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Manchester United head coach Marc Skinner says that all eyes are on this weekend’s Barclays Women’s Super League fixture against Everton and that his side will give The Toffees the greatest respect.
The Red Devils welcome the Merseysiders to the Leigh Sports Village on Sunday afternoon.
Everton are improving with every game and have given all of the top sides in the Barclays Women’s Super League a rough ride. When speaking to the media ahead of this weekend’s fixture, Manchester United boss Skinner acknowledged the difficulty of his side’s latest challenge and said that Everton will be given huge respect.
“These are two tough teams,” Skinner said when commenting on his side’s upcoming challenges against Everton and West Ham United. “People mention the last three games [of the season] but I think Everton and West Ham are two teams that have some of the best form outside of the top four positions. We have to treat them with the utmost respect and really prepare well. We do anyway, but you’ve got to sharpen your focus.
“Everton are playing really well, scoring goals and defending well. There’s lots of stuff that we have to prepare for. There’s no way that we will take our eyes off the sole challenge of Everton this weekend.”
Everton have invested significantly in their women’s team since the turn of the year and Skinner highlighted the increased challenges that the Merseysiders now bring.
He said “They’ve got the unpredictability of their press; they jump down different lines should they sense an opportunity, so their structure and shape falsifies what you’re going to get because it comes from different angles. We’ve got to be prepared for that. I still think Everton give you space in order to play.
“What they’ve changed is that they have two fast, aggressive forwards that are pushing lines back, invading. It’s probably the first time since Brian [Sørensen] has been there that they’ve had invasion threat beyond the back-line. I think he has pretty much everyone available, so he’s got that competition.
“I expect a really tough challenge and we will be ready. If you take the Liverpool result out, we are in fantastic form ourselves. We’ve won eight out of our last nine in the WSL, so we are in great form too. We need to be really focused on the details of the game but try and enforce our qualities.”
After losing 3-1 at Liverpool, Manchester United bounced back with a 4-0 victory at Aston Villa last time out. Skinner was pleased with how his side responded to a rare setback.
He said “We hadn’t tasted it for so long, we’ve only lost three games in all competitions this season and that’s an incredible results base that the girls are putting in.
“We didn’t have much practice of being able to show that [bouncing back]. You don’t ever want to take a loss but if you react like that and it’s an impetus into the next game, it feels like you’ve got control back.
“I was really impressed but I expect that from us now.”
Manchester United’s Barclays Women’s Super League fixture against Everton kicks-off at 12pm on Sunday afternoon. Tickets remain on-sale and can be purchased by clicking here.
