‘We bounced back really well’ – Wiegman pleased with England reaction against The Netherlands | OneFootball

England head coach Sarina Wiegman said that she was pleased with how her side bounced back from their UEFA Women’s EURO 2025 defeat to France by battering The Netherlands 4-0 in Zürich yesterday evening.

Lauren James netted a double while Georgia Stanway and Ella Toone were also on target for the Lionesses as they got their UEFA Women’s EURO title defence back on track.

When speaking to the media in the post-match press conference, England boss Wiegman admitted that her side’s reaction was really pleasing.

“I’m very happy with the performance,” Wiegman said. “I thought we bounced back really well from France because we weren’t very happy with that performance. We reviewed, had conversations and how the team responded was really good. I think we played a lot better.”

Going on to discuss the mental challenges that were facing her side going into the game, Wiegman explained that England were prepared for twists and turns in the group stage.

She said “It was hard because the consequences of the results are huge. We knew before the tournament that we were in a very hard group with top countries and Wales where there’s a huge rivalry. We knew that we were going straight into finals.

“Losing the first game, we said that it wasn’t the end of the world but it doesn’t put you in the best position. We knew that we had to perform really well today. The team just did really well with how we bounced back.”

Lauren James was fielded in an out-and-out attacking role rather than the deeper 10 position that she operated in against France. The youngster grabbed the headlines, although Wiegman explained that tactical adjustments benefitted the whole team.

She said “The two games are different. The team were struggling against France; as a team we weren’t really making the right decisions on the ball and there were so many turnovers that we played into their hands.

“Today, we made other decisions that helped the whole team. We made better decisions on the ball and LJ [Lauren James] came in good positions. She can also do that in midfield but we wanted Ella [Toone] in there because she makes a lot of runs in-behind. She played well and did that well too.”

England will qualify for the UEFA Women’s EURO 2025 quarter-finals with a win against Wales on Sunday.