Manchester United have hunger to bounce back from Liverpool defeat says Skinner | OneFootball

Manchester United head coach Marc Skinner says that his side have responded positively from last weekend’s 3-1 defeat to Liverpool and they are keen to put things right against Aston Villa this afternoon.

The Red Devils travel to Villa Park aiming to get back to winning ways after suffering their second defeat of the campaign last time out.

When speaking in the pre-match press conference, Manchester United boss Skinner said that he has been pleased with his side’s reaction to the Liverpool defeat and that they have shown a hunger to bounce back.

“We had a good conversation as a group,” Skinner said. “We had a lot of control in the game with territory, domination in terms of position on the field. When you look at the stats of where Liverpool were positioned, it was predominantly in their half and we got done on two counter-attacks. We’ve got to defend them better.

“What I loved about the group was that they just owned what we should have done in the game. It’s not just the defensive parts; we created so many moments where the cross was wrong or we turned it down. It’s about sharpening those points going into this weekend.

“I think there was a hunger from that result. I was really happy with their attitude; wanting to put in a performance against Villa and trying to rectify those areas. We need to be strong in our defensive play again and be ruthless in the attacking areas.”

Opponents Aston Villa find themselves in the middle of a relegation battle but Skinner believes that The Villans have been performing better than results suggest.

He said “Natalia [Arroyo] clearly has an ideology around playing football, that’s clear. I feel that in some of the games where they’ve had losses, they’ve been unfortunate because they’ve played pretty well. I think they were playing well at the start of the season too; I thought they had some real good games in the first 8-10 games that stood out. Maybe it’s just adding those pieces that they’ve been missing.

“The quality in their squad and the investment that they’ve made, I’m sure they don’t want to be where they are in the league. Our jobs is to try and make them feel that pressure; be us, be as aggressive as we are and make them feel that pressure. When I look at their performances, should Natalia be given time, I’d hope that you’d see a really good footballing team.

“We’re looking forward to the challenge but it’ll be a tough one. We are not taking it lightly at all based on league position because they’re performing really well.”

Skinner went on to say that Manchester United will look to capitalise on Aston Villa’s recent woes but their approach has to be the same in every game between now and the end of the campaign.

He said “It’s going to be our aim and actually, from now until the end of the season, it’s got to be the same against every team that we play; it doesn’t matter if we are playing Villa near the bottom or Chelsea near the top in a few games time. We’ve got six games left plus an FA Cup semi-final, so we’ve got to play with no regrets and that’s what I’m going to make sure we challenge ourselves to do within these games.”

Manchester United’s Barclays Women’s Super League fixture at Aston Villa kicks-off at 4.30pm this afternoon.