Sarina Wiegman: England must execute game plan to salvage Euros hopes | OneFootball

England head coach Sarina Wiegman says the Lionesses must be at their very best if they are to keep their Women’s Euro 2025 hopes alive.

The Lionesses were far from their best during the tournament opener, falling to a 2-1 defeat to France in Zurich. Wiegman is ready to move on from the stumble ahead of a must-win meeting with the Netherlands on match day two.

“We didn’t do good enough, we wanted to execute better,” Wiegman admitted. “We want to be less sloppy. We want to make better decisions and move on to the next game. So we talked about our game plan, we trained it a bit, and tomorrow we are ready.

“It’s going to be an intense game. We knew this was going to be a hard group, and what we were focusing on was our game plan and just executing that and doing the task. We are having conversations about play, sticking together, and talking to each other.

“That’s what we want to do the game too. So what we’re occupied with is playing football, executing a task, sticking together, getting the right connections, and just work really hard and doing everything to do win.

“We knew before this tournament, we knew with the group we’re in that it’s going to be very tough group. It’s going to be a different opening game [than Euro 2022] because we played against the top country [France], and we want to win. But, we didn’t.

“That was one game, now we have another game and the approach is the same, because we want we go out there and we want to win the game.”

Young partnership Grace Clinton and Michelle Agyemang were one of the only positives to take out of the France defeat, coming on in the later stages of the game and making an immediate impact. Wiegman highlighted the importance of game changers, and what role they play in the squad.

“In our team we have different type of players for the same position. So, if you want to change something, then you can bring in another player who has different attributes to the game.

“You can also change your shape and your style to impact the games. What you want when you bring players on the pitch during the game is that they have impact on the game.”

Beyond just being an all or nothing game for the Lionesses, the clash with the Netherlands carries extra significance as Wiegman faces her former team. Although, the Dutch women denied that it would carry any extra weight in her mind.

“For me, it won’t and I’ve said that a couple of times. My full focus is on England, on our team, together with my technical staff and the rest of the staff.

“What keeps us busy is our game plan and how are we going to support the players to to prepare them for tomorrow. We have trained, we have had some meetings, and then we go out there tomorrow and that’s the only thing I’m thinking about.”