Delighted Wiegman hails England's adaptability

Sarina Wiegman praised the England players' adaptability after a change in formation and personnel paid dividends during the impressive 6-1 win over China.

The head coach made three changes to her starting line-up, with Jess Carter, Katie Zelem and Lauren Hemp all coming into the side.

Wiegman also opted to change to three centre-backs on Tuesday, which allowed Lucy Bronze and Rachel Daly to play as wing-backs to good effect.

Lauren James also excelled in a central role, as she scored twice and set up another trio of goals to ensure England topped their group in emphatic fashion.

Wiegman said: "I am delighted, it was a little different to how we did before and we did really well. 

"It shows how adaptable this team is and I think they are enjoying themselves on the pitch."

When asked how effective the change in shape had been, Wiegman replied: "Yeah I think today it worked really well. 

"I think the players felt comfortable, and what we want is to use the qualities we have a little bit more and today that worked really well."

She continued: “I think we expected China to press a little high because they had to win to stand a chance of going through. 

"I don't think they expected us to play this way, and they couldn't find a solution. 

"It is something I wanted to try, with Katie taking up some space in the centre, and when we played the ball forward, we had many opportunities. 

"It is pretty aggressive when Lucy and Rachel can just press up quickly in possession and out of possession and today I think that worked really well."

England will now face Nigeria in the round of 16 on Monday, with kick-off at 8.30am BST and the match being shown live on BBC and iPlayer.

The Lionesses’ progression was partly down to the performances of James.

The Chelsea forward has three assists and three goals in as many games and would have topped the Golden Boot Race had she not been denied a stunning hat-trick against China by an offside decision following a VAR review.

Wiegman said: “She feels good and you can tell. She did special things today, unfortunately, that one goal was cancelled but she floats over the pitch."