“I’d like to talk about football more, not scandals,” says Marc Skinner after six-goal defeat

In the buildup to the final day of the season, Marc Skinner spoke extensively about using last weekend’s Adobe Women’s FA Cup triumph as a springboard to dent Chelsea’s hopes of lifting a fifth successive Barclays Women’s Super League title.

But the 41-year-old’s words fell on deaf ears, with his Manchester United side limping to an utterly uninspiring six-goal defeat at Old Trafford. Coupled with the narrow margin of victory in Manchester City’s win over Aston Villa, Emma Hayes was left jubilant at the final whistle.

Skinner, who penned a contract extension in midweek, insisted that the hefty defeat was ‘nothing to do with the players’ attitudes.’

The United boss cited losing out in ‘too many individual duels’ as the key reason for the defeat, adding that his side ‘made too many mistakes and didn’t really make Chelsea work hard enough for those goals.’

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Old Trafford hasn’t proven itself as the Theatre of Dreams for Skinner’s side, with Saturday’s loss following on from a derby defeat in November. Skinner admitted that ‘it’s been a disappointing performance in both of those games,’ but offered that ‘it’s something you have to grow from.’

The boss offered his apologies to the fans who turned out in their droves, before adding that ‘our fans are intelligent and they understand the situation… they know that as a head coach, I will give everything physically and mentally to get us to where we want to be.’

Skinner’s midweek contract announcement attracted controversy from fans, with many expressing discontent that the 41-year-old was rewarded for winning the Adobe Women’s FA Cup despite a disappointing league campaign.

Skinner insisted that isn’t the case though, stressing that ‘we’ve been sitting on it for a while. People say we’ve won the FA Cup and I’ve got it because of that.’

‘Some of you maybe just watch the highlights and make your own decisions,’ he berated. ‘I’d like to talk about football more, and not scandal. It’s a club rich in heritage about football, I want to talk about that. Next season, I want to make sure we’re talking about football.’