Sarina Wiegman’s side must win by at least two goals on Friday at Wembley after a shock loss to Belgium in October
England might be the reigning European champions and they might’ve reached this year’s Women’s World Cup final – but on Friday at Wembley, the Lionesses must beat the Netherlands to save their Women’s Nations League campaign and stand any chance of securing Great Britain a place at the Olympic women’s football tournament in France next summer.
After two years of incredible success under Sarina Wiegman, things have been tricky for England in recent months. This team has only lost four of the 43 matches for which the Dutchwoman has been in charge, but three of those have come in the Lionesses’ last five outings.
Having lost the World Cup final to Spain in Sydney, Wiegman's side succumbed to Renate Jansen's late winner in the Netherlands in September and in October, four days after beating Belgium 1-0 in Leicester, they were defeated 3-2 by the Red Flames in the return fixture. It was a shock, especially considering they beat the same opponent 6-1 earlier this year.
But it wasn’t a surprise to see England struggling for rhythm and for a really convincing performance, as those have been lacking in recent times. Even at the World Cup, despite the Lionesses reaching the final, there were concerns and signs of weakness, the cracks perhaps papered over by the team continuing to get the job done and progress to the next round.
As the final international break of 2023 begins, England know that they need to beat the Netherlands by at least two goals in order to keep their chances of making the Nations League finals alive. That is key in order for the Lionesses to try and secure a spot at the Olympics next summer for Team GB’s women’s football team.
What, then, has gone wrong to leave the reigning European champions and World Cup finalists in a situation like this?
GettyStubborn team selection
Wiegman is one of the best coaches in the women’s game. There’s a reason why she has reached four successive major tournament finals, winning the Euros and reaching the World Cup final with the Netherlands before repeating both feats with England. But that doesn’t mean she is immune to criticism.
One of the big points of frustration from England fans has been just how stubborn Wiegman is with her team selection. While it's not uncommon to see young players or those in great form earn themselves a call-up, game time is a little harder to come by.
Of course, to some extent, that is how it should be. To play for your country is a huge honour and part of that is because it's not easy to achieve. You've got to really earn it. But some would argue that there are players that have merited more opportunities than they’ve been given by Wiegman.
Maya Le Tissier, for example, was the outstanding centre-back in the Women’s Super League last season and she has largely carried that form into this new campaign, too. Yet, the Manchester United star still has just two caps to her name.
This week, England will be without Millie Bright in the heart of defence due to injury. Le Tissier might be an obvious replacement for the Chelsea stalwart – and stand-in Lionesses skipper, with Leah Williamson still sidelined – but she lacks the experience of an occasion like Friday’s high-pressured fixture. That is because she hasn’t been granted many chances to play in them by Wiegman.
Le Tissier isn’t alone in this respect. Lotte Wubben-Moy, another contender to take Bright’s place, has long been in England squads, but only has 10 caps to her name, as even when England have played friendlies or games against lower-ranked opposition, Wiegman doesn’t often make many changes.
The absence of a natural back-up – and heir – to Lucy Bronze at right-back, a lack of depth in the midfield areas and inexperience at international level among the goalkeepers behind Mary Earps in the pecking order are other issues that this stubbornness has undoubtedly contributed to, as well as the fact that the team feels like it needs a little bit of refreshing to get the Lionesses out of this rut.
AdvertisementGettyLack of impact subs
Something else that Wiegman’s lack of changes has resulted in is the fact that England don’t really have any impact substitutes that they can call upon right now. When the Lionesses won the Euros back in 2022, the super-subs were the story, with Alessia Russo, Ella Toone and Chloe Kelly making incredibly key contributions to help the team become champions on the continent.
Indeed, at that tournament, players from the bench registered seven goals and two assists across just six games, with Toone’s opener in the final and Kelly’s winner in extra-time certainly the most notable, while Russo’s backheeled finish in the semi-final against Sweden will never be forgotten.
However, since the Euros, those contributions have dried up. In England’s 17 games this calendar year, just one goal and three assists have come from the bench. Part of that is because that aforementioned trio, for several different reasons, have become fixtures in Wiegman’s starting XI. But the Lionesses don’t lack depth of talent. There is no shortage of contenders to take their places as the impact subs.
Players like Jess Park, Katie Robinson and Beth England have shown the potential to grow into such roles, but haven’t exactly been given ample opportunity to do so when it really matters. There’s also a question of whether Wiegman has got the combinations right when it comes to those substitutions, either in the players coming on, the players coming off or the partnerships that are on the pitch when changes are made.
Whichever way you look at it, the impact from the bench just has not been the same and it leaves the coach’s ability to change a game with her substitutes certainly nowhere near as effective as it was in the summer of 2022.
Getty ImagesChanges of shape
One thing Wiegman has been happy to change, however, has been England’s formation. The Dutchwoman has long deployed her team in a 4-3-3 set-up but, in order to deal with a couple of weaknesses, opted for a 3-5-2 system midway through the World Cup, and it was one that worked a treat, so much so that the Lionesses nearly went and won the whole thing.
One of the big questions in England’s first games after that tournament, then, was whether or not they would stick with it. They did at first, beating Scotland 2-1, but it meant Kelly was rather ineffective after being shoehorned in at left wing-back. A few days later, Wiegman went up against her home country, the Netherlands, a side that is well-versed in the 3-5-2 system. They have been so impressive in it under Andries Jonker, in fact, that they troubled England’s own version to the point that Wiegman changed back to 4-3-3 at half-time.
That is the system the Lionesses lined up in for the two games against Belgium in October, too, but those matches were a reminder of why the formation was changed in the first place as old problems, masked by the new shape, came back to light.
It’s clear that the system England line-up in is not the main issue at this point as there are problems in whichever of the two Wiegman opts for, but changing between them isn’t helping either.
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GettyIndividual errors
England’s poor form is not all on Wiegman, though – not at all. There are individual errors that a coach cannot account for and, unfortunately for the European champions, there have been plenty of those during this Nations League campaign.
Portugal, Scotland, Wales and Switzerland, all teams below England in the FIFA world rankings, are the only sides to have conceded more than them in League A in this competition, with the six they’ve let in so far being disappointing in their own way.
To start, the tracking for Scotland’s goal in the 2-1 win in September was poor and the Lionesses were lucky that the momentum their opponents gained from getting back into the game didn’t result in the spoils being shared.
A few days later, the Netherlands' two goals in Utrecht came as a result of some error-strewn passing out from the back and the three conceded in Belgium in October were all equally tough to watch. The first came from a needless free-kick that England conceded on the edge of their own box, the resulting strike misjudged by Earps after only half of her wall jumped to block it.A loose pass gave Belgium the chance to break away and score their second and the third summed up the spell the Lionesses are in right now.
With less than 10 minutes to go, after England had failed to take several chances at the other end, Belgium surged forward and an attempted shot was blocked by the hand of Georgia Stanway, who knew the outcome as soon as it hit her. Up stepped Tessa Wullaert to beat Earps from the spot and give Belgium a famous 3-2 win.