Phil Neville admitted his team have “got to be able to perform at home in front of big crowds” after England suffered a bruising 2-1 defeat to Brazil in front of 29,398 spectators at the Riverside. The first ever defeat to the Seleção meant the Lionesses have gone five games without a win, a run that started with their 2-1 World Cup semi-final defeat by the USA in July. The last time England went as long without victory was in 2013. Hope Powell was sacked then, after a disastrous Euro 2013 campaign in which the Lionesses finished bottom of their group with one point.
The situation this time is very different – Neville’s team reached a World Cup semi-final and lost to Sweden in the third-place play-off – but four defeats and a draw since beating Norway in France have heaped pressure on the manager. England play Portugal on Tuesday night and the stakes are arguably higher than usual for a friendly.
“I think I’m being judged on it now,” Neville said. “We have to win games. It’s not just a ‘let’s just keep everybody happy’ type role. The FA wants me to win matches, so I want to be judged like any other manager. We’ve had two branches going for the last 18 months or two years; we have to grow the game, but we also have to win matches. At this moment in time, what’s happening on the left-hand side, in terms of growth, is really fast and really exciting, and we need to keep moving at a similar speed on the right-hand side by winning games.”
Defensive chaos has been a feature of Neville’s tenure but in the recent run weakness at the back has been particularly prominent, with a 2-0 lead given up against Belgium (with Nikita Parris’s penalty saving England to earn a 3-3 draw) and an early lead undone in the second half by Norway. It is also more glaring when the chances are being created but goals are not forthcoming. Leah Williamson said the team is responsible for defensive errors.
“We need to rectify the mistakes,” she said, after starting alongside the captain, Steph Houghton, in the absence of injured Millie Bright. “It’s analyse, take responsibility. I think that’s a big one, take responsibility. It’s not something we’re in denial of or we’re not aware of, but you have to take into account a lot of things. There’s different players playing. I’m new to the backline today, so to speak.
“If we’re getting carved open then you start to really worry, but at the same time you’ve got a persistent problem, which seems to be the case at the minute,” she added. “It’s not something that you can just brush under the carpet, so we’re aware of it. It’s really disappointing because we were excellent in the first half. The whole team was in really good form. But a team like Brazil, if you give them an inch, they’ll take them all. I hope you saw the reaction and the pride and, you know, nobody wants to lose for England and nobody wants to disappoint anybody. I hope you saw that.”
Williamson and Houghton play in two of the best defences in the Women’s Super League and they were flanked by Lucy Bronze and Alex Greenwood of European champions Lyon. Yet they are struggling to find the same consistency at international level. “It’s different styles of play,” said Williamson. “It’s coming back from a World Cup and you’ve planned so long for something and suddenly it’s over, you’re finding your feet again. I think it’s hard just to come into a different environment and different styles, different partnerships, just maybe consistency.
“I enjoy playing with Steph, she’s a ball-playing centre-half with the same mind as me but disappointed that couldn’t affect the result in the end. I actually thought communication was good, it might not have looked like that with the two goals but I felt like it worked quite well.”