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The Lionesses are back: Wiegman tweaks tactics as James answers critics

The Lionesses are back: Wiegman tweaks tactics as James answers critics

Shiriki

England’s record-breaking win over the Netherlands kept them alive at Euro 2025 and erased all the negativity from a woeful start to the tournament against France.

By Jamie Spencer

That was much, much better.

England knew just how much was at stake before kick-off against the Netherlands on Wednesday. Defeat would have spelled elimination with a game still to play.

Prior to Saturday night’s humbling loss against France, no reigning European champion had ever been beaten in their opening game of the tournament. To create more unwanted history as the first holders not to escape the group stage was unthinkable.

Instead, there was a different piece of history, England became the first team ever to score more than two goals in a single major tournament game against the Netherlands. The 4-0 score-line and everything about the performance was the perfect response to what had unfolded four days earlier.

After being “absolutely bullied” by France, there was a call for calm from the Lionesses camp, no need to overreact. For midfielder Georgia Stanway, one of many off her usual game that evening, the defeat amounted to a “bad night out” to be forgotten, and nothing more.

Sarina Wiegman’s selection for game two raised eyebrows, making just a single change – Ella Toone for Beth Mead – and keeping faith in Jess Carter following a mauling by France winger Delphine Cascarino. But once the game kicked off, it was clear Carter had traded places with Alex Greenwood, who moved to left-back. Playing centrally, she instantly looked much more protected and comfortable.

Lauren James moved wide to accommodate Toone in the No. 10 role, which seemed to give the midfield a better balance and shape, but the Chelsea star had license to roam too.

After France, critics unfairly rounded on James. There were outside voices calling for her to be dropped, but she was the one England player who’d performed in that game. Everything the Lionesses did well in the first 15 minutes, until later being overrun, was through her.

Underpinned by vastly improved intensity and physicality from those around her – the Lionesses won 52% of all duels, up from only 42% against France – operating from the right seemed to suit James better. This was only her third game back from a hamstring injury that meant she didn’t feature for Chelsea in April or May. But the effortless quality on display made that impossible to detect.

It was a fine finish to break the deadlock only 22 minutes in, cutting onto her left foot on the edge of the box, and a poacher’s goal for England’s third on the hour mark, gobbling up a rebound after Toone’s initial shot had been blocked.

It wasn’t just on the ball either, she pinned Netherlands left-back Esmee Brugts from early on, nullifying what could have been a serious danger, given how vulnerable England had been in wide areas against France. In one instance, James forced Brugts back towards her own penalty area and won a corner. The Barcelona star didn’t return after the half-time interval.

At 4-0 up, James was withdrawn after 69 minutes, preserving her fitness with the job done.

Stanway scored England’s second with an opportunistic strike from distance. More importantly, she was back to her usual self in other ways, making more tackles (3) than any other player on the pitch. Toone had justified her starting place before adding the fourth, arriving unmarked in the box.

Alessia Russo deserves credit too, disappointing against France but coming away from this one with a hat-trick of assists. She put in the hard yards to stretch the pitch and keep the Dutch guessing – England’s first and fourth goals were the direct result of Russo running behind the defensive line and picking out the right pass at the right time.

“The priority was that we wanted to skip [midfield] and exploit space. The Netherlands pushed up so we wanted to go over them. That worked really well,” Wiegman explained after the final whistle. “When you’re in their half of the pitch, you can start playing. We had some nice crosses and we spoke about that too. We wanted Ella [to start] because she can make good runs in behind.”

As a whole, England played more on the front foot this time – 308 accurate passes were split exactly 50/50 between their own half and the opposition half, compared to just 29% of all successful Dutch passes being in English territory. In the first half alone, there were 11 attempts on goal, almost four times as many as in the opening 45 minutes against France (3).

Suddenly, France looks like a blip and this was the “proper England” – the buzz phrase doing the rounds since that result. Only time will tell if they are genuine contenders to retain the title, but 90 minutes against the Netherlands was enough of a statement to suggest they absolutely could be.

Next up, the aim is to finish the job by beating Wales on Sunday night to reach the knockouts stage.

(Cover image from IMAGO)

You can follow every game from the 2025 Women’s Euros with FotMob – featuring deep stats coverage, xG, and player ratings.

And for exclusive coverage from on the ground at the tournament, please sign up for our free newsletter – here.

The Lionesses are back: Wiegman tweaks tactics as James answers critics

England’s record-breaking win over the Netherlands kept them alive at Euro 2025 and erased all the negativity from a woeful start to the tournament against France.

By Jamie Spencer

That was much, much better.

England knew just how much was at stake before kick-off against the Netherlands on Wednesday. Defeat would have spelled elimination with a game still to play.

Prior to Saturday night’s humbling loss against France, no reigning European champion had ever been beaten in their opening game of the tournament. To create more unwanted history as the first holders not to escape the group stage was unthinkable.

Instead, there was a different piece of history, England became the first team ever to score more than two goals in a single major tournament game against the Netherlands. The 4-0 score-line and everything about the performance was the perfect response to what had unfolded four days earlier.

After being “absolutely bullied” by France, there was a call for calm from the Lionesses camp, no need to overreact. For midfielder Georgia Stanway, one of many off her usual game that evening, the defeat amounted to a “bad night out” to be forgotten, and nothing more.

Sarina Wiegman’s selection for game two raised eyebrows, making just a single change – Ella Toone for Beth Mead – and keeping faith in Jess Carter following a mauling by France winger Delphine Cascarino. But once the game kicked off, it was clear Carter had traded places with Alex Greenwood, who moved to left-back. Playing centrally, she instantly looked much more protected and comfortable.

Lauren James moved wide to accommodate Toone in the No. 10 role, which seemed to give the midfield a better balance and shape, but the Chelsea star had license to roam too.

After France, critics unfairly rounded on James. There were outside voices calling for her to be dropped, but she was the one England player who’d performed in that game. Everything the Lionesses did well in the first 15 minutes, until later being overrun, was through her.

Underpinned by vastly improved intensity and physicality from those around her – the Lionesses won 52% of all duels, up from only 42% against France – operating from the right seemed to suit James better. This was only her third game back from a hamstring injury that meant she didn’t feature for Chelsea in April or May. But the effortless quality on display made that impossible to detect.

It was a fine finish to break the deadlock only 22 minutes in, cutting onto her left foot on the edge of the box, and a poacher’s goal for England’s third on the hour mark, gobbling up a rebound after Toone’s initial shot had been blocked.

It wasn’t just on the ball either, she pinned Netherlands left-back Esmee Brugts from early on, nullifying what could have been a serious danger, given how vulnerable England had been in wide areas against France. In one instance, James forced Brugts back towards her own penalty area and won a corner. The Barcelona star didn’t return after the half-time interval.

At 4-0 up, James was withdrawn after 69 minutes, preserving her fitness with the job done.

Stanway scored England’s second with an opportunistic strike from distance. More importantly, she was back to her usual self in other ways, making more tackles (3) than any other player on the pitch. Toone had justified her starting place before adding the fourth, arriving unmarked in the box.

Alessia Russo deserves credit too, disappointing against France but coming away from this one with a hat-trick of assists. She put in the hard yards to stretch the pitch and keep the Dutch guessing – England’s first and fourth goals were the direct result of Russo running behind the defensive line and picking out the right pass at the right time.

“The priority was that we wanted to skip [midfield] and exploit space. The Netherlands pushed up so we wanted to go over them. That worked really well,” Wiegman explained after the final whistle. “When you’re in their half of the pitch, you can start playing. We had some nice crosses and we spoke about that too. We wanted Ella [to start] because she can make good runs in behind.”

As a whole, England played more on the front foot this time – 308 accurate passes were split exactly 50/50 between their own half and the opposition half, compared to just 29% of all successful Dutch passes being in English territory. In the first half alone, there were 11 attempts on goal, almost four times as many as in the opening 45 minutes against France (3).

Suddenly, France looks like a blip and this was the “proper England” – the buzz phrase doing the rounds since that result. Only time will tell if they are genuine contenders to retain the title, but 90 minutes against the Netherlands was enough of a statement to suggest they absolutely could be.

Next up, the aim is to finish the job by beating Wales on Sunday night to reach the knockouts stage.

(Cover image from IMAGO)

You can follow every game from the 2025 Women’s Euros with FotMob – featuring deep stats coverage, xG, and player ratings.

And for exclusive coverage from on the ground at the tournament, please sign up for our free newsletter – here.