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Well, Tottenham can’t say they weren’t warned.
Around three weeks ago, Ella Toone won a Women’s Super League game for Manchester United against Leicester, scoring a stunning goal from outside the box, picking out the top corner.
I’ve long felt that Toone is a player that casual fans have a slightly false impression of, based around her goal in the Euro 2022 final—a delicate and composed finish. Yet, while she is technically sound and capable of great moments on the ball, her real strength is her vision off the ball.
When we use the term vision, we often think of great technicians; a player who can open up a defence with passing such as Keira Walsh or Patri Guijarro. Toone has a different but equally important type of vision. The ability to identify space in the opposition defence, and drift into that space unseen. It’s this ability that was discernible in her goal that cracked the Women’s FA Cup final open, sending United on their way to a comprehensive 4-0 win against Tottenham, winning them the club’s first major trophy.
When Tottenham’s Jessica Naz has the ball on the right wing, Toone is all the way back in her own penalty area. But the second Naz gives the ball away? Toone uses that aforementioned vision. Where’s the space? Because that’s where she’s going to be.
Eleven seconds later, she’s now just inside the Tottenham half, receiving a fine reverse pass from Lisa Naalsund. Eight more seconds, and she’s scored one of the finest goals seen at Wembley, one of the finest in an FA cup final, and definitely one of the best I’ve seen in the flesh.
As it was against Leicester, it was against Tottenham: a stunning goal from outside the box, picking out the top corner. So while many people’s takeaway from the game is that Toone—surprisingly for someone who’s rumoured to have an aversion to the capital city—has made this pocket of North-West London her second home, that goal is a microcosm of something else that should be…
Source link : https://www.footballparadise.com/manchester-united-4-0-tottenham-an-alternative-match-report/
Author : Shane Thomas
Publish date : 2024-05-22 13:30:00
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