Manchester United beat Crystal Palace on Sunday to go into the winter break off the back of a victory. Grace Clinton scored the only goal of the game to put her side joint third in the table.
The Halfway Line got the opportunity to speak with the Manchester United head coach Marc Skinner after their victory on a chilly December night in South London.
Marc Skinner reflects on a ‘hard match’
Crystal Palace were perhaps more obtuse opposition than many expected, having shipped five away at West Ham last week Palace almost made it to half time level. Their battling performance extended to the second half where Skinner’s side were able to hold them off. Skinner was asked for his thoughts on a nervy afternoon: “I thought it was a hard match. I didn’t expect here to come here and make it an easy match. I really didn’t, I said in my pre match comments. I thought Palace have made it difficult.”
Skinner acknowledged that other sides had come to Palace and beaten them by large margins with Chelsea’s 7-0 victory one example, he noted: “They’ve been blown away in a couple of games, but actually attacking wise, they’re pretty good. I think they lose [Katie] Stengel first half, and I think that’s a blow for them. But from our perspective, we thought the game would be won on transition, which it was. We said that in our lead up to our players, it would be won on transition, and as I say, the press allowed us to get up there, so expected it. But what was important? We took the three points.”
Skinner ‘really impressed’ with Grace Clinton
The Halfway Line asked Skinner to comment on the performance of Grace Clinton today, asking if he was running out of superlative to describe her? He laughed: “You know what? I’ll try to find some more. I’m so impressed with Grace off the ball. I know she scores the goal. I know she’s like, really beautiful footwork in there, but I think what Grace has challenged herself over this period to get fitter, she’s changed. She’s changed her mentality.”
The Manchester United head coach continued, “We identified her at 16 at Everton. We knew she was not ready, but we knew she would be ready. And from my perspective, I’ve been really happy with her growth. She played at Tottenham, but I still needed [to see] a challenge off the ball, and I’ve been really impressed. To be elite, you have to not only be good with the ball, you have to be good without it. And I feel that she’s added that to her game, even part of that press is why she gets her goal. And I think that’s something for not only Manchester United fans, but obviously England, to be really excited about.”
‘It’s collective’ says Skinner on the value of a squad
Skinner made a number of substitutions to help see out the victory, bringing on Celin Bizet, Anna Sandberg and Hayley Ladd. He was asked about these subs, noting that football is a squad game:
“We are a squad, like if you look at us defensively and offensively, when I mean the last game played against Liverpool [we had] four different goals scorers, we want to play that way. It’s collective, with and without the ball, and I think we’ve got it today. You know, maybe could have made a few adaptations, but still, so I felt we could have scored again. I think that would have been more comfortable.”
Geyse is ‘passionate and I really love that’ praises Skinner
One of the substitutions saw Geyse replaced by Celin Bizet with 30 minutes to play, Geyse had missed a golden opportunity to double United’s advantage just minutes earlier. Geyse was visibly frustrated when she came off the pitch and sat down on the bench clearly unhappy with the decision. The Halfway Line asked Skinner for his thoughts, he responded:
“I don’t mind that. At the end, she’s given me a high five, she’s just passionate. She’s a fantastic player. Didn’t work today, like we needed to invade, and we didn’t invade enough, and, you know, the pitch didn’t allow her to do the things she’s brilliant at, and so we just made the change. That was all it was.”
Skinner continued, “there is a line, and don’t think she crossed it at all. I thought she was, I thought she was very respectful in the end. And look, she wants to win. She’s passionate, and I really love that.”
Skinner happy to see ‘a lot of progression’ in his side
After Manchester City lost to Everton and Chelsea dropped points at Leicester City, United have been able to close the gap on both. Skinner was asked for his thoughts on the situation at the top:
“So we are currently third, joint, third, with Arsenal, one point behind city, and obviously seven, I think it is behind Chelsea but with them dropping two points yesterday. We just know that we got to put ourselves in a position to try and put pressure on going into the new year. That’s what we did, three games this week, three wins. We are through to the quarters of the the League Cup, and we haven’t been there for two years. So I think there’s been a lot of progression. We’ve won the FA Cup in this calendar year. So like, there’s a lot of progression, and I’m looking forward to what we can do in the second part.”
The Halfway Line asked Skinner if he was already thinking about that tie with Manchester City now, given how tight it is at the top, Skinner smiled: “No chance. I’m thinking about going away with my family going and I’m letting my players go and relax while they’re still focused. But actually, we all know how important the family is at these points to refresh, and I want my players to miss it. I want our players to miss coming in, and that then is a real hunger to come back in the second part of the year.”
