Manchester United’s European hopes suffered a blow after Marc Skinner’s side were held to a listless goalless draw against Tottenham Hotspur, extending their winless run in all competitions to four.
United currently sit third in the Women’s Super League table, the league’s final European qualification spot. Chelsea’s 4-1 win over Everton lifted them four points clear of United, while Arsenal remain one point behind Skinner’s team, albeit with three games in hand.
A win against fifth-place Spurs would have buoyed United’s top-three hopes heading into the season’s final two matches, which will see United face sixth-placed Brighton & Hove Albion and Chelsea.
However, United produced an poor performance at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, failing to mount more than a shot on goal in the entire first half compared to Spurs’ nine and they were fortunate Martin Ho’s side failed to make the most of their chances.
Spurs, who finished 11th last season but have experienced a renaissance under former United assistant manager Ho, found pockets of space to exploit but failed to capitalise on their 22 shots at goal.
United, meanwhile, managed just 10 shots in total, none on target in the second-half, with an xG of just 0.46. The result extended United’s win-less run in all competitions to four, the longest in their WSL history, while also meaning United have failed to claim a win from any of the WSL’s top five sides this season.
Sunday’s result placed further scrutiny on head coach Skinner. Skinner signed a two-year deal last summer, with a one-year option, after earning United qualification for the Champions League for the second time in his five-year tenure.
The Athletic was denied the opportunity to ask Skinner questions in his post-match media duties by United’s press officer, who later said this was in response to an “overly negative story” that followed the club’s Champions League exit.
The story in question arrived after United’s exit from the Champions League following their 5-3 aggregate defeat in the quarter-finals to Bayern Munich, in which The Athletic assessed United’s future, including the financial and coaching limitations of the team.
The exit from the Champions League came weeks after United’s 2-0 League Cup final defeat to Chelsea, making it 16 defeats in 19 matches against Chelsea.
Asked about his future by other members of the media, Skinner said: “Look, I’ve said this two or three seasons ago when we finished fifth and we won the FA Cup. We came back stronger than next year, and we qualified for Champions League.
“This year, we’ve come into the Champions League and gone to the quarterfinals, got to our first League Cup final. I’m absolutely so passionate about what we do. But we have to do some changes in the summer. We have to make some changes to make sure that we can compete with what’s clearly a financial market at times, right? And we want to do it our own way. We’ve said that and we’re clear on that. But we have to make sure we write those smart assignments to keep pushing this team forward.”
United have reached three successive FA Cup finals under Skinner, winning the 2023-24 edition 4-0 against Spurs but losing the other two to Chelsea 1-0 and 3-0. United reached a first League Cup final this season, again losing to defending champions Chelsea, this time 2-0 to take the number of defeats against the west London side to a total of 16 from 19 matches in all competitions.
However, Skinner has cut a divisive figure amongst the fanbase in recent seasons for what is deemed to be tactical limitations and an inability to push the squad further as other WSL teams increase investment.
United return to action against Brighton on Saturday.