Marc Skinner explains Man Utd "mentality shift" following derby draw

Marc Skinner believes there has been a "mentality shift" in his Manchester United squad this season that left them disappointed with their derby draw with Manchester City.

United took the lead in front of a crowd of 44,259 when Leah Galton and Ella Toone combined for a superb opener, Galton firing the visitors into the lead. Skinner's side were the better team for much of the contest but had to settle for a point when Laura Coombs headed home a second half equaliser, as the game finished 1-1.

The result keeps United above their local rivals in third place after a fine start to the season, only losing one WSL game so far, at home to league leaders Chelsea. Skinner admitted afterwards that he wasn't happy with only bringing a point away from the Etihad Stadium, but that this was a sign of shift in how they approach the big games.

"What the draw shows is the continuing change in our mentality," Skinner told the club website. "At the end we're not happy with the fact that we've only taken a point.

"We were very disappointed with the goal we conceded. We defended very well up to that point and after that point. And I thought there were some really excellent standout performances from every player, but the reality is when I see the team disappointed, and they want to win that game.

"They have come off feeling, 'we could have won that game and we should have won that game'. I'm seeing the change in mentality in every game now, a real mindset shift and a change.

"This Manchester United is different. This is a different beast. It's a team that now believes in what they're doing fully.

"We've had a great first half of the year and we'd have loved to have taken three points today but when we reflect, we'll be pleased with that (point).

"All credit to the players for the first half of our year, and we have a lot of work to do in the second part of the year."

Since promotion to the top flight back in 2019, United have finished fourth in every campaign, unable to break the traditional top three of City, Chelsea and Arsenal. United have shown they are genuine title contenders in the first half of the season, ending Arsenal's WSL record-winning streak and scoring big wins over Reading, Brighton and Aston Villa.

But Sunday's draw does leave them with work to do to catch up with the Gunners and Chelsea, who both won later in the day. Galton, who scored the goal that sent the away fans into raptures, was left disappointed with the draw like her manager.

"I do feel a bit disappointed," she said. "1-1 against City is a good result, they are a great team. But I do feel disappointed because I feel we could have pushed on and won the game at the end there.

"It was nice to get a little return play with Tooney (for the goal) we worked on that in training all week, so it was nice it came off."

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