Phil Neville has said he does not “feel vulnerable” in his position as manager despite England’s defeat to Brazil on Saturday meaning that his side have now gone five games without a win. This is the same number that led to being Hope Powell sacked in 2013, albeit with the bulk of those games coming at the European Championship finals, when the team were eliminated in the group stage.
“I don’t feel vulnerable at all,” said Neville as he prepared for Tuesday night’s friendly against Portugal, a side 26 places below England in the Fifa world rankings. “I was a coach at Manchester United and four games after the manager [David Moyes] got sacked I left because it was the right thing to do.”
With the pressure building, Neville said he would do the same if things were not working at England. “If I thought the players had switched off, or they weren’t listening to my messages, I would be the first to go and sit with Sue Campbell [the FA’s head of women’s football] and say: ‘Look Sue, we need to change,’ because ultimately the most important thing is the team.
“I’m not the kind of manager that hangs around waiting for a payout … I want this team to do well. I still believe in what we are doing and so do the players.”
After a bruising defeat to Brazil in Middlesbrough on Saturday, the defender Leah Williamson said the team are not hiding from their obvious defensive difficulties. “It’s happened consistently, it’s five in a row, and I understand that people look at it from the outside and that’s a bad stat,” she said.
“The more time that goes without a win the pressure builds on the outside but I think we are quite good at being internally focused on what we can do. The numbers are out there but it’s not something we focus on, it doesn’t get spoken about on camp because it doesn’t help.”
Neville said Tuesday night’s game in Setúbal, 40 minutes’ drive south of Lisbon, is one they have to win, but also that this difficult period has been an important one. “I think we are in an era now – we saw it in the Premier League this week – you lose two or three games and all of a sudden: ‘Out!’ People are calling for your head.
“It’s gone that well for the last 18 months that this period might be what we need, a kick up the backside. Sometimes in life you get peaks and troughs. We are in that downward trough at the moment.”
Williamson said defeat is driving the thirst for victory. “It’s a motivation, you don’t want to feel like that again.
“It’s been a dampener because we really wanted to prove those last two games [including a 2-1 defeat in Norway] were a glitch. We want to prove a point for Phil and for each other. There’s been a period of mourning but it’s over and it’s now get back to work.”
With the women’s game growing, expectations are higher, and with that comes more criticism when things are not going your way. Neville says he welcomes the extra scrutiny.
“If we play well, praise us, if we don’t play well, criticise us. I think the journalists are just starting to sharpen their pencils a little bit, in terms of we’re moving towards that area where it is in the men’s game, where there is real criticism and real praise and not much in between.
“That is what we have wanted, so we can’t moan now. If you lose five games as England – one of the best countries in the world – you deserve criticism. You deserve a good telling off. That is what we are about.
“We expect to be criticised. What I would say is when I see things like ‘the football was tepid’ – that football wasn’t tepid on Saturday. So be fair. But yes, shoot me, shoot the players. Just be fair with us and I think that’s what the players expect.
“People will expect us to win so will probably say ‘one win in six then’ – that’s the mentality. It doesn’t change the approach. I’m not scared of losing. I believe in what we’re doing and in this set of players and I want us to play like we did on Saturday.”