Skinner: Every game is a must win
Manchester United Women will welcome Sheffield United to Leigh Sports Village for our last game of the year on Sunday (18 December), kicking off at 12:00 GMT.
But United boss, Marc Skinner, has insisted that we need to win every fixture, regardless of its consequences.
“Every game for us is a must win,” he told the media in Wednesday’s press conference.
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“But for us, it’s not about that. It’s about our mentality and how we want to approach games and our choices. For us, in this game, we choose to put all of our energy into this game and give absolutely everything.”
Skinner added: “These players, whether they’re fighting for three points or not, they’re fighting to get into a competitive team.
"So it’s really important that they put that out on the field and show us everything they’ve got so that it makes it really difficult for me to select the teams coming into the new year.”
One of those early 20223 clashes, against Liverpool, has been moved to Sunday 15 January, with kick-off at 14:05 GMT, and the Leigh Sports Village encounter being shown live on BBC One.
Before then, the boss also alluded to potentially bringing in some of our youth prospects for this weekend’s fixture, as he looks to assess his options going forward.
“[Alyssa Aherne] would definitely be one of those in contention [to be involved]. She’s been very good all year really, had a little injury, but has come back and trained with the group today and I thought she was excellent.
“There’s a lot of players that have been doing well that fit in that next mould that we will be looking at coming into the next year.”
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“I’m really proud,” he told the media. “We knew we had to transform the team, so bringing in seven players and seven or eight out, that’s a massive transition. For us, the way the girls took that on board and have shown their qualities and have kept the consistency really, really high – I know when I get three minutes to switch off over Christmas, I’ll be really, really happy with the group’s progression, the attitude and the personality [they are] showing.
“But I’ll look at that in my three minutes and then we’ll be back down to work come the New Year.”