Manchester United manager Marc Skinner admitted he wasn’t happy with his sides’ first-half display in their 4-0 win over West Ham.
United moved back to the top of the WSL standings on Saturday night of Womens Football Weekend, after a comfortable win with Katie Zelem giving them the lead before two goals from substitute Lucia Garcia and one from Hayley Ladd sealed it.
But in front of 27,919 fans at Old Trafford, Skinner’s team were left frustrated in the opening 45, creating few clear cut chances, with the Hammers getting to half-time unscathed at 0-0.
Although Leah Galton had a strong penalty appeal turned down, United were below par until taking the lead. And Skinner revealed after the game that at half-time he had informed the players thy were not giving a Manchester United performance.
“We weren't good enough,” Skinner told Sky Sports. “We were not good enough first-half at all and we know that.
“When I went in, I l did the tactical stuff then let them have a conversation. But then I said ‘that is not a Manchester United energy’.
“‘We are at home, we are in front of all of our fans, we do not perform like that.’ So I wanted to make sure we were better on the first and second balls, focus on the real basics.
“Then we had to go an attack this space and hurt West Ham. We knew they would be tired, but we had to be better.
“That second-half is now our projection forwards of - ‘this is how we must play.’”
West Ham had already held Arsenal to a draw in 2023 and for a while a similar result looked on the cards at Old Trafford. But just when United looked out of ideas Hawa Cissoko clumsily fouled England forward Alessia Russo, giving Zelem the chance to break the deadlock.
Sub Garcia then came off the bench to score twice as the hosts pulled clear. United now move back to the top of the WSL, although Chelsea will leapfrog them with a win at Man City tomorrow lunchtime.
“We didn’t get behind them enough (in the first-half)” added Skinner. “In the first part of the game we looked dangerous.
“But with Alessia (Russo) being pinned we just didn’t have the threat to go in-behind. We had to change it, adapt it. I was always going to bring legs and energy on, we just decided it had to be earlier.
“Ona Batlle had the ability go beyond but we wanted more from her in the first-half. So at half-time we addressed some things and the second-half was much better.”
