Man Utd goalkeeper Phallon Tullis-Joyce ‘astounded’ by her progress this season

Phallon Tullis-Joyce admits she is “pretty astounded” by the progress she has made as the Manchester United goalkeeper’s impressive season nears its conclusion.

After joining in 2023, the American spent her first year with United as understudy to Mary Earps, sitting on the bench throughout their Women’s Super League campaign, as well their FA Cup run that ended with the trophy after a 4-0 victory over Tottenham at Wembley.

Earps then left last summer, and Tullis-Joyce has subsequently kept 13 WSL clean sheets for third-placed United to take a share of the Golden Glove award, and helped them again make the cup final, in which they face Chelsea on Sunday.

The 28-year-old said: “Personally, there have been some moments where I look back and cringe still watching the video.

“But I see the progress I’ve made in this season alone and I’m pretty astounded by how much I’ve grown.”

Tullis-Joyce says last season she was “a sponge trying to absorb and learn as much as I could.”

And on her form this term, she said: “I think a lot of it is attributed to just the prior year. All the prep was done during that time to prepare me for this moment, to step into this role.”

While Tullis-Joyce says she knew she was entering a “high-pressure environment” as she came into Marc Skinner’s team “after such a great goalkeeper”, she also emphasised that the pressure she felt was not related to England star Earps.

She said: “I know I am a different keeper, so I never really let that affect me, it just wasn’t my line of thought.

“It was more the pressure of making sure I kept to the same standard that is expected of a Manchester United goalkeeper. I took that on very seriously, and that’s taking each moment as a very precious moment. That’s really how I handle that.”

Last month saw Tallon-Joyce sign a new contract with United running to 2028, a few weeks on from making her debut for the United States, managed by former Chelsea boss Emma Hayes.

Asked if Hayes had given her any insight into the Blues, Tullis-Joyce said with a smile: “Not at all – I definitely think her loyalties are to Chelsea!

“But I’m excited now to be with her and her staff, I think that’s a big bonus for me.”

Tullis-Joyce has a degree in marine biology and is a certified deep sea diver, and she said: “As soon as the season ends, I’m getting in the ocean, and I won’t be thinking about soccer. I’ll be looking at fish.

“I think it’s helped me tremendously just to have something completely and utterly separate from my career on-field. I even took up free diving as well. That helped me understand my bodily physiological responses to stress.

“Just being connected with nature has helped me. Being outside more was something that let me be my best self on the field, because now I wasn’t carrying that stress with me from day to day, I was able to get a pretty major release.

“I just booked for Barbados and Dominica, which is supposed to be beautiful scuba diving. I’m excited for some night dives.”