Wales must learn from painful defeat – Wilkinson

After calling the first-half of their Nations League defeat by Italy “a punch in the face,” Wales head coach Rhian Wilkinson has told her side to draw lessons from painful lessons.

Wales suffered their heaviest defeat under Wilkinson at the worst possible time in their final match of the summer’s European Championships.

However, Wilkinson said their loss will be better for them because they will take comfort from a stronger second-half performance despite warning her side that “hard moments are coming.”

In Swansea, Wales were four points clear at half-time as their defense crumbled, and Wilkinson remarked, “The first half felt like a punch in the face.

The first half was crucial because of who we want to be because the games in this campaign were extremely tight but we haven’t had a major defeat like this.

Before a summer in which they will face the Netherlands, France, and England in their Euro 2025 group, Wilkinson’s side had been defensively impressive for the majority of their League A campaign. However, the former Canada international claimed Wales were shown what happens when you “tune out.”

She included herself and her coaching staff in accepting they needed to learn from their mistakes, Wilkinson said, “Italy punished us for every mistake and we have to react faster.”

The Euros will be very challenging because of the difficult things we’re going to have to do.

We’ll have to be at our best, and any errors will be punished, according to what we’ve learned.

After the break, Wales rallied to support Wilkinson’s assertion that Switzerland will not suffer from scarring.

She continued, “I told the players at the end that what transpired was unfavorable and that we can’t say this was a good performance.”

Jess Fishlock scored a wonder goal in Swansea to lift Wales’ fans, which was her record-equaling 47th goal in 162 appearances for her country.

Wilkinson, who still wears her country’s shirt, once more appealed to fans to applaud the 38-year-old after striking home from 35 yards.

After a recent injury lay-off, Fishlock and Wilkinson will now wait until Rhian Roberts (groin) and Mayzee Davies (knee) are back in the starting lineup before naming her Switzerland squad for Switzerland on June 23.

However, the Wales manager downplayed concern for Olivia Clark, who had to leave the field after receiving a second head injury in as many games.

She had a significant black eye after the Denmark game, and we followed the correct concussion protocol, and we were certain she was safe, according to Wilkinson.