England head coach Sarina Wiegman says that the emphasis will be on winning matches at the upcoming Arnold Clark Cup but managing player load will be important given the fact that the Lionesses face three games in the space of just seven days.
Wiegman’s side open the tournament with a fixture against Canada in Middlesbrough on Thursday 17 February before taking on Spain in Norwich on Sunday 20 February. The Lionesses close the tournament with a match against Germany in Wolverhampton on Wednesday 23 February.
The 24-player Lionesses squad for the tournament was announced by The Football Association this afternoon. When speaking following the announcement, England head coach Wiegman said that while the focus will be on winning games, managing the stresses and strains within the squad will be very important.
“In football, when you start a game, you always go into it wanting to win,” Wiegman told FAWSL Full-Time. “This tournament is a friendly tournament so for us, it is about preparation for the EUROs and because we play three matches in seven days, we have to manage load of players. After the tournament, the players have important games for their clubs and when you are playing every three days, you have to manage load.
“It is an opportunity to get more players on the pitch, give more players minutes and see how they play together. We will look to try out some new things and see how players communicate and collaborate and how they relate to each other.
“There are lots of things that we can take out of these games, we can learn, develop our style of play but when we start a game, we want to win it.”
England will face top class opposition for the first time in Wiegman’s tenure at the Arnold Clark Cup and the Dutch coach went on to give a brief insight into what her side will come up against over the course of the three games.
She said “We all know that they are world class opponents. We know that Canada did very well at the Olympics, they play a direct game and Bev Priestman has brought in a nice structure in possession as well as out of possession.
With Spain, we all know that the bulk of their players play for Barcelona and at this moment, I think that they are the best club in the world. Spain are very dynamic, very tight when they are on the ball so that will be an exciting game too.
“Germany have always been good, they’ve always been at a certain level. They’ve been in a transitional period with some young players coming in but they are very powerful with a good possession game.
“We will have to be at our best to be very competitive but we have a strong squad.”
Tickets for the inaugural Arnold Clark Cup remain on sale and they can be purchased by clicking here.
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