We bring you what the coach and some of the players had to say after the #Lionesses drew 1-1 v Italy, CHRIS BROOKES reports…
Coach, Mark Sampson
Opening the post match presser by congratulating John Griffiths and the Under-17s and Mo Marley and the Under-19s for their respective Euros Finals qualifications:
It’s a fantastic achievement for England women’s football to see our senior national team, our Under-19s and Under-17s at a major championship this summer, so congratulations to the two coaches, the players, the staff and all the guys that work so hard at SGP to really promote those teams.
On the game:
It was a disappointing result but I thought we did more than enough to win the game, over the course of the 90 minutes. The biggest disappointment is conceding the goal in the manner we did; a really poor goal from our point of view, unlike us. It was one of those nights where I thought we looked really positive with our play, creating lots of chances, finding lots of spaces, but it was one of those nights where it wasn’t going in the back of the net for us and when you do get your goal, it’s important you make sure you remain tight and composed at the back and don’t concede. Up until that point, they didn’t look like scoring. Over the course of the night, they’ve had one shot on target and that’s been enough to get them a result.
Obviously, there was a difficult one with an honest challenge from Millie and the Italian player has obviously suffered a nasty injury, so we send our best wishes from myself, the coaching staff and all the players and wish her a speedy recovery, obviously with a tournament on the horizon. We just spoke now to the manager and hopefully she’ll get herself right for the summer.
I think we’ve started to raise the bar with our athleticism; if you look at where we were 12 months ago, we’re a very different team, but we’re nowhere near where we want to be. If we want to be the fittest team in the world then we’ve got a lot of work to do between now and July 19th. We’ve trained exceptionally hard this week; we wanted to put the players through some physical exertion, some physical pressure to see if they could cope with 90 minutes tonight. We only made three subs, to replicate what it would be in the European Championship, so in terms of that, we’ve learned a lot about how to play a game when you’re not at your physical freshest and find a way to win.
On Jodie Taylor’s goal:
I think that’s the threat that we show now. We need to be better at build-up goals, when teams are in their block and we find a way around them or through or over, but on the counter-attack, we’re genuinely one of the best teams in the world. We had four good moments to counter-attack tonight and we executed two brilliantly: the one we should’ve scored in the first half with Nobbs and in the second half a really efficient move. A great header from Steph, pick up the second ball, find a forward pass, and Jodie knows if we’ve got time in midfield, she’ll make a run and we’ve got players who can pick her out. She executed that finish really well.
On the Euros being 3 months away – – before the opening game v Scotland – and how they have you been approaching making sure they hit the ground running when that comes around and how far off they are at present:
Yeah, we know we’ve got a lot of work to get through to get to where we want to, but I think that highlights the ambition of the team. We’re not in a bad place right now but Scotland will be a very difficult opponent, we know that and they showed that in the Cyprus Cup. They’ve obviously got the likes of Kim Little and also Jane Ross, who, let’s not forget, was the top scorer in qualifying. So that’ll be a tough game, but we’re preparing for a tournament as well as Scotland, so a bit of work to do to make sure we’re ready for that match and the whole tournament.
Forward, Karen Carney
On playing coming in off the left, playing centrally at times, and also wide on the right and the differences in the creative licence/instructions given to her for Chelsea and for England:
Well if I told you I’d have to kill you…and I don’t want to be done for murder! It’s a little bit different; I’ve probably got the reins on more at Chelsea because I’ve got Ramona Bachmann, Ji and Crystal Dunn who just absolutely like to do what they want, which is great. Pretty much I’m just going and letting them do their thing. Here with England, I’m probably in their role; I get to go and do my thing. It’s hard sometimes flipping from being structured and finding other people, to going, ‘Oh God, I’ve gotta go and do that or create that,’ but I love both. I absolutely love Chelsea; it is one of the best decisions I ever made, going there, and that is no disrespect to Birmingham. I just think it’s wicked going there, and I love playing for England and I’m always grateful to put on the shirt for England.”
On how compact Italy were to begin with and how they are approaching it as a team when they’re faced with teams like that:
I think you can only play what the opposition give you, and you have to work that out. You can have all the game plans in the world, but if they do something different or they flip to a 4-3-3 like they did in the second half you have to be adaptable. We probably need to recognise that a little bit quicker and be more ruthless. We had opportunities in the first half, equally in the second half, and the difference is when we play Germany they punish us. They had one or two chances and when I look back to the Germany game, we had those chances and didn’t take them. We have to find that ruthlessness – if that’s even a word – in the final third and really take these chances. I think that’s something we need to work on, but we are working on it.”
On where she is feeling with her sharpness all-round:
I think I feel a little bit tired coming off the back of a really heavy period with Chelsea; Emma is not messing around, she makes you run and just shouts at you when you don’t run! I’ll be quite glad to get some sharpness in terms of games and minutes and pick that up, because nothing can replicate playing football, competitiveness and going hell for leather trying to win games. I’m just starting to pick up 90 minutes now because it’s been a slow burner and Emma likes to look after us; she likes to see the progression rather than throwing me in at the deep end. I’m turning 30 now so you’ve got to look after me a bit more!
On whether she felt the same excitement when she found out she had made the Euros Finals squad:
Yeah, it’s definitely exciting. I don’t think anything will ever replicate the first tournament, it’s always very difficult, but it’s a massive honour. It’s a big relief when you know and you can tell your family and they can go, ‘Right, we can book things and we can support you and be there.’ So it’s nice, even though people have said it was naming it early, but for me, it’s been a good decision. I can focus, I know where I need to be, I know what I’ve got to work on. I can prepare properly for it and put my England hat on, and return for the Spring Series and put my Chelsea hat on and go hell for leather for it.
Captain & defender, Steph Houghton
On the injury to Alice Parisi, who was stretchered off after a long delay while she received attention:
Obviously as a team we send out our thoughts to her and we hope she has a speedy recovery. Nobody wants to see that on a football pitch. It wasn’t very nice to see and on behalf of all the girls we hope that she recovers really well.
On the game overall:
It’s frustrating. We all want to win football games and I think we did everything to put the ball in the back of the net to get that winning goal. Disappointing with the goal we conceded but it’s about the performance and it’s very positive. We’re creating them chances in and around the goal and it’s just something to work on going forward because we know that when we come to the Euros teams are potentially going to try and bank up and sit and not give us much space.
Midfielder, Jade Moore
On the game:
I think in the first half we could have been up 5-0 if the chances would’ve been converted. I’m just happy we’re creating these chances, we’ve got work on to be more clinical, but I’m pleased with the performance from my side and I think the girls are positive moving forward.
We’ve started this first game of ten, hopefully, with the six games in the Euros, and it’s a building block. We want to take each game as it comes and build on each game; we can’t just play Italy today and draw and put everything we’ve done previously to bed and not think about it. We’ve got to just build on the positives, keep taking the steps forward and just stay positive. That’s what we’ve talked about. It’s the start of the journey for us, it’s just the beginning.
Photos – The FA via Getty Images
