Skinner: My team showed its fight
Marc Skinner was thrilled with the resilience his Manchester United team showed in the goalless draw with Arsenal on Saturday afternoon.
Momentum then shifted in favour of the Gunners who were unable to capitalise on their player advantage, after our Canadian full-back Jayde Riviere received a second yellow card with 25 minutes left to play.
Scroll down to read what Marc made of the result, our spirited performance and the decision to send off Riviere, in his 100th WSL match as United boss...
Skinner: We displayed unique spirit at Arsenal
Marc Skinner answers our questions on United’s spirited showing at Arsenal, in his 100th WSL game as Reds boss…
“I felt that we were fantastic in our defensive work, and we needed to be. We put ourselves in that situation [going down to 10 players]. It’s something we’ll obviously address and have conversations about how we grow from it”, Marc told Sky Sports.
“The team, the way that we finished there with that resilient mentality, it’s the foundation of anything you do with the ball.
“There’s always the second half to attack but once we go down to 10 players, it becomes a challenge and a fight. It just shows my team are fully up for that fight.”
Questioned as to whether he feels aggrieved regarding the red-card decision, Skinner answered truthfully.
“No, watching both [bookings] back, I can’t argue with the referee’s decision. Maybe it was a bit quick, but she [Jayde] puts herself in a position where the referee can make a decision. So regardless of how hard or soft I thought it was, we just can’t put ourselves in that position,” he said.
“It’s something we’ll learn from and, as I say, move forward.”
TEAM TALK AFTER RED CARD
Skinner confirms that his decision to revert the team to a 4-4-1 formation was not to sit back and defend, but to try and limit Arsenal’s attacking avenues, while still leaving the possibility for a United counter.
“You’ve just got to be prepared that Arsenal want that counterattack and put [Stina] Blackstenius on to run [into] that space. So you just have to be aware of it.
“What we said was to be defensively solid, together, collected, and then counter, which is natural in that situation. So no, it wasn’t about being defensive, but we just naturally have that about us because of the work we’ve done over the years.”
Report: Arsenal 0 United Women 0
ArticleThe Reds defend diligently to take a point, despite going down to 10 players in the first WSL game of 2026.
ATTACKS THWARTED
Marc felt United were positive in the opening stages of the game, but let the home side settle and begin to show their quality.
“I felt we started the game really well, hit the bar, and then after that we let Arsenal get a rhythm where really we shouldn’t have done. So I felt we were the downfall of ourselves in that second part of the first half,” he said.
“In the second half we should’ve been a little bit more dominant. We made the changes and then didn’t really get the chance to use them.”
DEBUTS FOR NEW RECRUITS
The second half saw debuts for both of our January acquisitions, as Hanna Lundqvist and Lea Schuller made substitute appearances.
When talking to Sky Sports, Skinner praised the performance of his new Swedish defender, Lundkvist, and later spoke to MUTV about Schuller.
“I thought Hanna did fantastic when she came in,” he said. On striker Schuller: “It was tough for Lea but I thought she gave everything when she came in, because she comes in and all of a sudden we're down to 10.”
Looking ahead to the Adobe Women's FA Cup clash against Burnley next time out, a week on Sunday, the boss believes we will improve but recognises the importance of collecting a point against a difficult opponent today.
“I think we’ll be better with the ball, but a point away at the Emirates is okay for this game, especially going down to 10 players.”
Asked about the key learnings from the performance, he continued to praise the team’s mentality.
“For sure it’s the mentality of our players already. They’ve had a winter break and come straight back to work for each other, for the togetherness of the team, so that is huge for us and the spirit of this group of players.
“We need to be more ruthless in the final third and we need to get those build-up strategies quicker and that’s something we’ll work on this week” he added.
After a packed schedule before the winter break, Skinner is relishing the added preparation time for upcoming matches.
“We have a unique opportunity this next month to actually coach. We had like one or two days in the first part of the year because we had a game every three days, so now we’ll hopefully have a bit of time to put those things right and come aggressive into the second part of the season.”