Manchester United manager Marc Skinner told FromTheSpot that England star Ella Toone “needed time, and she got a little bit of time” after she scored a brilliant goal on her return from two months out.
Toone is United’s record goalscorer and appearance maker, and has been key to their progress since joining the team in its inaugural 2018/19 season. She came off the bench in today’s 7-0 victory over West Bromwich Albion in the Women’s FA Cup and scored the pick of the goals, a fine long-range strike that came in off the crossbar. It was her first appearance since November, having missed the end of United’s 2024 league campaign and the December international break with a calf injury.
It was her first goal of the campaign, having scored nine for United last season. Her father Nick passed away in September, and Toone pointed to the sky when celebrating her first goal since his death. Skinner said the 25-year-old has been through a “horrific time.”
“Tooney’s a feeling player. Sometimes when you feel and you reach too hard for something, you try too hard for something, it’s not always coming off for you. Ella’s been through a horrific time and the injury probably allowed a space and time for her to think, to get back to just missing football.”
Embed from Getty ImagesThe England midfielder has had a packed calendar for the last few years, and appeared in 96 consecutive league matches for United from February 2020 to November 2024 – a record for most consecutive appearances by an outfield player for the same Barclays Women’s Super League club. That coincided with her rise as a key player for Sarina Wiegman’s Lionesses – since her senior international debut in 2021, she has earned 53 caps.
Skinner said: “Sometimes you just need to break. She had a little break and I said to her, “I don’t want you to come back until you miss it.” And she misses it, and you’ve seen today, we’ve got to keep that Tooney with the energy. It’s nothing to do with confidence – Tooney’s confident, she;’s a great player. But she needed time and she got a little bit of time.”
Speaking to BBC Radio 5 Live after scoring against West Brom, Toone described the injury as “a bit of a blessing in disguise.”
“I think in the first half of the season I had a lot going on and it probably affected me more than I realised when I was out on the pitch.”
She added that it “meant a lot” for her to score her first goal since her dad passed away.
“I feel like I’m in a good headspace at the minute. Obviously some days are a lot tougher and that’s just grief.
“I’m learning to deal with that but to be back out onto the pitch tonight, it’s where I love, it’s my happy place.”