could not find what they were looking for.

After the match, the club’s official website caught up with Skinner, and he gave his thoughts on a frustrating night in London.

Wasteful

Skinner claimed that United were poor in the boxes against Chelsea on Sunday and had a similar complaint over the match last night.

He admitted that West Ham would be happy with the point, but that the crux of the issue in his team’s performance was once again composure in front of goal.

Skinner explained, “from our perspective, we were just a little bit wasteful. I think we had the game plan, but people don’t see it — you think it’s a football pitch, you see green grass, but it’s bobbly for both teams.”

The manager continued to lambast the state of the pitch at the Chigwell Construction Stadium by asserting, “West Ham would like to play a different style as well, but when you’re playing here, there’s going to be an extra bobble. It slows everything down, allows their block to get into shape. At times it looked almost like a game of tennis — but one-half tennis, and we had them.”

Skinner added, “so I’m frustrated, but it is what it is. We’ve got to move forward quickly — no time to dwell. We need to refocus on the game against Everton on Saturday.”

United need to adapt

The head coach also defended his side’s expansive style, but admitted that they sometimes need to change their game plan depending on the game context.

He explained, “we didn’t put the ball into the box enough in the first half. We got caught between wanting to overplay — and I get it, I love our style. On big pitches you can create fantastic spaces and overloads. But on pitches like this — that you don’t train on or play on regularly — you have to adapt. Maybe we didn’t adapt enough. That’s something we’ll look at collectively before Everton.”

Terland as a 10

The coach sprung a surprise by choosing Terland in a number 10 position, and he defended his decision.

He stated, “well, we’ve had different personnel with Ella Toone out. The reason we used her there on this pitch is because she strikes the ball really well from outside the box. We felt those drop-downs could fall to her, and she’s close enough to connect with the striker — almost like playing with two nines at times. That’s the rationale. She has the quality to defend and attack in that role, so it’s something we’ll continue to use.”

Skinner closed the interview by stating they cannot let emotion get in the way and need to focus all their energy on beating Everton ahead of huge challenges against Bayern Munich and Manchester City later in the month.

Featured image Maja Hitij via Getty Images

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