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England, a damaging lack of clean sheets and a sense they are veering off course

James BAOUCH

Sarina Wiegman has won the past two European Championships and is rightly regarded as a tournament specialist. But this qualification campaign for Euro 2025 is, in a sense, a new experience for her — with the Netherlands at Euro 2017 and England at Euro 2022 her sides were the hosts, and were not forced to go through this process.

Indeed, this qualification is effectively a new experience for everyone. Rather than the usual groups that pit giants against minnows, this is a four-team group comprised entirely of sides who were at the World Cup last year. England, Sweden, France and the Republic of Ireland probably cannot be considered a group of death given all four sides could eventually qualify — two through the play-offs — but it’s still a very tough group. Therefore, Friday’s meeting against Sweden felt like an unusual situation — a competitive game against strong opposition that was important but not crucial. It was as much about setting out England’s stall for the next 18 months as earning a good result.

But in both senses, England will be disappointed with this 1-1 draw in front of 63,000 supporters at Wembley against a Sweden side deprived of a couple of key players. They could not call on the injured Nathalie Bjorn, while Elin Rubensson — the Swedes’ best performer on their way to third place at the World Cup last year — was fit enough only for the final 15 minutes.

England started reasonably well, got ahead through Alessia Russo’s header, and then were found wanting. They did not create subsequent chances. They did not control the game through possession play. They did not always defend their box well. Fridolina Rolfo’s headed equaliser was entirely deserved, and Sweden came closest to a winner at 1-1, when Stina Blackstenius typically sprinted in behind and then, equally typically, lacked composure with her finish.

England’s lack of clean sheets, in particular, must increasingly be considered a problem. Wiegman’s Netherlands earned five of them in six games at Euro 2017, and her England side managed four in six matches in 2022. But now England are on a run of just two in 12 games, against Scotland and Belgium in the Nations League. They have conceded once against Colombia, Australia, Spain, Scotland, Italy and now Sweden. They have conceded twice against the Netherlands on two occasions and against Austria last month, and most problematically shipped three goals away in Belgium. England’s solidity has deserted them.

In part, that is not a surprise considering Wiegman is without both Leah Williamson and Millie Bright, the centre-back duo when England won the European Championship. But the strange thing is that, in their place, Alex Greenwood has been England’s most consistent performer over the past year.

Here, Greenwood was effectively the spare player alongside three defenders all charged with stopping club team-mates. Arsenal’s Lotte Wubben-Moy largely performed well against Blackstenius. Chelsea’s Niamh Charles had some problems against the speedy Johanna Rytting Kaneryd. The biggest problem was at right-back, where Barcelona’s Lucy Bronze was often caught out by the running of Rolfo, and will be disappointed she allowed her opponent to sneak in at the far post for the equaliser. Wiegman was clearly annoyed at the concession, describing it as “unnecessary” after the game. “We gave away a throw-in, and from that throw-in we weren’t able to take out the cross.”

Amongst all this, Greenwood was genuinely outstanding, winning aerial balls in the box and pushing out to her former position of left-back to help deal with Rytting Kaneryd. In an attacking sense, she was England’s most expressive passer, constantly hitting good diagonals out to the right flank — and playing more ambitious balls in behind for runners too. The question mark is what happens if and when Williamson and Bright are both available again. Considering England’s poor defensive run, you suspect Wiegman will be tempted to install Greenwood at left-back, effectively using another proper defender.

But concessions do not arise simply because of defenders making mistakes. England’s midfielders were equally culpable for constantly turning over possession when pressed by Sweden. Georgia Stanway was excellent in the first half but became sloppy. Keira Walsh, captain for the day, wasn’t as reliable as usual, in part because — as Sweden manager Peter Gerhardsson admitted — the visitors’ main tactic was trying to limit her influence. Ella Toone was presumably introduced in place of Grace Clinton to offer forward running, but is not a useful player to help control a game. “The main thing we want to do better is keep the ball longer,” said Wiegman.

All of this leaves us with a sense that, for the first time under Wiegman, England are veering off course. The Nations League results were disappointing, even if the Lionesses were ultimately eliminated by a very narrow margin. This performance should be considered a continuation of an underwhelming, albeit far from disastrous, post-World Cup run.

Qualification from this group should not be an issue, and essentially relies on England finishing ahead of the Republic of Ireland, who they face in Dublin on Tuesday. As England were stumbling against Sweden, Ireland put in a spirited display in France, losing only 1-0 with an approach that involved the use of five recognised centre-backs — including one, Anna Patten, who was until recently the England U23 captain. Ireland are likely to focus on defence again on Tuesday. Perhaps England should do the same.

 (Top photo: Julian Finney/Getty Images)



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