Marc Skinner reveals what Manchester United must change to get result against Chelsea

Manchester United manager Marc Skinner told reporters of a key change his side can make as they try to secure European qualification against league leaders Chelsea.

United sit third in the Barclays Women’s Super League and know three points against Sonia Bompastor’s Chelsea, who are six points clear at the top, would guarantee UEFA Women’s Champions League qualification with two games to play.

However, a win for Chelsea would secure them the league title on Wednesday night if Arsenal lose to Aston Villa.

United have never beaten Chelsea in the league, and lost the reverse fixture this season 1-0. However, Marc Skinner believes his side took a key lesson from that fixture and results since.

What did Marc Skinner say?

“We know what we did last time, we know what worked, but we also know what we have to do differently to try and get a positive result. 

“I felt we defended fantastically well in the game, but maybe were a little bit passive in trying to take the opponent on when we were with the ball,” Skinner told the media.

That match in November saw Chelsea limited to only one goal – a penalty converted by Guro Reiten early on – but United recorded only one shot on target.

“We can’t just defend this game and hope for a win, we’ve got to try and beat them by attacking them,” Skinner said.

On Sunday Chelsea lost 8-2 on aggregate to holders Barcelona in the Champions League semi-finals, confirming their elimination, and the United boss believes his side can learn from that tie.

“Barcelona players are probably the best in the world at what they do, but they’ve attacked and created many chances. I think you have to do that against Chelsea.

“You have to be good, you have to have a little bit of luck on the day, but I think for us we have to get the balance between attack and defence and that’s the key learning going into this game.”

United have never beaten Chelsea in the league, with their only win over the Blues coming in the Adobe Women’s FA Cup semi-finals last year. They had no such luck in their narrow 1-0 defeat at Chelsea’s home ground earlier this season, where Skinner believes they could have attacked more.

“When we won the ball at Kingsmeadow, we didn’t utilise it well enough. We need to have that belief that as soon as we win it, we can transfer and hurt Chelsea through the middle of their team. 

“I think it’s regaining to attack rather than just regaining to stop them progressing. That’s probably the difference that we’re better at now.”

“Chelsea have an abundance of talent but we have a quality of team and talented player that we can beat anyone, and we believe that.”

United host Chelsea at Leigh Sports Village on Wednesday 30th April at 20:15, after Arsenal play Aston Villa at 18:00 earlier that evening. You can follow both results in the race for Champions League qualification – plus the FA Cup final between United and Chelsea on 18th May – here on FromTheSpot.