Five things you may have missed from That Lionesses Podcast with Ella and Lucy

Following that impressive victory against Wales, Ella Toone and Lucy Bronze joined Harriet Rose on That Lionesses Podcast connected by EE to discuss all things goal celebrations and their love for Zurich.

If you haven’t yet had chance to listen, here are five talking points you may have missed from the latest instalment of the series.

Snapping not clapping

A new ‘inside joke’ among the Lionesses in order to motivate the players took Ella Toone by surprise after the midfielder tried to join in with the celebrations after finding the back of the net against Wales with England’s substitutes taking to snapping instead of clapping as a motivation technique.

“I didn’t have a clue what it meant,” said Toone. “Everyone was doing it when all the subs got off the bench. I thought, ‘oh God’, so I started doing it then I said, ‘Maya, what are you doing?’ She said, ‘it’s just a bench thing’ and I said, ‘oh, right then!’ I said, ‘what’s all that about?’ and she said, ‘it’s for positivity’.”

“To be fair, there was a funny video of us watching Love Island the other day,” added Bronze. “The girls started clapping and Sarina was there for some reason and she started clapping and then all the girls started snapping.”

Among the goals

With England having scored 11 goals and counting at this summer’s tournament, including eight different players finding the back of the net during the course of the group stage, Sarina Wiegman’s side have shown their strength in depth and according to Toone and Bronze, it has only given the team a boost.

“You’ve got to find a different way to win but we still created a lot of chances and it was nice that we got six different goalscorers as well,” explained Toone. “It’s nice that we’re all in form and we’re all getting on the scoresheet. Even when we’re getting high up the pitch and Lucy is bombing on, there’s only an amount of time before Lucy scores one with her head!”

“It gives everyone confidence, doesn’t it?” added Bronze. “Especially when it’s all the attacking players are the ones who have scored, they’re the ones we want to score and feel good, then at any moment, we know there’s going to be a goal from somewhere.”

Stats and facts

Not only did Toone’s performance against Wales yield a goal, it also brought with it two assists. The midfielder, who was replaced by Jess Park at the interval, put in an impressive display and Bronze highlighted just how impressive.

“I actually read a stat about Tooney’s game,” revealed Bronze. “Do you know this? The first player since 2013 in a Women’s EUROs game – just in one game – who has scored, assisted and has 100% pass completion.”

“It’s a nice stat,” remarked Toone. “It was a good half – I enjoyed it!”

Next time @ellatoone99 is on the ball, you know what to do... 😅📢

Episode 16 of #ThatLionessesPodcast connected by @ee is out now, listen on Apple and Spotify. 👇

— Lionesses (@Lionesses) July 15, 2025

High spirits

On the topic of England’s substitutes, veteran defender Bronze explained that she often advises the younger players within the team – a number of those who are experiencing their first tournament.
Nevertheless, she insisted that the energy those players less involved on the pitch have brought to the squad is infectious.

“We keep telling them to enjoy everything that they’re doing and so many of those players have embraced that,” said Bronze. “It just has a knock-on. Maya is one of them – you go around Maya for five minutes and automatically, you’re happy again.

“It’s a big moment being at the EUROs, whether you play or you don’t play. That game against Wales showed that. The way that the bench celebrates is the way the team celebrates. It gives everyone so much more energy. Although we got beat by France, I think it just brought us closer together.”

Home from home

From the coffee shops to the trams, the Lionesses duo expressed their love for Switzerland’s largest city and the city where England have been based throughout the duration of the tournament in Zurich.

“We love it here,” said Bronze. “We were so excited to get back after the game, back to the hotel, back to where we know everything. Zurich is like our little hometown now and we’re playing at that stadium again for the quarter-final which is obviously where we played two of our group games. We’ve kind of made it our little Wembley.”

“I’ve enjoyed going to the lake and swimming in the lake,” continued Toone. “That’s been nice. It’s so clear and when you come out of it, you actually feel quite clean.”

“I went with Grace and Jess Park on the tram the other day and they know all the tram routes and everything,” added Bronze. “Maya’s probably got a map of Zurich in her head. She’s in the woodlands, then she’s at a waterfall then she’s in one lake and this lake. She’s probably swam across the lake!”