Wiegman: 'We played our game'

England women’s head coach Sarina Wiegman took heart from her team’s attitude on and off the pitch on Friday, following the Lionesses’ 5-0 win over Belgium.

Goals from Lucy Bronze, Millie Bright, Aggie Beever-Jones, Jess Park and Keira Walsh capped off a memorable performance at Ashton Gate, especially with Walsh and Beever-Jones netting their first England goals.

“Keira Walsh had to wait 83 games, I didn’t know she had never scored,” said Wiegman after the game.

“She first hit the post and then she got it in. And then Aggie just came on the pitch and was really good, very sharp. To get in that position and that timing, of course the cross was good too, but that is really good.

“She picks the space a lot, also for Chelsea, which is really nice. She feels where she has to be and she is an easy scorer.”

Goalscoring aside, Wiegman was pleased with her squad’s approach whether that be the players who started or those who came on from the bench.

“I said to the team that, I think in the second half, we dropped a little bit in tempo and then the subs came in and brought the energy again but also quality,” she added.

“What I really liked is we kept it simple, we kept playing our game, our England game, keeping it simple and it looks easy but it is pretty hard, and I enjoyed that.

“I basically said to the team about keeping it simple and staying together and everyone that came on the pitch was really ready to go and stayed up.

“We know where we are at and what we want to improve and we are working on it every day, and we need to keep having these connections because I do feel something is happening and we are getting closer.

“Of course, when we played in October and November last year, we were trying out things too and took risks and that was the opportunity.

“Those risks showed some things that we didn’t do well enough as a team. That is not nice, but it is okay to learn.

“Now, every game is competitive but these you have to win because we want to get in the best possible position for the World Cup draw too.”

Wiegman and her squad will now turn their attention to the return fixture with Belgium in Leuven next week, where they will look to consolidate their spot at the top of their UEFA Women’s Nations League group.

And despite the scoreline in Bristol in what was her 60th game in charge, Wiegman believes it will be a different scenario in the next meeting with the Red Flames.

“Tuesday is going to be a different game so now we don’t want to all of a sudden think we are in the best possible place, we know we have to improve things,” she said.

“Belgium is a totally different opponent than what Spain was and Portugal is.

“I would never be complacent. I will bring the team on the pitch that we think, in that moment, are the best players to play against Belgium.

“We also know they were missing two players, one in the back and Tessa Wullaerts up front, and still they had a couple of moments and are so dangerous on the counter-attack that we have to be really tight on the ball and patient to not give away counter attacks.

“They had some in the first half, not that many but a couple, and you can already see how dangerous they are.

“To put it into the bigger context, we are not going to get complacent, this is a good performance but we are not getting too high, we try to stay neutral and perform again on the next game.”