Ella Toone reflects on key reason for Man Utd's improvement this season
Manchester United star Ella Toone has suggested that increased competition for places due to substantial summer recruitment is behind the club’s improved WSL results this season.
Having dropped too many points from winning positions last season to command a top three place and Champions League qualification, United are just three points off the top of the table with a game in hand at this stage of the 2022/23 campaign.
Marc Skinner’s side have won six of their seven games, scoring 18 goals and keeping five clean sheets. They bounced back from defeat to Chelsea at the start of November by securing a landmark comeback win over Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium last time out.
“It’s down to the recruitment and the players we signed over the summer,” Toone told ManUtd.com. “We’ve got unbelievable depth in the squad now and some amazing talent…young players, more experience players, and I think we’re all coming together really well.”
Plans for summer recruitment were being spoken about as far back as January, with a lack of depth compared to the likes of Chelsea, Arsenal and Manchester City seen as the major flaw in the squad.
That was addressed by bringing in new faces all over the pitch. Maya Le Tissier has been the biggest success story as far as cementing a place in the starting XI, but Lucia Garcia and Nikita Parris have both also started fairly regularly. The likes of Adriana Leon, Aissatou Tounkara and Rachel Williams have been more limited in terms of minutes but have had an important role behind the scenes.
“Everyone is fighting to be the best in their position and that is what drives you in training," Toone said. "The standard is so high now in training because everyone wants to play and knows they’re good enough. It doesn’t let your standards drop, personally.”
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Skinner recently revealed that the level of competition and the positive results are among the main reasons Vilde Boe Risa is struggling to command playing time: "We’ve been playing well, so there is nothing given to anyone in this team. You have to earn everything."
Toone, who brought a renewed hunger to win into the season off the back of a starring role with England at Euro 2022 during the summer, also commented on the togetherness in the squad that has also been mentioned this season by Parris and Skinner.
“We’ve all got that hunger and desire to do even better than we did last year. We’re just really connecting on and off the pitch, which really helps and I think you can see that in the performances we’re putting in,” she explained.
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