Analysis: England 2-1 Italy

A Rachel Daly brace earned England a second win in the Arnold Clark Cup, as Sarina Wiegman made nine changes as she continues to shape her squad ahead of the World Cup this summer...

Image: Paul Terry / Sportimage

England head coach Sarina Wiegman was pretty emphatic in stating she got what she wanted from her team's win over Italy as every outfield player has now had minutes on the pitch across the opening two games of the Arnold Clark Cup.

Wiegman ripped up her usual consistent rulebook and made nine changes, with Ellie Roebuck, Maya Le Tissier, Niamh Charles, Keira Walsh, Laura Coombs, Jess Park, Lauren Hemp, Katie Robinson and Rachel Daly all coming into the team.

Many, like two-goal match-winner Daly, took their opportunities, others were quieter, but Italy did well at frustrating England, just like Korea Republic did and just as predicted pre-tournament as England look for tests against sides likely to replicate the low block they expect from opposition at the World Cup.

Both goals came from crosses, which England made 25 of during the game, but only completed five, though the two from Robinson and Lauren James which led to the goals were enough for another win.

As expected given the changes, it was a slightly more disjointed performance than on Thursday as a new-look back four, a new-look midfield and a new-look attack all got adapted to not just playing with each other, but the other units on the field, yet England ultimately dominated the majority of the game, only dropping their levels slightly in a small period of the second half, but it was enough to allow Italy to equalise.

"I’m very happy with this game, and of course happy with the win. We always play to win. But today we’ve seen many players on the pitch.

"What we want to see this week too is what kind of options do we have and just try it out so that’s what you saw today. We’ve played some scenarios where we’ve put in two centre forwards but for now, how we play, we wouldn’t start with two at this moment because I think the way we’re playing now, we’re doing really well."