Manchester United manager Marc Skinner says “It’s a marker to win a derby at Old Trafford” as they face one of their biggest games in derby history, against Manchester City this Sunday.
The Red Devils find themselves playing what could be seen as one of the most important games so far for them this season. A Manchester derby hosted at Old Trafford, the Theatre of Dreams.
Playing in front of a home crowd at such a huge stadium comes with a high demand to perform well. However, when questioned who is feeling the pressure the most ahead of this game, Skinner responded:
“There’s pressure on Manchester City, there’s pressure on Manchester United. We’ve got a home crowd, but we have pressure on ourselves. We want to win every game, whether it’s an excellent team like Manchester City or a team that’s maybe not in great form, it doesn’t matter to us we want to win.”
“There’s a pressure cauldron for everyone and whoever’s going to deal with it better on the day will create better chances to win the game and that’s what we want us to do.”
Despite City sitting sixth in the table, and their last two games ending in defeat, Skinner does not dismiss the threat Gareth Taylor’s side brings to this weekend:
“I’m not reading anything into those two [City] defeats. Any other day they could have beaten Arsenal and any other day they should have beaten Brighton.
“I know Gareth [Taylor] will be looking at that performance, saying we’ve dropped points but should be winning those games.”
However, the Manchester United boss believes that his side are capable of taking the three points, and remaining consistent:
“From our perspective, it’s consistency. We need to have consistency against Manchester City if we want to win the game. We need to be Consistent in defending, consistent in attacking.
“We don’t get skewed by wins, draws or losses if we perform well. We know on our day if we perform well, we have a great chance of winning.”
“We don’t know what it will be like until the game is done, but I would like but we hope we have the players with the mentality to want to go and win this game.”
The Red Devils currently sit third in the table, and have scored 19 goals in the last four games. The Manchester United boss hopes their settlement into the league has finally begun, but acknowledges there are still improvements to be made:
“I still don’t think we’re as cohesive as we need to be – that only comes from more and more games together.
“What we are seeing is the attacking threat in different ways to score goals. I think we’ve had in the last 12/13 goals, nine different goal scorers. If you remember back to last season, we shared the goals around.
“I think that’s a positive. What it means is if you shut down one of our dangerous players, another one pops up, or the next one. We’re adapting and evolving, that takes time.
“I believe we’re in a good space, I really do, that we’re performing well. We have to continue to do that and, on Sunday, go to another level.”
With the WSL having opportunities to play at such big stadiums, like Old Trafford. Skinner recognises the constant growth of women’s football and how the waiting game is finally over:
“All of the diehard, hardcore fans that have been there since the inception of Manchester United Women, they’re getting to a point now where we’re going to a big stadium and their beloved team is being supported by the masses.
“That’s a growth moment, I think it’s worth waiting for. Hopefully in another four years, that’s sold out at Old Trafford, if not before. It’s that continuous growth we need to see.
“What I’d hate is, if in two years, we go back to 10,000. That’s where we’ve got to sustain it and I think it will.
“The teams are getting to a point where everybody wants to come and watch them.”
