FRIENDLY FIRE IS JUST THE TONIC
Games against Romania and Sweden can be perfect preparation for Euros
WITH the friendlies against Romania and Sweden coming up, it’s great to have the players coming together again with just a month and a half to go before we play the first game of the Euros.
These will be two very good fixtures for us. When we played Belgium in April we had quite a lot of injuries so it’s good to have almost everyone back.
Of course, it’s a setback with the injuries to Lizzie Arnot and Kim Little.
Kim is a fantastic player and we are devastated for her. The same with Lizzie, who is an up-and-coming player and was in good form during the spring.
That’s why these friendlies are important now, so we can see how we can try to rethink things a little bit. We’re not going to make any major changes with what we’re doing. We just need to accept the situation.
We have added Vaila Barsley, Chloe Arthur and Joelle Murray to the squad for these two matches.
Vaila was with us in Belgium and showed she is a top defender. She is doing well in the Swedish league with her team and worthy of a second chance.
Chloe has done well down in Bristol and because we have lost Lizzie, we are looking for an attacking player who can play wide. Chloe has shown great physicality and good speed.
She’s strong and also technically good. It shows that if you perform well for your club you will then get a chance in the national team.
It’s great to have Joelle back. She hasn’t played very much since the Cyprus Cup but she did well there. Even when she was injured she was working so hard on her fitness and endurance.
She has done well in the games she has played since coming back and I’m glad to have her in the squad.
Even though the result wasn’t good against Belgium, the time we had together with the players – and the new players coming in and getting a chance to show themselves – was really good.
Now it’s about trying to form the squad for the Euros, while also hoping to get some displays out of these friendlies. Some players haven’t had a lot of playing time for different reasons so it will be good for them to get some game time.
The players who are coming to the camp need to perform and show that they want to be in the squad of 23. Every one of the 23 players will want to be in the starting XI so these are two really good games to show that.