Skinner: Sometimes you need a punch

While conducting his customary press conference ahead of Wednesday's trip to Liverpool in the Continental Tyres League Cup, Skinner explained how he and the players have digested the pain of Sunday's defeat and plan to react at Prenton Park.

"It's every single day that I walk through the door [there is pressure]," he said.

"The players were very good in the debrief and the analysis. Basically, we have allowed Manchester City to dictate play. That is something we don't let any team do. We are very disappointed in the the performance and, as always, we will own that as a collective."

The United Women boss continued: "People will talk regardless. Even if we win 5-0, someone will say we can tactically do something even better. The reality is the players are the people I listen to and we have assessed the game. It was an excellent learning [experience].

"We are very, very disappointed with the performance, [and] that led to the loss but from our point of view it's about growing from that game and making sure we don't play like that again.

"There's lots to learn and we will keep doing that. Sometimes you need a punch in the mouth, and we got that against Manchester City."

Marc also issued a team news update, having explained after the City match that right-back Jayde Riviere had taken a knock in the build-up to the fixture, reducing her output to only 45 minutes against Gareth Taylor's side.

"Jayde took a knock in training the day before we were due to play so it was touch and go whether we could get her in or not," he added.

"But Jayde is [now] fine, she is fit and healthy. Evie Rabjohn is out. I think she will be out until after Christmas.

"We have got Aoife [Mannion] still out, Ire [Irene Guerrero] still out and the [players with] ACL [injuries] are all still out but apart from that, everyone is available for selection going into a tough game. Liverpool are tough and we have a lot of respect for them too."

Matt Beard's team head into their home fixture having lost 5-1 away to reigning Women's Super League champions Chelsea at the weekend.

Liverpool are yet to pick up a point in the Conti Cup this term after two matches, but Skinner is still expecting a difficult game against the hosts, while backing United to get back on track with a victory.

"They want to beat any team they play against so I think they will be really up for it," he said.

"It doesn't matter that Liverpool lost. They will have players who are going to want to get into the team on a regular basis so I imagine they'll be really fired up.

"It's always funny after a defeat because everyone [the media] starts to go to the bottom of the scale.

"We were really unhappy with our performance, but performances are controllable and we can control them better.

"The reality is I am very balanced. We weren't very good, we got what we deserved and now we have to put it right."