‘We want to win titles’ – Skinner clear on Manchester United’s aims after victory at Everton

Manchester United head coach Marc Skinner re-emphasised the club’s desire to become a title-winning team after their 1-0 win at Everton.

Grace Clinton netted the winning goal early in the game as The Red Devils made it two wins from two in this season’s Barclays Women’s Super League.

When speaking to the media after the match, Skinner said that he felt that his team did enough to claim all three points whilst re-emphasising the club’s desire to win silverware.

“The wind played a part for both teams,” Skinner said. “It was tight. I felt like we were good enough to probably win the game, but it wasn’t going to be a landslide. Everton were really good but got an injury early on which affected them.

“I’m happy to claim the three points and come away with another clean sheet.”

Competition for places is strong in this season’s Barclays Women’s Super League but Skinner said that Manchester United want to be up there challenging. He was pleased with how his side adapted to difficult playing conditions at Walton Hall Park.

He said “We want to win titles, it’s something that I’ve always spoken about. We are just fighting against three top teams then you’ve got Liverpool, Villa, Brighton and Tottenham all progressing. We are all getting better together.

“It wasn’t pretty today but the resilience that we showed in moments to defend well; you’ve got to adapt everything to [that wind]. We had to come away with three points and we’ve done that.”

Manchester United midfielder Clinton was the quickest to react to an Everton mistake and she was rewarded with the winning goal. Skinner was full of praise for the player and highlighted the importance of her loan spell at Tottenham Hotspur last season.

He said “You get all the credit as the goalscorer but I actually thought her pressing was really good today, there were really good moments.

“I think it’s vital for any player [to go on loan] just to get that game time. Her work rate off the ball is improving, I asked Grace to go out to Tottenham and learn about the defensive side [of the game]. The attacking side is beautiful, she needed to learn how to defend mentally and that’s what she did and she came back and added that to her game. I’m proud of her.”

Shortly after the game, it was announced that Manchester United‘s next league fixture against Chelsea had been postponed to assist The Blues with their UEFA Women’s Champions League preparation. Skinner admitted that the decision was not ideal but he had no complaints.

He said “It’s not ideal but in the best interest of the players and for both Chelsea and Manchester United it is the right decision. If it benefits the safety of the players for both clubs, then it’s probably the right decision and we will resume it somewhere else in the calendar.”

Manchester United are next in action on Wednesday evening when they play host to Liverpool in the Women’s League Cup.