We hear from England coach Mark Sampson, his views on the game and what the team need to be doing, going forward…
Satisfying performance?
A clean sheet, three points, five goals and still to feel like we left a lot of goals on the park is quite a good emotion to have at the end of the game. A lot of the things we wanted to get from the game we got. The width we had was very good. Davison and Stokes helped us a lot there and the two forwards worked well together, particularly Dane and congratulations to her for the hat trick and an excellent performance. The five goals and three points gets us closer to topping this group and we still feel like we could have scored a lot more.
Danielle Carter hit a hat trick and year ago against Estonia, has come in and done the same again, what has made the difference for her to be selected again?
Dan, like a few of the other players, is that we’re clear about having players that can win for England. It’s not just about being an international but being a player that can go to a World Cup and win for England. Dan certainly did her work to get herself to a position to where I felt she could really help us win consistently an credit to her and credit to her club for the support they have given her. You can see now that she looks more athletic, a lot more aggression and intensity in her game. Technically she has alway been excellent, she just needed to add some bits to her game and coming back into the environment now, she looks sharp, she looks aggressive, she looks confident and like a woman on a mission.
Does she need to play against tougher opposition in order to have a chanceto make the Euros next year?
I think always you prefer to see the players against teams that are really going to test you and the games are going to be tight and test. But the important thing about dan and all of the players is that every day they are doing the types of things they need to do to be where we want them to be. Now she has the mentality where she wakes up in the morning, thinks what she has to do and works hard to achieve it. It’s boring and it’s slow progress and it needs to be done and all of the players have got to be in the same bracket.
The three at the back works well, with the two wide players as mentioned, will there be a shuffleof the pack and change of formation for the Belgium game?
Yeah, I think it’s a good option for us. We played it in Estonia as well, once at the World Cup and a few times in the previous qualifying campaign away from home and I was really pleased with the width and it’s important that we have the players in the middle of the pitch to take care of that part of it and be compact in there. We created a lot of opportunities for Gemma and Demi to be one v one and they were devastating at times particularly Davison. We put so many crossed in today, which shows that we’re finding opportunities and where the space is. Which is normally against these teams, wider.
It makes your team unpredictable?
Yes, exactly. There will be a lot of international teams watching that game tonight and realising that Gemma Davison has got a bit about her, she’s a real weapon, a player to be frightened of and certainly an England team that can play in different ways. You’ve seen an England team in this campaign that has been narrow and compact and very well organised defensively and being sharp abd agrressive through the middleof the park and we’ve seen an England team today and probably against Serbia which is using the flanks. It’s important because we’re going to play good teams at these European Champsionships that are going to come at us at certain places. Look at the Olympic Games, the theme in women’s football is that we’re all copying Leicester City. Sit in, bank up, try and counter attack and we’re going to face that and so need different weapons in our armoury to ensure we can find solutions and score goals against these teams.
A few words from outgoing Estonia coach Keith Boanas and hat trick heroine Dan Carter to follow in the morning…
