Graham Ruthven: “The Lionesses will hope to grow into the tournament”

THEY say teams that start a tournament campaign slowly are the ones to watch out for. With this in mind, Sarina Wiegman will be quietly satisfied with how England kicked off Women’s Euro 2022 on Wednesday night with a comfortable, if not somewhat uninspiring, 1-0 win over Austria. From here, the Lionesses will hope to grow into the tournament, played on home soil, billed as their own.

A frantic, even nervous, opening 15-minute spell hinted at the nervous felt by an England team seen as one of the favourites to go all the way this summer, but Beth Mead’s opener, lifted over Manuela Zinsberger following a stunning Fran Kirby through-ball, settled the hosts. They had the chances to score more and were rarely threatened by a limited opponent, even if Austria made things tense for a period in the second half.

And yet England’s lack of cutting edge in the attacking third could become a problem if they play in the same way against better teams. Ellen White was presented with a number of good opportunities to find the back of the net against Austria, but failed to convert while Lauren Hemp could have also scored.

This was an unwelcome throwback to the early days of Wiegman’s tenure as England boss when the Lionesses were frequently wasteful in front of goal. The Dutch coach spoke about her team’s need to become “ruthless” inside the penalty box, and there was some clinical finishing in the recent wins over the Netherlands and Switzerland, but old habits returned at Old Trafford.

England's 1-0 win vs. Austria was played in front of a crowd of 68,871, a new record for Women's Euros! 👏 pic.twitter.com/4eneGUIF0x

— ESPN UK (@ESPNUK) July 6, 2022

One of the things that was clear in England’s shot map and Expected Goals (xG) was that while they registered plenty of shots (15), only five of them were on target and they amounted to only 2.01 in xG. This suggests England don’t just need to be more ruthless in front of goal, they need to create better opportunities.

This could be down to the role Kirby plays. While the 29-year-old contributed a wonderful assist for the winning goal, she had just 10 touches of the ball in the first half as England frequently looked for the wings to get a cross into the middle. They certainly could have done more to utilise Kirby in between the lines.

Kirby is England’s maverick. Under Wiegman, the Lionesses have become a stronger team unit and that structure should help them in the knockout rounds, but Kirby is the one who can make something happen out of nothing. The 29-year-old is still finding full match fitness after missing a portion of the season for Chelsea, but England must do more to facilitate her.

“It’s hard to say, we wanted to start well,” Wiegman said when asked to summarise England’s performance. “We didn’t keep the ball well enough. We scored a good goal and had some more chances. Overall I’m just happy. I’m not frustrated, I just think we can do better. After the first goal we had a huge chance, we have to be a little calmer in the final stage.”

The Lionesses were handed a favourable opening fixture to get their Euro 2022 campaign up and running, but Norway, a much stronger team with attacking talent like Ada Hegerberg and Caroline Graham Hansen, await on Monday. Beyond that, assuming England make it out of their group, they are likely to face one of either Germany or Spain in the quarter-finals.

There is certainly more to come from this England team, but the Lionesses have played major tournaments before without ever showing their best side. Wednesday’s win over Austria in front of a record crowd at Old Trafford was cause for celebration, yet the Lionesses must do more to prove they have bite and not just a roar.