06 November 2023 , 10:30
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Manchester United boss Marc Skinner defended midfielder Ella Toone amid ongoing criticism of the Lioness’ stilted start to the new season after the 24-year-old registered her first league goal in the 2-2 draw with Brighton.
Toone provided the catalysing salve to an otherwise wasteful performance from United that threatened to end in defeat on Sunday evening. The Euro 2022 champion restored parity with under 15 minutes of regular time remaining as she curled a stunning strike into the top right corner of Sophie Baggaley’s net.
The goal represented Toone’s first of the new campaign and arrived off the back of fierce carping in regard to the midfielder’s underwhelming statistics in the United shirt.
“It’s a wonderful goal but the critics are everywhere in football,” Skinner told MUTV post-match. “They can do it better, everyone has an idea of how they can do it better but big players will always come up and produce quality moments.
“There were moments in this game where [Toone] created lots and lots and then she took a wonderful chance. But she did one of those in training and it’s nothing.
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“As an athlete, you have to stay focussed on yourself because the quality shows and that will happen, she will do that a lot more. Sometimes you just need a goal to go in and then it reignites what you're doing. But she’s fine, she’s in a great space and we’ll keep working.”
Toone similarly silenced naysayers with a stunning finish over the summer as she lifted England into the ascendency against Australia in the World Cup semi-finals.
Ella Toone celebrates scoring England's first goal in the semi-final victory over Australia at the Women's World Cup (Getty Images)Gauging creative players on their tangible output of goals and assists only can risk proving unfair in wider context, but Toone voiced her delight at finally finding herself among the statistics on Sunday.
“It’s been a long time without a goal and for me I want to be a player who scores and assists. It’s been difficult but I made sure that I help the team in different ways and I’ve learned that it’s not always about scoring and assisting,” she said.
“It’s about how hard you work for the team, getting on the ball, creating chances. But tonight, I was really happy with the goal and to get myself back on the scoresheet and hopefully I can keep doing that.”
A late header from Brighton’s Guro Bergsvand threatened to make Toone’s sumptuous finish redundant until Rachel Williams, arriving off the bench, restored parity deep into stoppage time with a dramatic finish at the back post.
“We like to make it difficult on ourselves,” Toone reflected. “Two sloppy goals conceded there but we showed character and came back being down twice and Rachel pulled us out of it again. But in another game, we’d like to finish a lot of those chances we created.
She added: “I thought we dominated really well, created a lot of chances, we need to be cleaner in the final third and our end-product needs to be better in the final third.
“We have to work harder in training and put on bigger performances and make sure we get those three points.”
United return to action midweek with a Conti Cup clash against fellow WSL side Everton before facing West Ham United on the weekend.
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