Like me, you probably watched some of England’s recent games in qualifying for the 2023 Women’s World Cup and initially thought “wow”, there are goals in this team. We beat Latvia by a record score of 20-0, with four different players scoring hat-tricks, and put 10 past Luxembourg. England are unbeaten in their qualification group, scoring 53 and conceding none.
But in all fairness, England have beaten sides they’re expected to cruise past. You look at where the Barclays WSL is and it’s incomparable to the league football that we are playing against many of the international opposition. The inequality that exists in women’s football means wealthy nations with professional leagues will always dominate and there will be big score lines.
It’s not perfect though. When England have faced stronger, organised and stubborn opposition, we have seen them challenged in front of goal and that is what’s worrying me. Northern Ireland held them for a whole half at Wembley before super sub Beth Mead eventually found a breakthrough, and Austria held strong too, even forcing Mary Earps into making a rare save.
Against Northern Ireland, England had 34 shots, with just 11 of those on target. It was similar in the 1-0 victory over Austria, 10 shots on target. Across all of their games in 2021, against very weak opposition, England’s shot accuracy was 44 per cent. That is simply not good enough.
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Ellen White, who is Sarina Wiegman’s first choice striker, is having a tough season for Manchester City and even though she secured England’s goalscoring record in the recent thumping of Latvia, she doesn’t look like the same player. Her movement is slow, she doesn’t seem as mobile or aggressive as she has been in the past.
This season, she has featured in all of City’s Barclays WSL games, but has only managed to score three goals. She’s getting plenty of minutes but is getting far fewer touches on the ball. You don’t need to even look at the deep stats to realise that she is not getting supply and service.
I know myself from my experiences with England that sometimes it isn’t about league form it’s about the trust a manager has in you. Terry Venables trusted Alan Shearer at Euro 96, despite him not scoring for England for two years. He picked him and Shearer justified his selection by scoring in every game at the tournament.
White is the same. She practically carried Team GB on her back throughout the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games and has been outstanding in pretty much every major tournament she’s been at.
We also saw how Raheem Sterling defied the notion of form and absolutely blew up the Euros off the back of an average Premier League season and we know White can do that too. But she’s 32 now, and it feels like her power is fading, her impact diminishing. England need another option.
White’s struggle has put more focus and pressure on Lauren Hemp at City and England. I love watching Hemp. She’s a tricky winger who has everything, pace, skill, aggression, unpredictability and a lethal finish. She is going to be vital for England at the Euros. But, this season we’ve seen how if you can contain her, like Chelsea’s Jess Carter has done twice, then you minimise a lot of City’s attacking options, and therefore England’s too. Playing through Lauren Hemp is fine, but there still needs to be a presence in the box.
England’s other strikers, who have been interchangeable under Wiegman, are having mixed seasons too. In fact, the joint-leading English goal scorer in the Barclays WSL right now is Reading’s Tash Dowie and she hasn’t played for England since 2014. Dowie has six Barclays WSL goals, the same as Fran Kirby.
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Kirby had the game of her Chelsea career in the Women’s FA Cup final at Wembley in December. She was unplayable that day and her coach Emma Hayes rightly called her a “national treasure” after that unbelievable performance. It feels like there is a lot riding on Kirby to stay fit and deliver at the Euros. But, she’s a player that needs to be protected and her load managed extremely carefully. Realistically, she may not be able to play every game at Euro 2022. It also seems Wiegman hasn’t quite worked out where to fit her into the team either.
Beth England, the Lionesses’ most straight forward number nine option, isn’t getting a lot of starts at Chelsea behind that amazing front three of Kirby, Pernille Harder and Sam Kerr. I’m surprised Hayes didn’t send her out on loan to get minutes and goals that would have helped Chelsea and England. England does often deliver when she’s called upon, but realistically, a player not starting at club level can’t be expected to be starting up front at a major tournament.
We’ve also seen the rise of Alessia Russo who has been brilliant at taking her chances and causing all sorts of problems for defenders. She’s provided Wiegman with a brilliant option out wide, but England will always need an outlet up top, a more traditional striker that they can look to play into.
At the moment, it seems that Wiegman will look to White to lead the line, but White needs someone pushing her, challenging her and forcing more from her.
The Arnold Clark Cup is a huge test for the Lionesses. Against Canada, Germany and Spain they will not get the luxury of endless chances, like they’ve had in World Cup qualification so far. During these next three games, we’re going to find out exactly where England are in their journey towards a major trophy, I can’t wait.
from Football – inews.co.uk https://ift.tt/9iz1ISL
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