Neville: Slump has made team only stronger
England had to deal with emotions of World Cup Youngsters given chance in Shebelieves defence
Phil Neville was battered and bruised during England’s postworld Cup slump, but he has come out of it seeing the experience as a positive heading towards next summer’s European Championship.
Neville had appeared overly sensitive to criticism in the aftermath of England’s World Cup campaign and, with just two wins in seven games since the semi-final defeat by the United States last July, his team has struggled to find form.
But the former Manchester United and Everton defender has reassessed, taken stock of his own performance as manager, as well as that of his players, and argued, ahead of their defence of the Shebelieves Cup in Florida, that they needed to go through a difficult spell to understand the expectations they have created.
“What I have experienced is the ability to cope with that massive high and massive low after coming out of a major tournament,” Neville said. “From what we experienced as a group, the drop was big going back to play in the stadiums and in front of the crowds that we do.
“I think the players, rightly so, found it difficult to control their emotions. If you speak to the 2015 group, they had a massive emotional drop after their World Cup and I think what would have helped us was a qualifying campaign, to be able to play for three points so you aren’t playing friendlies.
“The gap and the emotional high [of a World Cup] is something you shouldn’t underestimate because, for these girls, it was something they had never experienced at all in their lives and then after that, to try to reach those heights again was really difficult.”
On the criticism that has been directed at him, Neville acknowledged that it was an inevitable part of a manager’s life.
“Even the best managers go through periods when they are criticised, so I always knew it would come at some point,” he said. “I wanted to protect my players from criticism. Hit me with it, not them.
“But we’ve got to be humble and respectful about where we are. Sometimes you see the best characters in the team in the bad times, you see the ones that are on the journey with you and you get good direction coming out of that.
“The game at Wembley [a 2-1 defeat by Germany to a last-minute goal in November] was a turning point for me in terms of the direction that I wanted to take this team.
“We had this great crop of young players coming through and that game, watching it on the touchline, proved to me that we’ve just got to keep going in the right direction. Our performances have to be better and if the performances are better, then the results will follow.
“I think to talk like we do, you’ve got to beat the best teams and put your money where your mouth is. It is why we come to this tournament: to play against the best. The games programme we’ve got over the next 12 months pits us against the best teams in Europe and the world, because we want to be judged by playing against the best.
“We want our players to all believe and want to play against the best in the biggest arenas, on the biggest stages. That’s the exciting challenge. We’re not fearful of failing. We are actually excited about the challenge ahead of us.”
There is a younger, fresher feel to this squad, which sends a message. The World Cup, the highs and the lows, is done and it is time to build for the future, most notably the European Championship on home soil next year.
“I trust them,” Neville said, asked if youngsters such as Manchester City winger Lauren Hemp, North Carolina student Alessia Russo and Everton forward Chloe Kelly will play in the Shebelieves Cup. “Some of them will play against the US.
“When I named the squad, the easiest thing would have been to name them, celebrate these young players and then put them to one side. The amount of faith I’ve got in them, and the message I want to send out, is that these players have to play in the biggest games.
“They’ve earned the right to play, the right to start, the right to come on. It would be weak of me as a manager to not play them on the biggest occasions.”
England (probable v US, 4-2-3-1) Telford; Mcmanus, Houghton, Bright, Stokes; Walsh, Scott; Parris, Nobbs, Hemp; White.