A common theme across Sarina Wiegman’s successful tenure has been a notion that she would only pick players who were performing for their clubs. Friday’s team selection at Wembley was truly at odds with that principle, and in a chastening half an hour’s chaos against European women’s football’s most decorated nation, the England head coach’s decisions backfired in spectacular fashion.
In naming an unchanged starting side from that which played the previous fixture in July, it was almost as if Wiegman did not feel any of the club fixtures so far this season held sufficient significance to trump any of the performances in that goalless draw away to Sweden three months ago. Yet for the match-going fans at Women’s Champions League and domestic games this term, that notion will have been truly baffling, as some of England’s most in-form players were harshly overlooked.
As England’s back four were repeatedly torn open with ease by the Germans, the Manchester City centre-back Alex Greenwood, who was integral to the team that deservedly beat the European champions Barcelona with a clean sheet just 17 days ago and is captaining the side that are top of the Women’s Super League table, must have been wondering what she would have to do to start an international game.
The same thought was surely crossing the mind of the Manchester United centre-back Maya Le Tissier, who has been in inspired form at the heart of a Manchester United defence that has conceded only one goal in five games in all competitions this season
And what about the standout young star of the WSL campaign so far, Grace Clinton, whose three goals in four league games from midfield have illustrated her ruthlessness in the area, watching her teammate Ella Toone roll a gilt-edged chance just wide?
The point is not that Leah Williamson, Millie Bright nor Toone deserve to be lambasted, nor that any of them deserve fans’ ridicule, nor that their places in the England side should be in jeopardy long-term. All of them have contributed magnificently to the Lionesses cause and will be legends of the English game for ever.
They should all go to next summer’s Euros. They have certainly not become inferior overnight. But in omitting the players who are in the best form of all, in Clinton, Greenwood, Le Tissier and the clever, energetic and skilful Manchester City midfielder Jess Park, Wiegman unintentionally sent a message to all her eligible players in the English talent pool that current club form is not as big a factor in her decision-making process than the importance of how well the established players have played for their country previously.
In fairness, Greenwood, Le Tissier and Park all got chances in the second half, although there were no match minutes afforded to Clinton. But during her pre-match press conference on Thursday, when discussing how much Germany had changed since the 2022 European Championship final, Wiegman had pointed to her own team’s evolution by saying: “We are a different team because we’ve moved on too.”
However, the starting lineup that Wiegman chose for Friday ended up resembling the one that clinched that Euros title rather more closely than that quote had implied. There were just four changes from the history-making starting XI, and two of them, Alessia Russo and Toone, scarcely felt like new changes because they were the super subs of the 2022 campaign. Ellen White and Rachel Daly have retired and Fran Kirby was absent with injury.
The solitary, specific shift in starting personnel has been the introduction of the Chelsea goalkeeper Hannah Hampton in place of Mary Earps. As far as the 10 outfield positions are concerned you could go as far as saying Friday’s were the 10 you might have expected to start games in autumn 2022. Hold that thought. Nine of them did start a qualifier against Austria in September 2022.
The other side of this coin is an admirable level of loyalty from the Dutchwoman, which will no doubt have been appreciated by her captain, Williamson, and her vice-captain, Bright, and that may well come back to prove invaluable for Wiegman at next summer’s Euros if those two play as well as they did on home soil in 2022.
Ironically, in the one area of the pitch where Wiegman has boldly shown that she does not pick big names by dropping Earps for Hampton, the Chelsea goalkeeper had a poor game, being exposed at her near post for Germany’s third in particular, albeit she made two excellent saves to stop the visitors notching up a cricket score.
Undoubtedly, a lot of rotation and experimentation will now be made for Tuesday’s friendly against South Africa in Coventry. But that occasion will not match the pressure cooker that is a meeting with Germany at Wembley. There was no better experience to offer a young, emerging star like Le Tissier or Clinton the chance to show what they are made of. Wiegman now has three further friendlies to try out new things before the Christmas break, and she must not waste those three further chances to mix things up.
