Marc Skinner addresses criticism over Man Utd team selection
Manchester United manager Marc Skinner has stressed that he would be more open to making changes to his team if he feels that things are no longer working as he wants them to.
It comes amid increasing criticism from a section of United fans keen to see more rotation in the squad and greater use of substitutes during games. Critics have cited a lack of goals in recent WSL fixtures as a concern, having scored a stoppage time winner to break the deadlock against Reading last month and playing out a 0-0 draw at home to Everton in their most recent outing.
The criticism has also surprised plenty of onlookers given that United have only dropped points on three occasions in the WSL this season and are sitting second in the table with the joint best defence, the second best attack and highest goal difference.
Skinner has defended his position, pointing out that it was missed chances rather than a lack opportunities created that cost his team all three points against Everton.
“There wasn’t any point [against Everton] where I didn’t feel were creating chances to win the game,” Skinner explained as United now look to return to winning ways against Tottenham on Sunday.
“I see the players every minute of every day. We know when form hits and we know when it dips. We know when they’re ready to come in. The reality is we want different ways to unlock a defence, but we were unlocking it against Everton.
“I brought Leah [Galton] back in because we wanted balance on that left-hand side and she created opportunities. We had to take her off because she was on limited minutes based on coming back [from injury], otherwise we would have kept her in attacking that side.”
Skinner also highlighted Sarina Wiegman’s England selections at Euro 2022, using the same starting XI throughout the tournament and also similar substitutions in each game.
“We talk a lot about the success of England in the summer. They hardly change anyone. They know exactly the gameplan,” the United boss continued.
“If we’re not creating the spaces or not creating the opportunities, absolutely you can go change, change, change, change. But in the last three games we’ve created something like 70 chances. Just throwing a different person in there doesn’t mean you fix that.
“I promise now, if we felt we weren’t progressing against Everton and not attacking their spaces, I would have made changes quicker. But we were absolutely all over Everton.
“We assess the game on themes and some of the themes were how they attack us. Genuinely, in those categories we had two or three. I think they had two or three counter attacks and a couple of corners. We had absolute control of the game.
“When it is necessary, we will make the appropriate changes. I have no doubt about that.
“Barring a result that should have been a 4-0, we wouldn’t have been asking that.”
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