You’ve read what some of the players had to say, now here’s Mark Sampson’s reaction…
England coach Mark Sampson was understandably, very upbeat, following England’s comprehensive win over a lacklustre looking Sweden side (currently ranked 5th in the world). Here are some of his post-match thoughts:
On the game:
“As a group of staff and a group of players we’re obviously pleased with the result, and more importantly for me the quality of the performance.
“It’s something we’ve been working towards, we’ve had to take a few steps backwards to move forwards, but the payers are now not only starting to play as a collective but to thinks as a collective.
“There was certainly a lot of football today that wouldn’t have happened a couple of months ago, and that means we’re taking some steps forward.
“We all knew today would be a big challenge for us, but we wanted to test ourselves against good opponents and the players have really stepped up to the plate.”
On putting two debutants in against Sweden:
“You’ve always got big decisions to make, particularly at the moment because of the competition for places.
“To make six substitutions and not only impact on the game but to do that in a positive manner, it just shows the strength in depth we’ve got.
“I’m really pleased the way the group have come together this week, to make sure that not only the starting XI can perform to that level but the girls on the bench are ready to go and can actually improve the level of the performance.
“In terms of putting players in, we’re strong in terms of identifying our philosophy and for any given game, regardless of age or experience, we’re willing to put them in.
“In Fran and Jodie, we felt for this match they would offer us what we needed in that area (up front) and both delivered exceptionally well.
On Fran Kirby’s performance:
“Fran is a wonderful character as well as a wonderful footballer, she’s down to earth, she’s relaxed, she loves playing football.
“She could have scored with her first touch – it probably shows the strength of character she’s got that she came back and grew into the game.
“I thought that the longer the game went on the more confident she got, and let’s not forget who she was up against today – she was not just up against a very good team, but her immediate opponent is a world class footballer, and Fran made sure that with the ball she not only caused them problems but defensively she stuck to her task and I thought she competed admirably.
On Fran’s goal:
“It was a fantastic finish. That’s what she gives us, that bit of composure in the final third. She can play one v one, she’s exciting, she’s creative; she might make mistakes, but she chases back, and her goal was just reward for the performance that she put in.”
On Jordan Nobbs, back from injury and playing ‘at home’:
“We’ve missed Jordan. We saw in Cyprus, particularly against Canada, she was outstanding with her energy, her enthusiasm. People sometimes look at those qualities and tend to forget what a technically gifted player she is.
“Today we saw all her qualities in abundance. She played two very different roles – for the last 20 minutes, to play at the base of the diamond, is different for Jordan, but she showed her level of tactical discipline to sit in there and do a job.
“It was a big game for Jordan because she was coming back home. Her father graced this turf for many years and she wanted to put in a good performance. I’m delighted for her that she produced the quality performance that she did.
On looking ahead to the Wales fixture:
“It’s a shame we can only pick eleven at the moment. But that’s what we want and, more importantly, when you create that level of competition, one of two things happen – you can have conflict in the group, but certainly with this group we’re making sure that they are sticking together and using that competition as a real big positive.
“We push each other in every game, and training is just as intense as the matches – you can see that when they cross the white line, they actually feel the match is lower intensity compared to our training sessions.
“We’ve got to make sure we keep that going. It’ll be tough at times ahead, I’m sure, but we’ll stick together and make sure we keep moving forward.
“As a group it will be horses for courses. For Wales we might need to adapt the team or adapt the system, to get the best out of us and hurt Wales where we feel we can hurt them.
On England in the past having a slight inferiority complex when facing the likes of Germany, France, Sweden:
“Mindset’s a huge challenge for any football team. To get the mindset right is a difficult one. Winning matches against good opponents is undoubtedly going to help that, but the one thing I’m delighted with today is that we really pushed the players to play with a lot of freedom – anywhere on the pitch – and I thought even our defenders were positive in their one v one play, they were aggressive, they didn’t just sit back and wait for things to happen, they got on the front foot and dominated two good forwards, and even in deep areas we were flicking balls round the corner, little combination plays to get out of pressure or switch the play, and those type of qualities are important for us.
“But that takes a lot of courage and a lot of time, a lot of team understanding. We’re getting there, and I’m pleased that the players can now go into these type of games and express themselves.
“I’ve got huge belief in them. If they produce the performance of the level we feel they can, they can beat anyone – and we’ve shown that today.
On whether this was the team’s best performance since he took over:
“I think in many ways, yes. I’m still annoyed that we weren’t a bit more clinical in front of goal, we had opportunities to score more goals, but the important thing for me is that we’re creating those chances and it’s about improvement.
“We started a long time ago, it feels like, but it’s only six months or so and this team is growing. We’ve always demanded we improve game to game, and that performance was certainly a lot better than against Ukraine.
“So we’re showing different sides to the team, and I’m pleased that we’re in a good place to go into Wales and try to express ourselves again.”
With thanks to Tony Leighton.
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