GER 0-0 ENG (Int Friendly) Post Match Reaction

MARK SAMPSON, England Women’s Senior Team Coach

General reflections on the game:
Pleased with our performance, one of the key aspects and our focus was coming to Germany to play against an excellent football team with a huge history [a women’s football nation] and to put on a performance of authority.
We knew there would be times in the game when we had to manage the tempo, be organised and hard to play against but I thought the girls made a statement tonight. That they can come to this type of arena and try to get on the front foot, be aggressive and it was a good game. KB kept us in it a few times with a couple of fantastic saves, we could have been tidier with our final pass or choice of pass in the final third and we could have scored goals tonight but overall, huge positives and the players will take even more belief from that performance.
The great thing with this group now is, I think if a year ago we had been 0-0 with Germany and the fourth official puts a minute up at the end we’d have been jumping for joy but the fact that half the subs bench were jumping down her throat shouting that it should be longer shows the level of belief that we’ve got when we come to a place like this. We’ll enjoy the performance, we’ll reflect and we want to get better.

On shutting out Germany in another game (255 mins now without conceding against Germany):
I thought the work ethic of the players was incredible, that midfield three and [Izzy] Christiansen when she came on and the front three and [Toni] Duggan and [Jess] Clarke when they came on, they ran themselves into the ground and it really makes a difference for us when we can get our legs going and get pressure on the ball higher up the pitch. We start to play in their half, start to create chances.
So, big positives, especially considering a year ago we got steamrollered by a very good German team. A lot of people talked about how the players were out of season, weren’t sharp and they were right twelve months ago but huge credit to the group I’ve got who have turned professional, clearly done their work off the field to stay in shape, stay fit and produce a performance of that quality after having not played a game for a while.

Only six of starting line-up started against Germany in WWC, is this a partial rebuilding of the team towards next Euros?
We are still on a journey where we are developing our philosophy and growing our belief and the great thing I’ve got now is a depth of talent. There’s not only players, fantastic world class players sat behind me on the bench but there’s players we’ve left back home who can certainly come into this team and produce excellent performances. So we’re starting to develop that more now which gives us options tactically and physically and ways to shape the game and you saw the impact from the bench, the different style of players we can bring on.
I think as a group of staff we can give ourselves a big pat on the back because we got our selections right, the starting eleven and the substitutions. It’s not so long ago that we’d look to the bench and think, ‘Can we impact the game?’ certainly now we can look at the bench and know that we can make a difference.

On the team’s developing strength, physicality and character:
Our players front up, put our foot in, compete, get in people’s faces. To do that you need belief and also strength of character but we’ve got to keep doing it, we can’t ease our foot off the gas, we’ve got to stay strong and keep showing that mentality every football match. We have to impose ourselves on opponents, to compete with opponents. Against teams like the Germans, USA, first contacts are just such a big part of the game, they might not be pretty but they are such a big part of the game.

On the goalkeeper’s performance:
We’ve got our goalkeeper to thank. As much as I’ve mentioned the front players were excellent in their pressing and midfield players grafting, Gilly Flaherty put in a performance tonight and the skipper’s the skipper, she is outstanding week in and week out but for Karen Bardsley, when called upon to make one unbelievable save in the first half and then couple of saves in the second half, shows that throughout the group we’re looking strong and we know that we can afford to take a bit of a risk with our pressure, if they get out and get through our goalkeeper will always bail us out.

SILVIA NEID, Germany WNT Coach

General reflections on the game:
To be honest, it took us the best part of 30 mins to get used to the very robust and pressing English team. They were very physical but also working with very good anticipation and before we could offer any meaningful resistance 30 minutes had gone. In the second half, I was more satisfied because we got the ball out much better and won many of the rebounds and second balls and I think had we scored the chances we had, the game would have been different. So we’ve got to live with a goalless draw and another game where we our weaknesses were exposed, our finishing could be better and there were also some technical deficiencies.

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