Familiar failings let down Neville’s fragile Lionesses
Given the adage that every manager knows his own position best, it is ironic in the extreme that defensive frailties like these should dog a Phil Neville team with such unremitting persistence. Three galling ones here halted an England performance that, truthfully, never found its rhythm, and in response Belgium were crafty and technical enough to undo their opponents with ludicrous ease.
It is not the first time such a scenario has played out under Neville and the sense of deja-vu grows. Almost two months on from the World Cup – this their first game since the fourth-place play-off against Sweden – they are what they are, a team both sublime and death-defying in equal measure. If England are to become the worldbeating team that Neville is so desperate they become, they have to be more consistent.
Their goals were well-taken but Belgium were the more cogent of the two and in England’s grizzlier moments – all pace, power and individual battles – you began to wonder if Neville had begun to sculpt them in the image of the USA side whose athleticism he prizes.
“Some players have got a lot of work to do to get back to the levels that I want to get to,” Neville said. “The goals were disappointing in a week that we’ve worked hard on being compact and hard to beat. Three crosses into the box beat us. [I’m] not happy. Basic things let them down. I think it was a great lesson for us to get those players to the level that they should be.”
In the face of Tessa Wullaert’s clinical deliveries, England hastened their own demise. Lucy Bronze clawed Heleen Jaques’ header off the line but it duly pinballed around the area, eventually cannoning in off Carly Telford’s head before rolling over the line. England had been warned and had not learned, Wullaert’s pinpoint cross again splitting the centre back pairing of Steph Houghton and Abbie Mcmanus to unleash Ella van Kerkhoven into the no-man’s land between them to swoop low and head home.
For a defender of Houghton’s calibre this was a jarring performance and she will not be proud of her part in Belgium’s third, slotting a clearance into the path of Van Kerkhoven after miscommunicating with Demi Stokes.
By that point it felt like England had been reduced to prodding Belgium with a blunt stick and there was little sign they would be able to force an equaliser. Cayman was granted far too much space to peel an effort past Telford’s right post, unchallenged, from the edge of the area. In response Stanway – perhaps England’s brightest player – had a fine effort held after being found from distance by Keira Walsh, but England never produced anything with the fluidity that hallmarked their best World Cup moments.
They had earlier collected their first two goals without any great difficulty. For the opener, Stanway demonstrated why she is the PFA’S young player of the year. Her run eased into a meander as she waited for the space to open, slipping in an inviting ball for Jodie Taylor to gobble up with a first-time finish. Taylor almost added a second when she latched on to Lucy Bronze’s delivery, but it was down to Beth Mead to power home the rebound.
By that point, England looked set to win this comprehensively. Houghton’s dipping free-kick after a foul on Stanway clipped the post a minute later but it did not look like it would come back to bite them.
In the end, it took a get out of jail free card in the form of a penalty from Nikita Parris – an unnecessary handball from Janice Cayman as a ball bobbled across the area – to reawaken them. Had Demi Stokes not thwarted Van Kerkhoven’s run into England’s penalty box at the eleventh hour, it could have been a different story: that Mcmanus was lucky to remain on the field after her miscued tackle on Kassandra Missipo summed up the desperation of England’s defending.
Belgium
‘The goals were disappointing. Three crosses into the box beat us. I’m not happy’
(4-3-3) Evrard; Deloose (Missipo 76), Jaques (Vande Velde 79), De Neve (Vanhaevermaet 66), Philtjens (Van Belle 66); Cayman, Biesmans, De Caigny; Dhont (Vanmechelen 45), Van Kerkhoven, Wullaert (Van Gorp 87). Subs Odeurs (g), Lemey, Lichtfus, Coutereels, Tison, Minnaert, Onzia, Petry. Booked Philtjens, Biesmans.
England (4-2-1-3) Telford (Earps 63); Daly, Houghton, Mcmanus, Stokes; Bronze, Walsh (Williamson 87); Stanway (Williams 56); Parris (Staniforth 75), Taylor (England 75), Mead. Subs Roebuck (g), Mciver, Blundell, Mannion, Bright, Patten, Moore, Duggan, Staniforth. Booked Mcmanus.
Referee Riem Hussein (Germany).