‘We have to compete’ – Skinner expects Manchester United to perform at Chelsea | OneFootball

Manchester United head coach Marc Skinner says that he expects a performance from his side when they face Chelsea at Stamford Bridge on Saturday.

The game is something of a dead rubber for The Red Devils who have missed out on European qualification and are certain to finish in fourth place in the Barclays Women’s Super League table.

There may only be pride left to play for, but Skinner wants his side to perform well in South West London.

“We have to compete in this game,” Skinner said when speaking in the pre-match press conference. “I won’t let a Manchester United team go out and think there’s nothing on the game. We are playing Chelsea at Stamford Bridge and we have to go into this game trying to get the three points.

“I’m going to tune into the players’ individual focuses and as a team, we have to go out and give absolutely everything.”

Reflecting on his team’s campaign, Skinner said that Manchester United must convert more draws into wins next season and fall on the right side of the fine margins.

He said “There’s always a plan to think forwards in terms of what we need to do to be better next year and to continue the growth that we’ve had.

“We need to turn the draws into wins. We’ve lost three in the league, the same as Manchester City but we’ve drawn seven. It’s those draws that we need to turn into victories. In the quick turnaround games, we just haven’t found that bit needed to get over the line.

“We will look at the fine margins but there has been a lot of good things this season. We have to try to get back into Europe next season and compete in every competition that we are in.”

Going on to discuss Manchester United’s summer recruitment, Skinner said that the club must keep hold of their top players whilst adding new faces carefully.

He said “It’s got to be a priority [to keep the top players]. We’ve got a balance at Manchester United, we grow the budgets in a sustainable way which everybody understands. We have to be clever with our recruitment and I look at us retaining the best players and adding to that.”

Manchester United’s Barclays Women’s Super League fixture at Chelsea kicks-off at 1pm on Saturday afternoon.