Ella Toone was awarded Player of the Match for her performance against West Ham United at Old Trafford on Saturday evening.
Manchester United proved dominant and victorious in the match-up, despite the first-half concluding with a 0-0 scoreline.
The European Champion revealed what changed in the half-time break in order for her side to bag four goals in 45 minutes.
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On the first half
A usually dominant Manchester United struggled to test the Hammers in the first 45 minutes of the match, despite their heavily one-sided possession statistics. Toone appeared to be one of the players in the United team that struggled to get into the game, and unusually for her, mislaid a handful of passes. She believes the first half was 'frustrating', but was United's own doing.
"They made it really difficult for us. But, that's the character we have. We've come out, not let it bother us, another 45 minutes, and managed to get four goals, so we're really pleased."
"We made it frustrating for ourselves. We kept the ball a lot but we weren't progressing up the field - we weren't playing with that personality and that character that we play with every week."
"We got a bit of a shouting at at half-time and we come out and we played our football."
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Skinner's shouting at half-time 'worked'
When further quizzed on what it was that Skinner said to spark his team, Toone replied saying that despite being tactically solid, United was lacking the spark they are so well-known for.
"It wasn't so much tactical, but more ourselves, our personality. Just playing with that energy that we pride ourselves on.
"So it was more the effort we gave. He definitely didn't talk to us at half-time, it was more of a shout, but it worked!"
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On Skinner's Tactics
Marc Skinner has been praised for the way his team has set up this season, and how he utilises his quality players. Toone is on eight assists for this campaign, the second-highest behind Chelsea's Guro Reitan (nine). When asked what Skinner wants from his number 7, Toone replied:
"He lets me play with freedom, my best thing is getting into those little pockets of space and get on the half-turn and face forward.
"That comes right from the back. Can our centre halves find the person in the pocket? I think they did that really well today.
Obviously for me, it's playing with that freedom. Wherever the space is, I'll try and find it, whether that's out wide or inside."
The England international made it clear that not receiving the ball when making runs into space is frustrating; but laughed as she said:
"I moan every single day in training that they're not finding me in the spaces, so when they do, I need to make sure I do something with it.
"Those passes are hard, and when we get caught out there's a transition. But when [the passes] work, they really work, and we managed to get forward and break lines."
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Dealing with frustration
Toone typically covers a lot of ground in her number ten position, sourcing the space and occupying when the areas are free. When the Red Devils' number seven was found by her teammates in the 65th minute, Toone sent a perfect ball into the path of Lucia Garcia, who doubled Manchester United's lead. But, when she is not picked out by her fellow players, Toone has highlighted the frustration she feels - but stressed that she avoids letting that affect her game.
"It's all about dealing with that frustration and when I don't get it, not hiding or falling into pockets that are not mine.
"It's all about making sure I stay in the pockets that I'm good in, and when they do find me, hopefully, we can create something."
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Being a household name
Since winning the European Championship in 2022, Ella Toone has essentially become an overnight household name. Supporters wear shirts with her name on the back, scarves with her face on them, and chant her support during games.
"It's amazing. It's what we wanted, we want the women's game to grow, and it has done. You see the amount of fans we get now in stadiums and yes, they do scream my name a lot but listen, I just want to go out and perform for them."
Toone, in the last couple of weeks, has started a YouTube channel, as a way of giving her fans a closer look into the daily goings-on of her life. However, the Manchester-born's nan has been the real star of the show, with supporters obsessed with the pair's relationship. Speaking on that, Toone again laughed:
"We should have a pasty sponsorship soon! [The fans] all love my nan, don't they!"
