Marc Skinner reveals what he told his Man United players after painful FA Cup final loss to Chelsea | OneFootball

Manchester United boss Marc Skinner has revealed that he told his players to keep their heads up high, following their FA Cup final defeat to Chelsea on Sunday.

Chelsea beat United 3-0 at Wembley to complete a domestic treble and ensure United finished the campaign trophyless despite how well they fared in the Women’s Super League.

The Blues’ goals were scored by Sandy Baltimore, who grabbed a brace, and Catarina Macario.

Asked in his press conference what he told his squad, Skinner answered, “I just said to be proud. It’s really hard at this point to find the words to kind of give people some solace. But I don’t want any one of my players to walk out without their head held high, because what they’ve done this season is fantastic.”

“We started off well, I felt we matched them physically. There was a lot of talk around tactically their rotations in midfield but I think we just needed to be a little bit braver.”

“The game was swung on set pieces. It was a penalty, it’s poor from us. I’m not blaming the set pieces but it’s the concentration and player individuality within that. We’ve got some work to do. But credit to them though and congratulations to them on the season they’ve had.”

Skinner added, “The young team that I’ve got, their experience will grow from this moment. I saw Anna Sandberg at the end, she’s distraught but she’s in a big final and she’ll learn from this.”

“There’s loads and loads of learning opportunities. As disappointed as I am, we’ve had a fantastic season. We’ve had a fantastic season to do what we’ve done and get into Champions League qualification again. Those moments, we will fix.”

The United boss admitted that the game plan changed.

“I felt that if we started the game without physically matching them, then I felt that we wouldn’t have a foothold in the game. It was a pretty balanced first half, we had to defend, but I don’t think either keeper really had to do that much.”

“What I didn’t like against Arsenal was that we didn’t have much change. I felt Toone could come on later on in the second half and make the difference. It just so happens at half-time we take an injury to Millie [Turner], and she has to come out, so we had to adapt.”

On closing the gap between United and Chelsea, Skinner remarked, “I’ve got to dig deep in my thoughts and see where I can close that gap, but I will do that for sure.”

“I think we really missed Jayde [Riviere] today, because when they invaded the wing-backs, we would have been able to jump back a lot better but Aoife [Mannion] has been fantastic this season. So I think those are the areas that we need to look at strengthening.”

The United hierarchy was represented in the final by Avram Glazer, CEO Omar Berrada and technical director Jason Wilcox.

But it was very noticeable that Sir Jim Ratcliffe was absent. Asked about the whereabouts of the INEOS billionaire, who also missed the FA Cup final last season, Skinner explained, “In all honesty, I don’t know why he wasn’t here. But I feel we were well represented. Omar was here, the Glazer family, Jason is up there.”

“Those are the people I deal with everyday. That’s the people I need to be here, because they need to be able to look at what we need to do to close a growing gap in finance that Chelsea have created.”

Skinner continued, “The reality is that it’s the investment in the team that needs to happen. It’s not whether you’re visible. I get you the representation, the visibility is how you see investment, but as long as I play the team are being invested in, that is also a way of showing your support for the team.”

Pressed further on whether he was expecting an explanation for Ratcliffe’s absence, Skinner emphasised that he would never get that kind of explanation and he still feels the team is being supported.

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