England squad against Scotland. UEFA Nations Women’s League. Photo credit: Lionesses via X (No copyright intended).
As the final seconds ticked down, England launched one final assault on the Scotland defence, desperately hunting one more goal that would all but assure a place in the Nations League Final. Toone flipped one last cross into the box, and Bronze, from nowhere, raced in from nowhere, to head home and score England’s 6thgoal of the night. The final whistle blew shortly after. They had enough, hadn’t they? Surely? At Full Time, England were there. But a goal just 30 seconds before the end in the Netherlands meant they weren’t, leaving the players scattered on the Hampden Park turf in shock and disappointment.
By rights, England shouldn’t have even been in this position. They shouldn’t have had this outside chance of salvaging the situation. They should have been out of the running before their final sprint nearly took them over the line. It has been a poor Nations League campaign, with underwhelming wins and late collapses away from home. They played their best 135 minutes of the qualifiers only after going 2-0 to the Netherlands at half time and carried that form into their decider against Scotland. To their credit, they nearly got away with it too, if it wasn’t for those meddling kids, sorry, the Dutch. Damaris’ late brace may have sealed their fate, but in truth, the game was lost well before then.
Sarina may have brought England Euro success (something no other Three Lions or Lioness manager has done) and got them to a World Cup Final, but she is not beyond criticism, and this failure does lie in part at her door. Much has been made of her decision to persevere with a select few players and grow them as a fearsome unit. It’s a strategy brought Football home in 2022, but has worked against England ever since, particularly at the World Cup and the Nations League Qualifiers. The main concern with this stratagem was burnout, that overuse of a few individuals could lead to fatigue and persistent injury issues further down the line (this is an issue that has been raised by some during her time as Netherlands coach). But the bigger problems with consistently banking on a smaller pool come when that pool is no longer available, and those that are don’t know how to play with each other. It left England with a defence that had never defended together, and an attack that had never attacked together.
The ACL injuries to Mead and Williamson, and Kirby’s knee injury, were of course beyond Wiegman’s control and not her fault, but it badly exposed the lack of cover and chemistry that existed with the players she had available to her. The opening game of the World Cup against Haiti saw England’s defence run ragged by repeated counter-attacks, whilst their front line struggled to stitch anything of note together. They were indebted to Georgia Stanway’s penalty to scrape a 1-0 win, but it showed that this was a team that lacked the same unity and cohesion that strolled to success the summer prior. England’s campaign spun on the adoption of a 3-4-1-2, increasing their defensive numbers at the cost of the midfield. It took them all the way to the World Cup Final, but it denied them glory at the end, as Spain simply ran the game for 90 minutes and took advantage of a mistake by Bronze to win the match.
‘When you’re playing 3 at the back, you’re playing 3 at the back for one reason only. The defender’s ain’t good enough, so you have to play 3, because you don’t trust them.’
Paul Merson’s remarks on Harry Maguire may seem a harsh analogue to England’s defence, but it’s a truth that resonated throughout their Nations League Campaign. Williamson’s absence left a gaping void in the heart of the defence that Sarina has never been able to plug. Jess Carter was the logical replacement, a quality defender and Mille Bright’s defensive partner at Chelsea. She was brought in at the World Cup, yet against Haiti, she was badly exposed, and looked out of her depth. It was only once England had switched to a back three did Carter truly shine, to the point where she was one of England’s best players in their defeat to Spain in the Final. But having to resort to a back 3 to try and resolve defensive insecurity is not a solution. It is merely postponing the inevitable.
Carter is a back 3 defender, and a very good one at that. She is by no means terrible, but the back 3 is the formation she excels in and regularly plays at Chelsea. But playing in a 4 is very uncomfortable for her. Sarina had to compromise her usual 4-2-1-3 in order for her backline to function properly at the World Cup, but the decision to persevere with the personnel used, especially after reverting to a back 4, rather than forging a new defensive partnership, would be England’s undoing.
Away in the Netherlands and Belgium, the Carter-Bright defence was consistently exploited by runners from deep racing onto long passes through them. Jansen’s late winner came from sprinting onto just such a pass from Martens. Wullaert’s equaliser came from a long pass from the halfway line bisecting the defence. Time and time again, England’s position of strength was undermined by poor defensive cohesion, which ultimately saw them gift 6 points away to their qualification rivals. It was only after the nightmare first half at Wembley against the Dutch, where Beerensteyn’s brace tore England apart and saw Carter crashing into her own defender, that Sarina saw fit to swap her out for Esme Morgan and have her partner club teammate Alex Greenwood in defence instead. The flow of goals stopped, but the damage had long since been done.
England’s leaky defence was not helped by a blunted attack at the other end of the pitch. The 3-4-1-2 formation used at the World Cup meant that Russo and Hemp had to do a lot of the heavy lifting in attack, especially as Toone struggled for form in the 10. The pair of them both scored in wins over Colombia and Australia as England progressed to the Final, but over-reliance on individual form is unsustainable in the long run, and so it proved. England coughed and spluttered to a 2-1 win over Scotland, who arguably should have come away with at least a draw. England’s struggles were evident more so in Utrecht, when they struggled to properly test Daphne van Domselaar as the Dutch took a 1-0 halftime lead (though not without controversy, given van de Donk looked suspiciously offside in the build-up). It was only when Sarina made a half time alteration and moved to the more familiar 4-2-1-3, that England looked more fluent and more of a threat, eventually getting the equaliser through Russo. But because of the switch to the 4, the old problems returned, and England came away with nothing.
The double header with Belgium should have seen England pick up maximum points and have their strikers fill their boots, yet neither happened. The front line of Hemp, Russo and Kelly failed to click. England scraped a 1-0 win at the King Power Stadium, Hemp bundling home after Bright’s header came off the post, but it was far from convincing. The return game was even worse. England rallied to take a 2-1 lead, helped with the return of Fran Kirby in attack, but couldn’t sustain it. Russo toiled in front of goal but was at least providing a threat and was bringing overs into her play. Her withdrawal for Daly completely shut down the attack, and England lost their way, eventually succumbing to their fate.
It was only when Beth Mead, returning from her ACL injury, was subbed on in the second half against the Netherlands at Wembley, with England on the rack and with nothing to lose, did it all click in attack. It was like the Lionesses of old, high press, high energy, goals flowing, plenty of chances. England needed to win by two goals, but Toone gave them the lead too late to mount that grandstand finish. It was too little too late, both in the game, but also in the group. If England were to turn it around, they would need to rack up a high score in Scotland.
The task was tough, yet on the night, the impossible looked on. At half-time, England had roared into a 4-0 lead against a poor Scotland side, with Lauren James and Beth Mead the main instigators in attack. They were there in the hotseat, leading the Dutch in the table. But after Kirby stretched the lead to 5-0 early in the second half, the momentum dried up. Kirby hit the bar, Hemp blew a 1v1. Russo and Toone came on but neither had any impact until the final seconds. And slowly but surely, the Dutch were closing in in their rear-view mirror. Had England been slightly more clinical in that 40-minute spell and found that extra goal, they could have done it. Had they managed to fix their defence earlier in the campaign, instead of persevering with a failed set up, they should have done it. Had they managed to find that winning formula in attack sooner, they would have done it.
Could have. Should have. Would have. Those were the overriding emotions as the news filtered through that Damaris had not only scored the Dutch’s third of night just before Bronze’s late, late raid, she had added a fourth just when England were just about to pop open the champers. There will be no Nations League for England. No Olympic Dream. The only consolation from this failure is that a second placed finish means England will remain in the top tier. Yet if used correctly, this can also be used to push England further.
The Nations League has challenged England more than any 10-0 Qualifier battering or Arnold Clark Cup tie ever could. England’s depth beyond the main starters has now been given a proper examination, and the results aren’t pretty. Sarina will soon have Leah Williamson back into the fold, which will fix the defence, but a better contingency for a potential future absence must be looked at. Losing Beth Mead and Fran Kirby wiped out England’s attack, and only when they returned did they look close to the team of last year. England lost Ellen White after the Euros, but neither Russo nor Daly have made a solid case for claiming the mantle, to the extent that Sarina has had to experiment with Hemp as a lead striker instead. England have time, friendlies and future qualifiers to find solutions to these problems that have hindered them over the past 4 months. Sarina must us this time wisely as she builds her squad for Euro 2025.
A bigger pool might be a good starting point.
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