Beth Mead opens up on honest conversations between England players ahead of Netherlands thrashing | OneFootball

England forward Beth Mead has opened up on the honest conversations her side held in the build up to their must win game against the Netherlands.

The Lionesses found their form in Zurich as goals from Lauren James, Georgia Stanway and Ella Toone saw England thrash the Netherlands 4-0.

Mead, who made her impact off the bench, praised England’s ability to bounce back from their tough defeat to France in their opening game, and put their Euro 2025 destiny back in their own hands.

“I’m very proud of the team,” Mead said. “We got a lot of scrutiny from that first game, and us as players are very frustrated with how that first game of how it went and it wasn’t a true reflection of us a team.

“We had a lot of hard conversations throughout the week in the build up to this game. That’s not always easy as a team and as individuals. But, we really did that. We got together, we got behind each other, we were motivated.

“We believed that we could turn it around, and it was a credit to us that we showed that character and put in the display that we did today.

“It wasn’t even from Sarina [Wiegman], it was player-led. We have high expectations of each other, and sometimes emotionally it doesn’t always come out in the right ways but we’ve very much figured out how to get the best out of each other now.”

The 30-year-old alluded to the fact that the Lionesses simply wanted it more against the Dutch, continuing: “We nailed the game plan, but we just seemed hungrier on and off the ball compared to them.

“That opened a lot more space up for us, and as a team with as much quality as us, we were thinking happy days when that happened.”

The Lionesses will now come face-to-face with Wales in the final group stage match of the competition. A win will see England book their spot in the knockout stages, but Mead says her side are feeling far from complacent.

“Sometimes these are your hardest games,” Mead admitted. “Wales are definitely not wanting us to do well in this tournament, understandably.

“They’re going to be a very tough team to beat, it’s going to be a very different game again. We’ve got to now figure out where it is that we can break this team down.”