Man Utd's reaction to Man City draw underlines progress under Marc Skinner
Manchester United manager Marc Skinner described the result as the ‘most negative’ thing about his team’s 1-1 draw against Manchester City at the Etihad Stadium, pointing to a crucial mentality shift for the players to end up disappointed with such a result.
United are yet to beat City away from home in any competition, or indeed in the WSL ever.
Sunday’s draw in front of more than 44,000 fans at the Etihad Stadium didn’t change that, but it highlighted further improvement and a growing belief to be disappointed at failing to take all three points after also recently beating Arsenal on the road.
“We’re frustrated with the result, but not the performance. This is a mentality change for our group,” Skinner explained after the final whistle.
“They’ve come off at the end and they are very disappointed they have not come off with a win, especially in the nature of conceding a goal [after taking the lead].
“It’s not like last year where we might have had to defend for our lives for a big portion of the game. They’ve come off and felt they want and need to win that game. It’s a really great mentality shift. That is only going to serve us well in the future.”
Skinner is not shy about admitting that United still have ‘lots to work on’ if they are to realise ambitions of consistently qualifying for the Champions League and challenging for trophies. But he points to the experience gained over the last 18 months and the motivation of avoiding a repeat of the disappointment when they led twice against Chelsea on the final day of last season, yet went on to lose the game and miss out on a top three finish.
“I’m a hard person to please, but I’m so proud,” he said of taking four points from the last two away games against Arsenal and City.
“There’s a moment of reflection, but you don’t want to have a weakness that you accept where you are currently. We’ve done absolutely nothing yet. I’m pleased, but I don’t want to feel like I did at the end of Chelsea last season. I’m going to keep using my energy to fix that this season and beyond. We’re trying to show we’re here to stay for a long time.”
Chelsea and Arsenal are slightly further ahead, but United go into the WSL winter break in third place with a three-point cushion over Manchester City and will take enormous confidence into the second half of the campaign in January.
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