Leah Galton: Casey Stoney’s Protean Trump Card

Since its inception, The FA Women’s Super League has undergone several different phases of growth and has today rightly become a huge entity in the world of football. From world-class wingers to rock-solid centre backs, the players who have been part of this league for a while now, have only gotten more positionally versatile over the years. 

The likes of Manchester City’s Alex Greenwood - who can play anywhere in the defensive line and is also in charge of set pieces or Chelsea’s Ji So-Yun - who has basically been operating all over the final third under Emma Hayes, have through their versatility, induced more freedom in the way their teams play. However, there are very few players who can be depended on both defensively and while attacking. 

In my prior analysis of Casey Stoney’s Manchester United Women, we came across the importance of a high number of circumstantially flexible players in the team - footballers who can play in multiple positions as and when needed. One of them was Ella Toone, who is naturally a central attacking midfielder but can play on either wing relatively effortlessly. 

Manchester United Women: The WSL’s High-Flying Title Contenders