Disrupting Chelsea’s winning mentality the challenge for Manchester United says Skinner | OneFootball

Manchester United head coach Marc Skinner says that his side’s challenge it to disrupt Chelsea’s winning mentality when the two teams meet this weekend.

The Red Devils play host to The Blues at The Progress With Unity Stadium in Leigh on Friday evening.

When speaking to the media in the pre-match press conference, Manchester United boss Skinner reflected on the development of Chelsea under Sonia Bompastor. He said that the challenge remains to break their winning mentality.

“Sonia [Bompastor] has tried to adapt them, she’s trying to play more with mixed styles,” Skinner said. “Chelsea can be direct, they can go aggressive and they can build from the back with Hannah [Hampton]. They can mix their style and if they can make it unpredictable, it means that you always have to concentrate on your defensive structures.

“She’s adapted the formation a little bit at times and I think Chelsea just evolve with players. Different players bring solutions to different problems and that’s the key difference [from the Emma Hayes era].

“Sonia has continued their winning mentality and I think people aspire to get to that level of consistency as a team. Our job on Friday is to try and disrupt that. It’s a big challenge and something we are looking forward to.”

Chelsea go into the game in first position while Manchester United are in second. Skinner admits that the two clubs are the most in-form but says that rankings only count for anything in May.

He said “Right now, you’d say that this Friday, they go into it first and second, so by league position, potentially, yes, [the best two teams].

“I’ve watched all of the games so far and there’s loads of quality in this league, so let’s see at the end of the season. Right now, by league standings solely, you’d have to say yes, [the best two teams in the league].”

Manchester United go into the game on the back of three clean sheets and Skinner highlighted the collective effort from his side out of possession.

He said “I think people put it down to just defenders and Phallon [Tullis-Joyce] but we limit everything [collectively]. Phallon is there at the end of that sequence and she was there the other day when we needed her, that’s why she’s a top goalkeeper but I must stress that it’s the whole team’s work ethic. You don’t get clean sheets if you just defend well as individuals; we defend well as a team and that’s the key reason why we keep so many clean sheets.

“It’s always a challenge when you play a team like Chelsea because they have so many ways that they can score. For us, we need to make sure that we minimise those [threats], try to score ourselves and balance the game.

“I’m incredibly proud of how the players work for each other, that’s the unique team spirit that we have.”

Manchester United’s Barclays Women’s Super League fixture against Chelsea kicks-off at 7.30pm on Friday evening.