Key quotes: Skinner’s pre-Palace press conference

Members of the media were invited for a tour of the women’s facilities at the club’s Carrington training ground, conducted by interim head of women’s football Matt Johnson, before heading to the Jimmy Murphy Centre where Marc previewed his team’s final fixture of 2024.

You can watch the briefing back in its entirety below and see a round-up of the boss’ key quotes from the session, which kicked off with a question about what’s next for our Carrington base, which is in the midst of redevelopment work.

TARGET FOR CARRINGTON

“I think it’s to continue to grow what you’ve seen today. I think once we have everybody placed where they should be, the men have obviously moved [buildings] and the women have moved, it’s then to identify what we need from that. I know there’s been a lot of improvement made to our building as well, there’s been a lot of investment gone back into our building that we will benefit from as well. For example, the analysis room, staging and stuff like that and the soundproofing in there, it helps you focus. So, that will be good, I’m sure there will be access to the recovery pools and stuff that we need too but much more than that? It’s wants then not necessities, so I think we’re in a good space in that capacity. But I can just see it evolving anyway, regardless.”

PROBLEMS PALACE WILL POSE

“Certainly [I have seen enough to suggest they can stay up]. They’ve conceded a few goals that I think they wouldn’t be happy with, but they’re scoring goals. They are in a position where I think they’ve been tough. I watched the Chelsea game [7-0 defeat for Palace], and I know Chelsea won the game handsomely, but they created quite a lot of chances. We played against Katie Stengel when she was at Liverpool and she’s a handful. They’re thriving under the pressure they’ve got. I think they’re doing a really good job and it will be a difficult game.”

MONTH-LONG WINTER BREAK

“There’s a lot of perspectives on that and I can only talk from my perspective at Manchester United, I think it does come at a welcome time for those players who have been on summer tournaments. I think it’s a good mental break, they get time to reset, the length of it is quite long so there might be a balance struck there. I think they maybe adapt it going forwards but I actually enjoy the fact that my players go away and see their families. I think that has a real benefit and hopefully you see that in the second part of the season.”

UPDATE ON ELLA TOONE’S INJURY

“She’s in a really good space. I think she needed this little break, it came unfortunately because she obviously misses games but I think she needed this break from a physical standpoint, her body reacted. I’m expecting her to come back really healthy, really happy in terms of wanting to get back into her football. You know what she’s like as a character, I love speaking to her. I spoke with her today, I’m due a catch-up with her tomorrow. She’s in a good space and I’m hoping she comes back and shows that in her football.”

WE’VE DONE OKAY, WE WANT BETTER

“From my perspective, I want us to be more attacking in this next part but I’m really happy… I think we’ve got the second-best defensive record in Europe behind Lyon. I think we look past that, I think we conceded against Newcastle the same amount we conceded all season. I think there’s a balance point, we don’t want to be too defensive. We want to attack more so we defend less. We’ve done okay, we want to do better going into this next part of the year.”

AFFECT OF DAN ASHWORTH’S DEPARTURE

“I have direct report with Collette [Roche] now, the COO [chief operating officer] and also Jason [Wilcox] from the football perspective. So, we have support from football and operations now for me and that can happen on a daily basis. I’m literally due a call with Collette this evening. [Is that something new?] Since Dan left, because that was happening with Dan, so that will be the same with Jason and Collette.”

MATT JOHNSON’S ROLE

“For sure [I would like him to stay]. He’s been fantastic. He’s a balance in a world of madness and for me, he’s very clear, he’s very process driven. You know what we’re like as managers, we’re process driven but also, we can be passionate, and I think he’s very good for the job. He’s excellent. We’d be in really good hands with him.”