Skinner's post-match thoughts

Forward Melvine Malard opened the scoring at Leigh Sports Village, before Rachel Williams got in on the act to double our advantage in the second half.

Our victory over the Merseysiders followed up recent wins over West Ham and Everton in the WSL, as the Reds unbeaten start to the new season continues.

After the game, Skinner spoke to the press about Maya Le Tissier, how pleased he is with the squad and how important his new leadership team are to success.

IT’S A REALLY POSITIVE TIME

“It's an excellent start to the season. Three wins, three clean sheets. I felt we should have had more in the first half. Both teams have rotated but I was really happy with the quality of the players coming in and how they adapted to each other really quickly.

"Celin [Bizet] was super industrious on the right-hand side. Melvine [Malard] has obviously scored a goal and was deadly on the left-hand side. Rach scores her goal. In midfield, I thought Hinata [Miyazawa] was excellent in there. She’s got player of the match, but she was her pressing lines and her quality on the ball was excellent.

"Simi [Awujo] looked like she's played 50 games before. Gabby [George] to do 90 was really, really important. I thought she was excellent even at the end, as she tired a little bit, I thought her experience came in. It's a positive time, and I think it's really important for us to have that depth if you're going to try and compete, which is what we want to do.”

THERE’S MORE TO COME

“I felt as part of our design last year we maybe lacked physicality in the midfield and to win leagues and win titles, I think you need that. I think on one-off occasions you can win games of football, but you've got to be able to jump from deep blocks into mid-blocks, into aggressive pressing and you need people that can move the pitch.

"I look at Dom [Janssen], I look at Haley, I look at Simi, look at Lisa [Naalsund] and I feel that we've got thelegs in there to be able to do a variance and ability of different. We played a box tonight, but we could jump the box different ways. The midfield is where I think we can we can really improve our results this season, and I feel that we've already started in that manner but there's more to come."

INJURY UPDATE

“I think it's more precautionary [with Melvine Malard]. I think she felt a little twinge. I've not really got the full assessment yet, but she's walking happy at the end, so I think it's more precaution than anything.”

MAYA IS A LEADER

"You can see the whole reason I selected [Maya Le Tissier] as captain, she's got that leadership quality. She lives and breathes football and plays and you can see it. That's what I wanted. To replace Katie Zelem was never going to be easy so it needed to be someone like that. I selected her and Ella for the simple reason that Ella lives Manchester United. And Maya Le Tissier breathes football and she leads by example. So it's exactly why I selected for captain."