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“I prefer the result to the performance” says Marc Skinner after 3-0 win over Spurs

Marc Skinner admitted his side still had plenty to work on despite a comfortable 3-0 result over Tottenham today.

Spurs dominated the first half hour at Leigh Sports Village before Elisabeth Terland’s quickfire brace before the break put United two up, and Maya Le Tissier put the game out of sight with a second half penalty.

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What did Marc Skinner say?

“I prefer the result to the performance. I felt that Tottenham were good first half. They were sharper than us, especially the first 25 minutes. I actually looked down and looked at the clock, and there’s 30 minutes gone – I didn’t think we’d imposed ourselves on the game at all. So credit to Tottenham. But we were ruthless today.”

The difference-maker was undoubtedly Terland, who opened her United account in style. At Brighton the striker was known for racking up the goals – Skinner was asked whether they’d set a scoring target for her this season.

“I mean, she probably will, but I don’t do that because I just think that you’re not rewarding the person. Like her goal is a reward, but a performance gets us the reward of the three points. And she’s a team player first, Teri, and the beauty of her – I think she slows the moment and seizes the opportunity under the most immense pressure. That’s the beauty of her: that if you ever want to watch how to volleyball from a side-on position under pressure, that goal today – female, male doesn’t matter. It’s a fantastic hit. And if we can get her in those positions, she’ll score many, many goals for us. We’d be silly to put a count on it. She probably will, but that’s on her. For me, it’s just being effective for our team.”

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He described the Norwegian as “intense in a good way. She is a person that is always focused. She doesn’t dip off her focus. Whether it’s pressing, whatever the task is, she’s all in. When we played against her last year, I felt that in the box, she was deadly. So we kept her out of the box, and what she’s done this year is she’s building on the link game.

“I think she knows Haaland personally and I don’t want to compare the two, but the immense and intense action of both of them is – that’s how she performs. It’s in the box: “I need to score/” If she doesn’t score she will take that personally but doesn’t let it affect her, which is a great trait to have.”

There were some enforced changes to the squad today, with Geyse and Jayde Riviere both missing out. Skinner explained: “Geyse took a knock in the warm up to Liverpool. I’m hoping she’s back for the Brighton game next week. Jayde slipped in training and we’re assessing her. Hopefully she can be back for Brighton, but those are the reasons.”

In Riviere’s place, Celin Bizet stepped into a less familiar fullback role against her former club. Skinner praised her performance, saying: “When I spoke to Celin when she first was coming to Manchester United, we spoke about her versatility down the side without diminishing her qualities. And she has this. She wants to run all day. She has this fantastic delivery quality, which is also one of her best traits, is defending. And she actually really loves to defend.

“I felt the way that she’d worked with Grace (Clinton) as well was really important. They know each other. They’re great friends. But actually I felt that they worked really well together. So it was a no brainer in the end.”

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Asked if he felt he had found his ideal attacking lineup, Skinner said that adaptability would be key going forwards. “I feel that we will adapt throughout the season. I feel that we’re learning each other’s traits, but we have to adapt because as soon as we have this one system and one way of playing, the opponent will know exactly what we’re doing and then they can stop it.

“For us, it’s about keeping the opponent guessing for as long as possible, and then they have to adapt in game.

“That’s what modern football is going to be. It’s about knowing what your role and responsibility is, but adapting quickly.”

Manchester United will look to continue their positive start to the season next Saturday with a trip to high-flying Brighton.


"I prefer the result to the performance" says Marc Skinner after 3-0 win over Spurs – FromTheSpot