England faced deserved criticism - then they responded in the perfect way | OneFootball

In the aftermath of England’s opening defeat to France at Euro 2025, shell-shocked players were starting to realise the scale of the criticism that could come their way if they crashed out of the tournament after just two games. The criticism England received, and a lot of it came from within as well as from outside, meant there was nowhere to hide. “We finished the game against France and we got cameras and microphones shoved in our face telling us how bad we are,” said Lucy Bronze.

This is the new world the Lionesses have created, where their achievements in winning the Euros and reaching the World Cup final have rightly resulted in greater attention, but also greater scrutiny should they fall short of those standards. Even Sarina Wiegman admitted to feeling “tense” before facing the Netherlands, where defeat would have led to elimination.

With England determined to put things right, the tone was set by Georgia Stanway a couple of days before playing the Dutch. Stanway had been a shadow of herself in the defeat to France, as England lost the midfield battle and were second to every ball, but the 26-year-old admirably fronted up at the team’s base in Zurich.

open image in gallery

Georgia Stanway celebrates England’s second goal in the 4-0 win (Getty Images)

Stanway’s pride had clearly been hurt. Stanway expects herself to lead by example on the pitch, which is why she was so disappointed with how comprehensively England had failed to compete. If there was a chance that Stanway could have dropped for the Netherlands game, given she had just returned from a lengthy injury lay-off, her appearance at England’s pre-match media duties and the conviction showed when she spoke of “going back to what we’re good at” made it clear that Wiegman counted on her to respond in the right way.

It wasn’t just Stanway who delivered in England’s 4-0 win over the Netherlands. Wiegman made just one personnel change, bringing in Ella Toone for Beth Mead, which meant many of the players who had faced the strongest criticism following their performances against France were backed to show up when it counted. “It was important that we changed the narrative for ourselves,” Bronze said.

After such a sloppy display on the ball on Saturday night, Keira Walsh was back to controlling the midfield alongside Stanway. Jess Carter, who had been given a torrid time at left back by Delphine Cascarino, was shifted into centre-back for the Netherlands game and was faultless. Bronze shut down the Netherlands’ entire left side along with Lauren James, who so clearly shone back on the right wing. “Everyone was just on it,” Walsh said.

“I think the first thing is that you just have to acknowledge that sometimes it is a bad day and it was a really bad day against France,” Walsh continued. “I think for everybody else it was panic stations, but we still needed to win this game whether we beat France or not and we knew that. So for us the objective didn't change.

open image in gallery

(The FA via Getty Images)

“I think no offense to the media, but they like to make it bigger than what it is. We needed to win this game anyway so we just came in confident. We wanted to be aggressive. We wanted to take the game to them and again put things right that we didn't the other day. I think we did back up what we've said.”

The most impressive transformation came from Carter. Exposed by France’s dangerous wide players on Saturday, Wiegman swapped the defender with Alex Greenwood in England’s back four. Facing two very different one-on-one situations at centre-back, against Vivianne Miedema and then Lineth Beerensteyn, Carter went back to basics and showed why she is usually so dependable.

"I think the only thing I had to prove was to myself,” Carter said. “I know I belong on this stage. Every single one of these players belongs on this stage. After the France game there was a bit of doubt. Are we good enough? After analysing the game we moved on from it. We showed what we can do.”

open image in gallery

Jess Carter and Alex Greenwood swapped positions but impressed in England's defence (The FA via Getty Images)

Wiegman’s idea to swap Carter and Greenwood came immediately after the France defeat. It gave England stability they needed. “I turned up to training and that's when Sarina put me in and swapped Alex,” Carter said. “Me and Alex didn't feel connected in the France game and this game felt the total opposite with her and the whole team. Alex was phenomenal at left back.”

Bronze said the most important message England discussed was sticking together. “Those two on the left [Carter and Greenwood] really embodied that, especially from the very beginning and it gave a lot of the rest of the team confidence,” Bronze said.

England’s right back had also spoken in the days following the France defeat to remind the current squad that the Lionesses had also lost their opening game of the 2015 World Cup and reached the semi-finals. The pressure is different now - there was not the same glare of the cameras 10 years ago in Canada - but England backed up the talk and Bronze said defiant mood will be again lifted by coming through a must-win game so early: “It gives you a huge sense of belief.”