Skinner: We've tasked ourselves to get after teams

The 4-0 result marked a return to winning ways for the Reds following our league defeat to Chelsea before the recent internationals. This was also the first of three fixtures before the winter break sets in later this month, in which United wanted to put down a strong end to the calendar year.

"I thought the players were excellent, their attitude was excellent. We've tasked ourselves in these three games [before the winter break against Liverpool, Newcastle and Crystal Palace], to get after teams and get back to where we want to be, which is attacking and being aggressive," Skinner reflected in the post-match press conference afterwards.

"That's part of what we’ve been doing [in training] and we've started it well in this game."

United took the lead just over half an hour into the game after a fairly even start. Elisabeth Terland broke the deadlock with a clinical finish, but it was crucially quickly followed by a second goal from Leah Galton and Liverpool never recovered from falling two behind.

"It's always good to get a back-to-back goal. It was a pretty even game up until that point, I think the second half was much more comfortable," Skinner said.

In stopping Liverpool from getting on the scoresheet at all, it was also an eighth clean sheet for United across 11 games in all competitions so far in 2024/25.

The impressive form of Phallon Tullis-Joyce has obviously been a factor, although Liverpool didn't often test our no.91. But Skinner also wanted to highlight the contributions of another key player to that defensive strength too: Dominique Janssen.

Janssen scored the third United goal, as well assisting Galton and the fourth for Melvine Malard, but her work and presence out of possession has been a positive addition to the team.

"Dom was excellent today. But if you take away on the ball stuff, she offers a lot of [defensive] coverage," the boss added.

"She covers gaps that we couldn't cover last year. There's a lot of space covering that wouldn't necessarily lead to chances, but it puts [the opponent] off playing that [pass]. We're covering spaces really well in midfield and it gives protection to the backline."