By Catherine MacKenzie (06/05/2025)
Above: Phallon Tullis-Joyce. Photo: Manchester United.
Speaking to Impetus’ Catherine MacKenzie alongside other media, Manchester United goalkeeper Phallon Tullis-Joyce shared her experience watching last year’s FA Cup final from the sidelines, how she deals with the pressure that comes with being Manchester United’s no.1, and what this year’s FA Cup final means to her.
At the end of the 2023-24 season, surprising news came out of Manchester. United and England legend Mary Earps – at the time voted the World’s Best goalkeeper – would leave United for pastures new across the channel in Paris. It was a fitting end that her last action as a United player was to lift the FA Cup trophy at Wembley, hot off the heels of a 4-0 demolition of Tottenham Hotspur.
Following Earps’ departure, United had two senior goalkeepers in their ranks: there was highly regarded but young and inexperienced academy product Safia Middleton-Patel, and unknown American import Phallon Tullis-Joyce, who arrived the previous summer from Seattle. Tullis-Joyce was given the nod as United’s new no.1, allowing the club to spend its relatively modest funds elsewhere, and neither she nor United have looked back since.
In a season of transition for United – Earps’ departure coincided with other high-profile players leaving the club, such as captain Katie Zelem – Tullis-Joyce has been a constant, starting every game but one (an FA Cup duel with Wolverhampton). It is telling that despite these departures, a key feature of this United side has been togetherness. The squad work together as a team, win as a team, and lose as a team. Speaking to Tullis-Joyce, it is clear this approach is something that suits her. Asked what she is looking forward to ahead of the FA Cup final, the keeper said:
“I am excited to be with my teammates. It’s just the chemistry is really what makes it so special to get to this moment. I think it’s just building upon the legacy of the women that started it here. Because it could not have been easy to be a part of those first teams and they’ve already gotten the hardware with that first trophy, and being able to witness that from the sidelines was super special. Now we want to keep adding to that shelf.”
For evidence of the team’s cohesion, one only needs to look at how they defend. Whilst Tullis-Joyce has proved solid in providing cover, making standout saves at crucial moments, the team in front of her also play their part – something the keeper is keen to acknowledge.
“Terri [forward Elisabeth Terland] can be terrifying. I think we’ve seen that this entire time. She’s always just dead set on helping the team in any way that she can.”
The sentiment of whole-team defending is shared by club captain and center-back Maya Le Tissier: “We all love defending. I love blocking, I love doing anything I can to keep the ball out of the back of the net. And that goes for every single player on the pitch. The way that we press helps us massively. It’s a massive team method.”
It is not all about her fellow players, though. Tullis-Joyce also highlights the guidance she has received from Manchester United goalkeeping coach Ian Willcock, who will depart United at the end of the season to join ex-United boss Casey Stoney’s team at the Canada WNT.
“I have the best time with Wilco. I’m super grateful. He was actually the person that I had a phone call with who helped me make that decision to come to Manchester United, because he came with the whole presentation of the things I already did well and things I could improve on, and he actually got me excited about the game again. I knew that I would grow massively under his tutelage, and you know, I was pretty correct with that and I will miss him greatly.”
Whilst Willcock will travel to Canada, Tullis-Joyce’s roots are further South – born and raised in New York City, the keeper was first called up to Emma Hayes’ USWNT in October 2024. Although she did not debut in that camp, she did not have long to wait, earning her first cap for the United States against Brazil in April 2025. She made six saves to keep a clean sheet, and the US won the match 2-0. On her experiences in camp, the keeper shared:
“They’ve been really, really accommodating to me. And you know, I’m just grateful to the staff here and getting to know the staff there, they’ve just been great people.”
Representing a country like the United States comes with a pressure – just as there is a pressure to play for a club like Manchester United, particularly given their legacy of world class goalkeepers like Edwin van der Sar, Peter Schmeichel, David de Gea, and now Mary Earps. Although she arrived in Manchester from Seattle Reign, which has its own large fanbase in the NWSL, United no.1 is an impossible position to prepare for – not only for the size of its fanbase, but also for the size of its ambitions in one of the world’s toughest leagues:
“You have to adapt to survive in this league”.
This strength of mindset is something that Tullis-Joyce has shown time and time again this season. From going down to ten against Manchester City at Old Trafford to making five saves against Chelsea the evening that they became Champions – Tullis-Joyce has proven adept at managing stress and pressure with maturity. Asked specifically about the pressure she encounters as part of both United and the USWNT, she spoke of the importance of being in the moment:
“I think I just have to do the thing. That’s what I tell myself every single day, and every single game day. You know, as nervous as you are, as stressed as you are, as much pressure as there is, there is just one step in front of the other. Which is like a quote from a Christmas movie!”
Adding more pressure are the inevitable comparisons to Earps, who cemented a place in the hearts of many across England due to her heroics in both the 2022 European Championships and the 2023 World Cup. It is easy to imagine that the goalkeeper to replace her at club level would feel the pressure of these comparisons, inevitable as they may be. However, the American steadily bats away the notion:
“I think for me that pressure was never related to Mary. I never let myself go down that route. I know that I am a different keeper. Every single keeper is a different keeper. So I never really let that affect me. The pressure is making sure that I keep to the same standard that is expected of a Manchester United goalkeeper.”
Her refusal to be drawn into a rabbit hole of comparison provides evidence once again of the importance of mindset for Tullis-Joyce. The goalkeeper shared that she sometimes leans into the pressure she feels, resulting in excitement rather than stress: “I think it makes every game that much more fun. Just knowing how much is at stake and how much the standard that we have for this club…is something to honestly look forward to each game.”
Some may think that this focus on the moment lends itself to periods of reflection. However, she has a different plan for the summer period: “As soon as the season ends, I’m getting in the ocean.”
Whilst Bayern Munich goalkeeper Mala Grohs is passionate about engineering and Georgia Stanway about tattooing, for Tullis-Joyce, it is the water. With a degree in marine biology and certifications in scientific and scuba diving, the United player once compared her teammates to different species of fish, in a video filmed for the club’s media channels. Stanway has her tattoo studio, Tullis-Joyce has her ocean.
There is something unique about the way that many players in the women’s game seem to have passions outside of the football world. Perhaps a symptom of needing a ‘back up plan’ in case professional football does not work out (or purely for retirement planning), there is a theme of players recognising what time not thinking about football gives them.
“I think it’s helped me tremendously just to have something that’s completely and utterly separate from my career here on the field. And I even took up free diving as well. That helped me understand my bodily physiological responses to stress. So now I’ll be able to kind of sense my stress a little bit faster. That let me be my best self on the field because now I am not carrying that stress with me. From day to day, I am actually able to get a pretty major release just by being able to let go through nature.”
Tullis-Joyce has two major games to manage before she can get in the ocean: a trip to the Emirates to face rivals for second-place Arsenal, and the FA Cup final at Wembley against Chelsea. Asked if she used the recent USWNT camp to ask Hayes for tips on beating her old club Chelsea in the FA Cup final, Tullis-Joyce was coy: “I think her loyalties are to Chelsea”.
Whilst the goalkeeper may be dreaming of mako sharks and blue whales, she is also excited to be in the starting lineup this time around: “I am pretty excited for the final. I think it’s been really fun to be a part of that journey, but now to have a bigger role and make it to the final to see what it’s all about.”
Manchester United face Chelsea in the Women’s FA Cup final at Wembley on Sunday 18th May 2025 at 13:30. The match will be streamed live on BBC One in the UK.
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