Sarina Wiegman says that she is not worried by England’s 2-0 defeat to Australia at the Gtech Community Stadium in Brentford last night.
An error from captain Leah Williamson handed Sam Kerr the opening goal just after the half-hour before some poor marking allowed Charlotte Grant to head home another goal for the visitors midway through the second half.
When speaking in the post-match press conference, England head coach Wiegman said that the defeat was down to mistakes and the fact that the Lionesses were unable to find a different way to win.
“It doesn’t feel great,” Wiegman said. “I think there are lots of learnings for us to take away from playing against a young, physical and aggressive Australian side that defended well.
“We had lots of possession but we struggled to speed up the game to go forward and stretch them. We really wanted to get in behind the defence and switch play, so we let them run a little bit more but we didn’t do that well. We made some mistakes when they were dangerous on the counter attack and their first goal was a mistake from us which can happen in football.
“I thought we started well but when they were on a counter attack, we weren’t tight and we made a mistake which resulted in a goal, so that made it hard for us.
“We play against some opponents now that drop a little deeper, they play really tight, so we have to make the game. This is a very good, physical team, so we have to find solutions and ways to create more to score goals.”
Despite the manner of England’s defeat, Wiegman insists that she is not worried with what she witnessed from her side in Brentford.
She said “I’m not worried, I don’t worry. We have to be at our top level when we go into the World Cup.
“In every game, we get some warnings. Against Brazil in the Women’s Finalissima we got some warnings, the same with the Czech Republic game where we were tired and had to create a little more too.
“We know where we want to go and what we want to do and in this moment, I don’t think we are losing momentum, it is still building. There are 100 days to go until the start of the World Cup and everyone is excited to go to Australia. This is just a big learning moment for us; we need to get to a higher level to win these games.”
Wiegman is expected to name her final England squad for the FIFA Women’s World Cup Australia and New Zealand 2023 at the end of next month.
About The Author
