Marc Skinner bemoans his side’s wastefulness in front of goal in Liverpool defeat | OneFootball

Marc Skinner lamented his side’s inability to take their chances as Manchester United Women lost 1-0 to Liverpool on Sunday afternoon.

A solitary goal by Jenna Clark was enough to allow the Merseysiders to leapfrog United into fourth place in the Women’s Super League.

Speaking to the club’s official website after the game the Red Devils’ coach stated, “I think we should be two nil up before they, they have a chance to go 2-1 it would have been at the time and one nil up at that stage, and we have another chance to make it three. And these are chances that fall in the penalty area that we should score.”

“We fell a little short today and as I say, I don’t think that it’s something that needs to be over-analysed, it’s a momentary thing and something we will fix going into the next two games.”

Skinner also bemoaned his team’s concentration for the vital corner that resulted in Liverpool’s winner late in first-half stoppage time.

“I think that’s key and switching off from one set piece. It wasn’t structural, it was an individual moment where we switched off.”

The Englishman then launched an attack on the pitch calling it “anti-football.”

“The pitch, in a way it was a bit of an anti-football game. Both teams were knocking it on, playing long and it’s not a possession-based football. We lost sight of that today.”

Skinner then claimed that it is always his side’s goal to dominate possession, to play and rotate the ball but they found that hard on today’s pitch that he described as a “tight, compact pitch where spaces are behind and not in front.”

The former Birmingham City coach was quick to try and turn the negative of defeat into a positive for his side’s chances in the mouth-watering FA Cup final tie next weekend and claimed that perhaps a poor result today will serve his side well for the showpiece event.

“Sometimes it’s good to take a hit before a really big game to focus ourselves. To really get our energy and to really get after Tottenham in the final.”

United centre back, Maya Le Tissier, echoed her coach’s sentiments by criticising her team’s inability to react well in both boxes.

“Whoever is best in both boxes usually wins the game and that wasn’t us today.”

“Of course we had maybe three chances in the first half and a few in the second but set pieces win you games and trophies and we just switched off for a second.”

Le Tissier shared her manager’s analysis of the game that United struggled to play their usual type of football and this inevitably affected the result.

“Liverpool are a difficult team to play against, especially away from home. A small pitch, tight, scrappy, you can only really play off seconds and sometimes we can’t play the pretty football we want to play.”

The young defender’s attention quickly turned to next weekend’s big event and she claimed, “our focus is on next weekend. It’s massive for us and we want to finish the season as well as we can. Just to reward the fans for sticking with us.”

All eyes will now turn to Sunday 12th of May as United head to Wembley stadium aiming to win their first piece of silverware in the women’s game.

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