One of Sarina Wiegman’s buzzwords is “connections”.
The England manager is always looking for her players to develop stronger links on the pitch to improve her team’s fluidity. Another word that has cropped up during this international break is the opportunity to “experiment”, given these are friendly matches, after all.
Against the United States, Wiegman opted to start Jessica Naz at right wing and Beth Mead a lot deeper on the opposite wing. Jess Park at No 10 also had to cover space on the left, with Alessia Russo as striker.
It was an unprecedented starting combination.
But this was not just any friendly. Against the U.S., in front of 78,346 fans, England could not afford to ship four goals like they did against Germany in their previous game at Wembley. They needed to tighten up their porous defence, which they did with a clean sheet. But England’s attack lacked fluidity, aggression and bite.
The hosts registered their lowest expected goals value (0.07) — a measurement of the quality of chances created — and the fewest number of shots (four) in the entirety of Wiegman’s three-year reign as England manager, and by some margin. Their second-lowest xG record is 0.36, from the game against Spain at the Arnold Clark Cup in February 2022.
England did not create any big chances and fans had little to cheer. Russo, who is the obvious choice as an out-and-out No 9, was isolated up top. The Arsenal striker did all she could with the service provided, but that was stifled when lynchpin Keira Walsh was marked out of the game.
Russo put in a typical Russo performance, working hard for her team. She was relied upon to hold the ball up against an aggressive American defence, especially centre-back Naomi Girma, who said afterwards she “just tried to keep Russo’s back to goal and force her to go backwards”.
Girma emerges with the ball after a battle with Russo (Jacques Feeney/Offside/Offside via Getty Images)
Without Lauren Hemp and Lauren James, absent because of injury, there was nothing unpredictable about England’s attack.
The intriguing aspect was Wiegman starting Naz ahead of Chelsea’s Aggie Beever-Jones or Manchester City’s Chloe Kelly. Naz said after the game she was “even shocked to be in the squad” and described playing at Wembley as a “surreal” feeling. Wiegman, however, has used Naz in all three of England’s friendlies in November: she was a substitute against Germany and started against South Africa. Wiegman’s logic is to use Naz’s pace to get in the spaces behind the defence.
The 24-year-old had to adjust her position depending on how the U.S. built up from the back. In possession, she pushed up to join Russo but out of possession she was instructed to drop and come wide to the right wing. Naz said she had Lucy Bronze in her ear like a “little mic” telling her where to go, while she would also speak with Russo about each other’s positions on the posts and in the box when crosses were made.
New information in a new role takes time to digest and that was evident as England’s attack clunked through the gears.
“At first I was like: ‘Wow, this is a lot!’” said Naz. “But Sarina just said: ‘Play your game, the threats in behind is what you bring. That’s what we want to try to get you to do. Just get higher up the pitch’”.
Neither of the wingers, Mead or Naz, however, offered runs in behind. Although Wiegman commended Naz for her efforts to understand the game plan and her quick development, she rarely troubled the U.S. backline and needed to stretch them more.
Naz struggled to get in behind the USA’s defence (MI News/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
Mead, too, was positioned in a deeper role on her weaker left side, and Park and Georgia Stanway struggled to make any impact. The U.S. back four cut off balls, won tackles and aerial duels, reducing England to just one shot on target and 14 touches in the opposition box. The U.S. had 40 touches in the England box, yet could not force a breakthrough.
Giving new players opportunities is refreshing to see. But does Wiegman see Naz as a player for England at the 2025 European Championship? If the manager had started Kelly, who has fallen out of favour at City, would she have been criticised for regressing to her (winning) 2022 European Championship team?
It was interesting to see that, when Wiegman turned to her bench in the 75th minute, she called upon experienced internationals in Kelly and Fran Kirby rather than experimenting further. Hemp and James’ return will reinforce England’s attacking talents but it does raise questions regarding squad depth in those areas.
“Everyone’s trying their best to create those connections and bring their own qualities to the game, as well as trying to figure out what our England way is,” said defender Jess Carter after the game.
Between experimentation and establishing connections, England are left in a liminal space with clarity needed.
(Top photo: MI News/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
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