On Saturday, die-hard Manchester United fan, Ella Toone stepped onto the hallowed Old Trafford turf once more and put in a player-of-the-match performance in the Reds 5-0 victory over Aston Villa.
Afterwards she spoke to Sky Sports about the freedom she has at Manchester United as she excels week on week.
Toone registered two assists in the epic victory in front of 30,196 fans.
“I feel like Marc gives me that freedom to go out and express myself on the pitch and get into pockets of space, get on the ball, be brave and try different things,” she said.
She continued, “I felt like I did that today, I found little pockets of space and enjoyed having the ball.”
It is widely known that Toone and Alessia Russo, the scorer of United’s third goal, are best friends off the pitch, the pair linked up perfectly to put the game out of reach for Villa.
Speaking of their partnership on the pitch Toone said, “She makes me look good a lot of the time. I know I can fizz it into her and she’ll get hold of it.”
“I think we’ve got that relationship on and off the pitch. It helps when you build those relationships off the pitch, it always helps going onto it.”
She was full of praise for the 23 year old who also grew up a United fan, “Alessia is a great player, I know what her strengths are so I work really well with her and we link up really well.”
Russo wasn’t the only one receiving high praise from Toone as full-back Batlle, who assisted one and scored another of the five goals was also spoken highly of in her post match comments.
“She played amazing today. Every week she puts in very consistent performances for us so [I’m] delighted she got the goal at Old Trafford.”
In their post-match interviews both Toone and Marc Skinner outlined the team’s intentions and standards for the season and insisted that despite a dominant disply, there is still room for improvement.
“I think our standards are that high that we’re probably not 100 percent happy with that performance. We want more from ourselves and so much more, but we’re really happy with the three points and five goals.”
The 5-0 display was witnessed by a new club record home crowd.
When asked about the fans Toone said, “It’s amazing, it’s what we want. We want to put on those performances to get fans back in stadiums and watching us and supporting us. They’ve been amazing ever since we’ve formed the club and they keep growing in numbers.”
The Reds will be in action in the Conti Cup on Wednesday at Leigh Sports Village and next weekend they will face City at the Etihad.
