Manchester United keen to put up strong defence of FA Cup says Skinner | OneFootball

Manchester United head coach Marc Skinner says that his side are eager to put up a strong defence of the Adobe Women’s FA Cup.

The Red Devils are the trophy holders after they defeated Tottenham Hotspur 4-0 in last season’s final at Wembley.

Manchester United kick-off this season’s competition with a fourth round tie against third tier West Bromwich Albion at the Leigh Sports Village on Saturday evening. When speaking to the media ahead of that match, head coach Skinner expressed his side’s desire to strongly defend their crown.

“We are the holders of this cup and we want to continue that,” Skinner said. “We know it’ll be a difficult task to get to the final again but we start with West Brom [on Saturday]. It’s going to be a good game, it’s the joys and trials and tribulations of an FA Cup, so I’m sure that they’ll enjoy the moment.

“The biggest respect we can give to them is to play our best game and that’s what we are going to prepare for.”

Skinner originates from the Midlands and this weekend’s opponents West Bromwich Albion have several players that he knows well on a personal level.

He said “A long time ago, I used to coach some of their players as kids at Birmingham. We know a lot about them.

“It’s one of those games where they’ll raise their game 20-30 percent, to the best of their performance but the reality is that we have to suffocate that and we have to be in a position for our football to do the talking.

“We look forward to the pre-match but once we go into the game, we have to give them the utmost respect by playing our game and being as aggressive as we possibly can.”

Manchester United are expected to win the tie with relative ease but Skinner says that he will be fielding a very strong line-up given the fact that players need to prepare for a hectic schedule.

He said “It’s the first game of this part of the season for us, so we have to get players minutes before we go into a three-game week which is next week. I’m sure there will be changes in the game but we are the holders of the FA Cup and we need to maintain that.”

Manchester United’s Adobe Women’s FA Cup fourth round tie against West Bromwich Albion kicks-off at 5.15pm on Saturday evening.