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Marc Skinner believes he and his side must take collective responsibility for Manchester United Women’s 3-1 defeat at Old Trafford on Sunday.
Despite taking the lead through Katie Zelem’s penalty, the Reds were pegged back by a quick Manchester City double that saw Jill Roord and Lauren Hemp both get on the scoresheet.
Khadija ‘Bunny’ Shaw sealed the victory in the second half, with the Reds unable to find a route back into proceedings despite City going down to 10.
Speaking to the media after setting a new record home attendance of 43,615 fans, read what Skinner had to say about a bittersweet evening at the Theatre of Dreams…
WE WIN AND LOSE TOGETHER
“I think we got all we deserved. I don’t think we were good enough as a collective, but that’s all of us – we win and we lose together. I think there were times where we maybe let the occasion get to us a little bit, allowed pressure in moments to allow us to make mistakes. We weren’t aggressive enough with the ball in terms of switching play quickly enough we allowed their marking and their press to get into our heads and it stopped us playing how we want to play. Up until they got a player sent off I felt that we were second best in a large proportion of the game and and that’s not like us, that’s something we have to assess. Credit to City, [but] the goals we conceded are not good enough from our standard but I think it’s one of those tonight that we’ve just not done what we needed to do and we got what we deserved.”
ON THE RECORD ATTENDANCE
“They were magnificent. As a coach when you don’t win in front of your fans it’s with a heavy heart but I want to thank all of them and what I can promise them is that this this team will continue to get better, will continue to strive and drive and push our limits because when you see fans and the fanbase tonight in full force, it shows you as a team what you doing it for and they know that. Our team will be hurting tonight and our fans will be hurting tonight but we’ll put it right – I can guarantee them that.”
ON THE GROWTH OF THE GAME
“The growth of the game is huge and now it is becoming proper rivalry and not just ‘it’s a great day to be out’. And that’s a credit to the fans. The fans want to see the performances and the players have to feed into that. That’s part and parcel of derbies. I like the rivalry. We were on the losing end of it tonight so it hurts, but we have to be galvanised by the fact we want to be on the other side of it next game. And that’s the beauty of it. There is always a next game we have to be better. And I know this team. They will look at this game, own what we haven’t done right, and they’ll fix it.”
ON BOUNCING BACK
“More importantly, I think the players will want that [to put it right]. I think the players will watch this game back, and they’ve have the bit between their teeth ready to go into Liverpool. I think that would be the ideal reaction, is for us to focus on what we didn’t do well tonight – which is uncharacteristic of us – that we will fix going into the next game. I’m a big believer in the disappointment that we taste tonight is a catalyst and it’s something that we will use to fuel us going forward, from now to the rest of the season and that’s what I think is going to be the important message from tonight.”
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