Manchester United Women manager Marc Skinner says he is “absolutely secure” in his job, despite ‘Skinner out’ signs among fans after their 3-1 loss to Chelsea.

A Lauren James hat-trick saw United beaten at Stamford Bridge. Despite a reply from Hayley Ladd and some good play in spells, they were unable to get the better of the Blues.

Some fans brandished ‘Skinner out’ signs in the away end, with Man Utd – who finished second in the WSL last season – now 10 points behind Chelsea in first.

But Skinner does not appear to be worried for his job, telling Sky Sports News: “If you look at how you perform with the resources we have, I am absolutely secure in what I do and how I do it.

“And I thoroughly, with every sinew in my body, believe in my team, believe in what we can do and believe where we will be.

“Nothing is ever perfect in life and we are inclusive of everybody. My sole focus is on my team and how we get better and continue to be better.”

He later added in his press conference: “The fans are absolutely entitled to do what they want. We are never going to silence any fan from having their opinion. They pay their hard-earned money.

“If my job as a leader was to deflect my attention away with every news story, I wouldn’t be doing my job… Never, ever, will we stop any fans having an opinion, they’re absolutely entitled to. My job is to stay focused on what I want to achieve with this team and that is success.”

Reflecting on the performance – including a penalty that was not given after Leah Galton went down under pressure from Ashley Lawrence – Skinner said: “In the first part of the first half, we were too eager to press Chelsea and allowed them too many spaces.

“That’s what Chelsea want – no disrespect – they’re a concise team that play through you consistently so we were just chasing them and we needed to get them in.

“We fixed that halfway through the second half and then I felt we were the better team going into the break.

“In the second half, we came out with that same energy, that same commitment. We also agreed at half time that we need to tackle more. The game is fundamentally about the physicality that you have.

“Key things went against us too, I still believe it was a penalty… we need to take the chances in the big games and then it’s different.

“We can’t sit here and lick our wounds. We know the gap is 10 points, everyone’s reminded me, then we’ve got to play with the energy and commitment that we’re 10 points behind.

“We’ve got to see how far we can chase now. You’re playing against Chelsea with the depth in squad that they have is enviable for everybody in the league. We need to continue to grow to that level, invest to that level – I know the club are wanting to do that.

“We still have to take moments in games when they come and rely on a little bit of decisions to go for you too.”