Lauren James’s red card against Nigeria was just pure frustration. I don’t think anyone in an England shirt could get her into the game and you could see the exasperation building up for a few players.
It was disappointing, but Lauren will learn from it. As a young player, she will take a lot from this situation and I just hope people let it go.
You can’t condone it, because no one can do that on the pitch, but we all make mistakes. No one is perfect. Football is an emotional game and her emotion just got the better of her.
But we can’t all cling on to it. We have to let it go — and so do England. Colombia will not be an easy game and, like Nigeria, it is one of those matches where you just need to ignore the world rankings.
Nigeria were better than England in every department. They were excellent in stopping us and I think Sarina Wiegman needs to freshen up her team on Saturday.
I thought some players looked a little bit tired and leggy on Monday, and Ella Toone is one of those I would bring back into the side.
Beth England is another I would start, up top instead of Alessia Russo, and I would have Chloe Kelly out wide with Lauren Hemp.
It might be best for England to revert back to what they know with the formation and play with a back four instead of a three.
That’s how the Lionesses started against Haiti and this Colombia game could well be similar.
England need to take the game to Colombia and try to impose themselves, press high and put pressure on their backline. They cannot afford to sit back.
England need to make sure they have some impact players from the bench, which is why it is not bad having Alessia there.
I thought before the Nigeria game it might be best not to start Lauren, and people looked at me like I was crazy. But I just felt it wasn’t a bad idea, simply because the Lionesses need substitutes who can make a difference.
You need players who can come on and hurt teams in those final 20 minutes, and that will be the case on Saturday.
