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Midfielder Georgia Stanway said England “underperformed” in the defeat by France but there is “no crisis” despite knowing they could be eliminated in the group stages at Euro 2025.
Sarina Wiegman’s side, who are attempting to defend their title in Switzerland, were outplayed by France in their opening match on Saturday, losing 2-1 in Zurich.
Stanway was among the players who came under criticism for her performance, with France overloading England’s midfield and causing problems up front.
“It was difficult. Everything that we wanted to happen, didn’t happen. We know as a team – and as individuals – that we underperformed,” said Stanway.
“If I’m being totally honest, I’m disappointed with my performance on Saturday. For some reason I couldn’t do the things that I wanted to be able to do in possession.
“I just knew I had to run around and put some tackles in. My way of communicating – when I can’t do something on the ball – is to work my socks off.”
If England lose to the Netherlands on Wednesday and France pick up at least a point against Wales, then the defending champions are knocked out.
Asked if she was willing to contemplate that scenario, Stanway said: “It’s reality. If we’re not good enough on Wednesday then we don’t deserve to continue in the tournament.”
England keen to forget ‘bad night out’
The Lionesses face a strong Netherlands, with the Dutch national side having won Euro 2017 under current England manager Wiegman.
“What we want going forward is to make actions and stop talking. I didn’t want to do the press conference today because I’m fed up of talking now,” added Stanway.
“It’s time that we focus and we want to put things right on the pitch in order for us to be able to talk. We want to make change.
“We’ve spoken about wanting to be ‘proper England’ and going back to what we’re good at and our traditional style of football – tough tackles and remembering why we’re here.
“Sometimes it’s about blocking out the noise and getting on the pitch and getting stuck in.
“I had a message from someone I know that said ‘[the France game] was just like a bad night out and you want to forget it as quickly as possible!'”
The 26-year-old also revealed that experienced defender Lucy Bronze brought the team together to reflect on England’s opening match at the 2015 Women’s World Cup, when they also lost to France in their opening game but went on to reach the semi-finals.
“We lost 2-1 [against France on Saturday]. We could have got a draw. Even at our worst, we were able to put a performance together that was [almost] worthy of a draw,” said Stanway.
Related topics
- England Women’s Football Team
- UEFA Women’s EURO
- Football
- Women’s Football
