Man Utd boss says ex-Chelsea, Arsenal and Man City pundits don’t give enough credit to record breaking team

Manchester United will head to Liverpool on the final day of the Women’s Super League having already achieved their highest league finish and still with a chance of lifting the title.

Skinner and his team will need to hope Reading can pull off a surprise win against Chelsea and beat Liverpool themselves but the 40-year-old head coach insisted his side has not been given enough credit for the season they’ve had - even if they finish second.

“Maybe we don’t get enough credit for what we’ve done this season. Everybody talks about injuries to other teams - and of course, they happen, it can happen to anybody and it is sad for those teams but I think we deserve a lot of credit this year.

“We’ve broken records, we are high up statiscally in loads of areas. Everyone talks about late goals and maybe a bit of luck but you have to still be pushing to get goals late on - I think it is mentality. Other teams get a lot of credit for what they’ve done and how they’ve done but actually, for us to break into that top three and do it in the way we have done by breaking records - I feel this team deserves a lot of credit.

And the Birmingham born boss insisted his “exceptional” players deserve maximum praise for their performance and cited that pundits who are former players from the clubs’ title rivals could be a reason behind their lack of praise.

“When you listen to comments and when you listen to punditry, there’s always a caveat as to why we’re successful. Other teams injuries, other teams having not the run they have wanted, maybe having Champions League - and I get that, it’s a factor we’ll have to look at hopefully next season. But I just feel we don’t (get the credit they deserve). The players have been exceptional. Its not about where we finish in the league right now, that’s not the overriding factor. If you look statistically at what we’ve done this year and what the players have done, the way we’ve done it - even the TV audiences that watch. We are the most watched team.

“I think it is because not a lot of pundits are maybe Manchester United. There’s a lot of ex-Chelsea, Arsenal and Man City and all of that. Manchester United don’t get the credit they deserve. Our players have been exceptional this season. Our staff have been exceptional. To disrupt the historical top three - that is a big, big season despite what has happened elsewhere. I want people to give this team the credit these deserve.

“We are literally growing up in front of the public, whereas other teams have already done that so I feel that this team - not only in a pressure cauldron - have performed well and have won games of football. If you look at results, we’ve lost twice to Chelsea, we’ve draw to Everton and Manchester City - we’ve beaten every other team. That is a crazy, crazy excellent season. As Manchester United, people are going to want us to better that next season but I want to give the players, for just a second, the credit they deserve in this moment. I don’t feel they’ve been getting enough acolades this season.”

Manchester United face Liverpool this Saturday at Prenton Park, with kick-off scheduled for 2:30pm.