Manchester United must show ruthless side against Leicester City says Skinner | OneFootball

Manchester United head coach Marc Skinner says that his side must be ruthless in both boxes when they face Leicester City at The King Power Stadium this weekend.

The Red Devils have three games left to play as they look to confirm a fourth-place finish in the Barclays Women’s Super League.

Manchester United drew 1-1 with Leicester City when the two sides met in the reverse fixture back in October. The Red Devils dominated that game but were unable to find a winning goal.

When speaking in the pre-match press conference ahead of the latest meeting, Manchester United boss Skinner said that his side have to be ruthless in both boxes this time around.

“Maybe some of their results haven’t been what they wanted but their performances have been absolutely fine,” Skinner said when reflecting on Leicester City’s recent form. “When I watch them and they’re creating chances, they should be scoring them. Even in the Tottenham game, there were moments when they could have took that game.

“I know Jennifer Foster well, she was one of my assistants at Birmingham and I coached her in the Centre of Excellence. Their style and the way that they want to play is continuing [under her].

“Leicester are a very good team in my opinion and we look forward to playing them. When we played them last time, I think they had four shots and scored, then we drew the game. It’s probably like that again where we need to dictate but I want us to be ruthless in both boxes, we have to get back to that.

“We created lots and lots of chances to win the game against Tottenham, I don’t think they had a shot second half. That’s where we have to get back to but we have to win the game.

“I expect a really good team, a high level of performance from them but we have to show our ruthless side in this game.”

Manchester United go into the game in decent goalscoring form, they have netted eight times in their last three matches. Four of those goals have come from different attacking players. Skinner went on to highlight the range of attacking options that he has available.

He said “In our forward line, we have different styles of forward. Mel [Melvine Malard] obviously scored at the weekend and she can be a poacher, she’s more deadly in the box and has the ability to move with her feet of course and create chances. Geyse is somebody that likes to dribble and drive at defenders and commit, Lucía [García] is an invader with Leah [Galton] as well. Nikita [Parris] is deadly in the box when she gets into those positions and Rachel [Williams] is Rachel, she has this unique ability to frighten people with the energy that she gives.

“We are playing different styles of play [from different opponents]. Leicester are a possession-based team as well as a good pressing team. I’ve got to look at how we set the tone in the press and then how we look at creating, building and finishing chances.

“They all want to play every minute but at this stage of the season, I want everybody to be at their very best in order to take chances and opportunities when they come.”

Manchester United’s Barclays Women’s Super League fixture at Leicester City kicks-off at 3pm on Sunday afternoon.