Manchester United ‘very ready’ for West Ham challenge says Skinner | OneFootball

Manchester United head coach Marc Skinner says that his side are very ready for what promises to be a difficult fixture against West Ham United this weekend.

The Red Devils travel to The Chigwell Construction Stadium to take on The Hammers on Saturday afternoon.

West Ham United have taken 10 points from their last four home games while they have collected a record number of points on their own turf this season. The game presents an extremely difficult challenge for Manchester United but head coach Skinner says that his side are focused and are very ready for the contest.

“I spoke about it in the huddle after the [Manchester] City game that West Ham is really important,” Skinner said when speaking in the pre-match press conference. “I’m not interested in the FA Cup final right now, I’m really not.

“This is a team that is in form. Rehanne’s [Skinner] super-strength is consistency; even when she is under-fire, she is consistent with her messages and I think her team are thriving on that. She’s recruited well on the budget that she has and you can see that, you can see that some of her players are really dangerous.

“I’ve made it very clear to the team [about the dangers] and I’ve been pleased with their response. They seem very ready for that. It does happen that after the Lord Mayor’s Show kind of performance where you go from a real high such as reaching the FA Cup final again [the performance levels can dip] but the thing I think we’ve learned is that every game is important now. I think they’re really looking forward to the game and that’s a great thing for us.

“It’ll be a good game; it’ll be tight, it’ll be tough to beat West Ham, especially at that ground and Rehanne knows very well how to stop teams from playing and how to hit teams on the counter, she’s super-organised. It’ll be a really tough game but we have to try and do what we do and take the victory.”

West Ham United have impressed with their counter-attacking qualities and clinical finishing this season. Skinner believes that The Hammers’ threats will test his side’s concentration and mindset.

He said “Their front-line is very impressive and even the work that the midfielders do behind that gives them that stability to be able to go and attack. You have to be super-concentrated because you have to get your counter-marking right.

“We will attack and we will obviously have a lot of the ball. I think you’ve really got to take the game to West Ham to try and attack them but then you have to be very aware that the further you drag the forwards away from their attacking zone, the better, so you have to have elements of control in the game.

“They’re dangerous with set-pieces as well, so it really is a concentration game and it’s a mindset game that we have to take. I think it’s a great challenge for us. As we enter the last four games after this, I think West Ham’s a great test for that because they’re in that standard. They’re playing at a top-four standard and are in very good form. It keeps us at that level for when we play the other teams.

We will have to be concentrated and I am not taking anything for granted, I never do but definitely not in this one. We will do everything we can to concentrate and try and win the game.”

Manchester United’s Barclays Women’s Super League fixture at West Ham United kicks-off at 12pm on Saturday afternoon.