Analysis: England handed a much-needed wake-up call by Australia
The Lionesses fell to their first defeat under Sarina Wiegman after putting in a below-par performance against the World Cup co-hosts
It’s not a crisis. It’s not even - as captain Leah Williamson put it post-match - a setback, but it is a wake-up call.
Williamson, who among others suffered a sub-standard evening under the West London rain, even suggested the defeat could be a “blessing in disguise” for an England side who pre-Sarina Wiegman could do little but lose, and ever since do nothing but win.
There were a myriad of reasons behind England’s defeat, but generally it all came down to too many things going wrong on the night. Some was down to their own errors, some was down to too many key players having an off night, and some was down to an excellent execution of a game plan by a side coming on strong ahead of co-hosting the World Cup this summer.
It was a night of unwanted firsts for Wiegman and her team. A first loss, the first time trailing in a game at the break and the first time conceding more than once since the double Euros winner took over in 2021.
It scales not only how superb England have been under Wiegman, but how below-par they were on the night, put to the sword by goals from Sam Kerr and Charlotte Grant in either half.
One word of constant use from Wiegman post-match was ‘efficiency’, so much so that if you did a shot every time the word came up, you’d have endured a heavy head this morning.
She had more than a point though. While England were sluggish, off the pace and nowhere near the level we’ve come to expect, if you looked at the stats you’d be forgiven for doing a double take based on what you’d seen on the pitch itself.
England had 16 shots to Australia’s 5 and 4 on target to their 2, both of which found the back of the net. England had 71% possession and completed 690 passes to Australia’s 285, completing 85% of them.
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On stats alone, it looked like a good night, so efficient is the right word used by the head coach.
You can never read a huge amount into friendlies and Australia head coach Tony Gustavsson was quick to point that out when stating his team couldn’t get too low about defeat to Scotland, nor too high about victory over England.
The Lionesses were lacking several key players, as were their visitors, but it did raise questions about what the team’s Plan B is in need of one.
The reality is until now they haven’t required it, for Plan A has been brilliantly effective enough to take them to a European title. The only Plan B we’ve really seen is Millie Bright up top, and that wasn’t on the menu last night.
They did come up against a team in good form, one who had similar hallmarks to England of 12 months ago, flying in confidence ahead of a home tournament. Last year England had that feeling of a team on the verge, Australia held a similar aura.
After three defeats in four games last summer - including a 7-0 humbling to Spain - the Aussies are finding their feet under a head coach who knows how to win a World Cup after serving as an assistant to Jill Ellis in the USA, but since then have won eight of their nine games since.
That’s included a 3-1 win in Denmark, a 4-0 win over Sweden, a 3-2 win over Spain and last night’s 2-0 win in England. They, like Brazil last week, are a team going places, and they didn’t fear England one bit.
Gustavsson pointed to a “brilliant execution” of the game plan post-match, and like Pia Sundhage said last week, he too had clearly worked out England’s strong points, as well as their weaknesses.
Because that’s the key problem with being so good for so long, there’s only so much time before someone susses you out, which is why sustained periods of success are so difficult, at either club or international level.
Even the best get found out eventually, and someone else comes along to take your crown. Nobody is writing off the Lionesses winning the World Cup, but teams have started to work out their kryptonite.
Like Brazil did in the second half, Australia tried - and succeeded - to nullify the space Keira Walsh had on the ball, despite England having more numbers in midfield, the Barcelona midfielder was unable to influence the game as she usually does, and often found herself passing backwards rather than forwards.
It meant Georgia Stanway and Ella Toone too had little influence, with England not attacking through the middle as much as they can, and instead opting for the safe option out wide, which has become a trademark.
It’s a shame Lauren Hemp had to go off because she looked more threatening than she has in recent games, while neither Jess Carter or Lucy Bronze were able to exert much influence getting forward from full-back areas.
Alessia Russo is a quandary. On the one hand, it feels like England need a bit more from her, with three goals in her last eight appearances now, but on the other, they need to get her involved more.
Brazil purposefully put three centre-backs out to leave the Manchester United vastly out-numbered, and while Australia didn’t, she was barely involved in terms of goal scoring opportunities.
It might be time to give Rachel Daly that chance, but with only limited games now left before the World Cup, time is running out to make a decision on who starts up front. When Italy banked up at the Arnold Clark Cup, Daly scored twice from two crosses.
It did also raise questions of whether to bring Beth England back into the fold, while Ebony Salmon offers something different and I’d still be a huge advocate of using her blistering pace late on in games as a different Plan B, while England is not too dissimilar in style and effectiveness to Russo and Daly.
England did miss the presence of Millie Bright at the back and Alex Greenwood on the left. Wiegman seemed confident Bright will be back and she will hope so because if not, England will need either a new partner for Williamson, or move Greenwood over and find a permanent left-back, with nobody really nailing down that spot.
A bigger question mark lies over Fran Kirby, who Wiegman said she was “more concerned” about. Her creativity is sorely missed through the middle, could it be time to test Lauren James in there? Allowing Chloe Kelly and Hemp to take the wing spots?
James will occupy - and scare - defenders, pulling them out of position and allow for Stanway to maraud forward into the space vacated. It would take some tactical tweaks, but there is a feeling James could cause chaos with two wingers either side of her and a striker like Russo in front of her.
These are all options for Wiegman to consider as England, as I mentioned last week, have to become less predictable, because two teams in the space of a week have researched their threats, and nullified them.
Saying that, the two goals were avoidable on any other day. The first, I place blame at both Williamson and Mary Earps’ door. Williamson is experienced enough to know getting enough power on a header in that position to reach the goalkeeper is tough, while I was perplexed to see Earps so rooted to her six-yard box knowing full well what the captain was about to try and execute.
The second had a bit of bad luck involved, but after Carter conceded possession and ended up out of position, England’s defence all shifted over one (rightly), leaving Grant to come in unmarked. In reality, it wouldn’t have bothered Earps had it not taken a huge deflection, but those are the breaks.
As mentioned, no need for crisis mode, one defeat in 31 would have been gladly snapped up when Wiegman took over, but there’s more than a nagging feeling England are becoming a bit stale, and need a freshen up before July.
Good piece as ever Rich. imo giving up goals due to mental errors from two locked-in starters across the backline is something to be mildly concerned about three months out. Bronze isn't going anywhere, obv, but the number of times an attacker has just appeared behind her without her noticing and then connected with a header off a cross into the box has become 'a thing' at this point.
Also think it could be interesting to watch the Wiegman / Gustavsson matchup going forward as Tony was largely in charge of in-game tactics for the US in 2019 when Wiegman completely changed the way Netherlands set up before that final which ended in no chances for Netherlands until after the 80th minute when they were already 2-0 down. not a 1-for-1, obviously, but his plan worked again last night and they are on the same side of the bracket this summer.