England head coach Sarina Wiegman says that her side want to be more clinical in the final third after struggling for goals in recent games.
The Lionesses travel to Leuven to face Belgium in their latest fixture in the UEFA Women’s Nations League this evening. The two sides met in the reverse fixture in Leicester on Friday night with England running out 1-0 winners.
In their last four games, England have registered 56 shots on goal but they have managed to find the back of the net on just four occasions. Head coach Wiegman says that she is happy with her team’s performances, although they do want to be better in the final third.
“I was happy with how we played on Friday and hopefully, we can play well in the reverse fixture,” Wiegman said when speaking in the pre-match press conference.
“I think we could have made things a little easier for ourselves but I thought that our play was good both in and out of possession.
“What we want to be in possession is a little better in the final third; create chances and be better with the final pass and the final execution. We want to do better.”
Despite England only being able to score the one goal in their last meeting with Belgium, Wiegman saw plenty of pleasing aspects to their general play.
“We always have a game plan based on in possession, out of possession and transition moments,” she said. “What I really liked on Friday was that there was so much energy in the team and you saw real intentions; if we lost possession, we wanted to win it back. There was only one stage in the game where we dropped off a little bit but then we picked up again.
“I at least want to see the same energy, intention and togetherness of the whole team. In possession, we want to take it to the next level, especially in the final third. We also want to prevent their counter attacks because they really try to get into the right areas and they are dangerous from free-kicks and corners. If we keep that to a minimum, we make things easier for ourselves.”
England’s latest UEFA Women’s Nations League fixture against Belgium kicks-off at 7.30pm this evening.
