Georgia Stanway believes it is "inevitable" that England will reach a plateau after their recent triumphs and that they must innovate to prevent becoming predictable. The Lionesses staged a remarkable comeback from three goals down in a 4-3 defeat to Germany at Wembley on Friday night. They managed to narrow the gap after a challenging first 30 minutes, during which England seemed to be their own worst enemy.
The aura of invincibility that characterized Sarina Wiegman’s tenure, marked by a historic Euro 2022 victory and a World Cup final appearance in 2023, has waned as other teams have begun to decipher their tactics. Despite this, the expectations on the team remain sky-high.
"When the expectation is constant, it’s likely we won’t always meet it," Stanway noted. "It’s inevitable that at some point we’ll plateau. We’ve been with Sarina for four years, so there will come a time when we can’t keep winning because teams will figure us out and improve.
That’s when we need to collaborate to reinvent ourselves, tweaking our tactics and strategies to gain an edge over our opponents. As teams evolve, so must we. We must continually make small adjustments to stay ahead."
England will face South Africa in Coventry on Tuesday evening in their second of four friendlies planned for the October and November international windows. Wiegman has hinted at changes to the starting lineup from Friday’s match as she evaluates more of her squad.
"You’ll see different faces tomorrow," she said. "I won’t reveal specifics, but there will be changes. We aim to test different combinations and manage player minutes given the密集的赛程."
Wiegman urged a broader perspective when analyzing the four goals conceded against Germany, the first time under her management that England has conceded so many. "I’d advise looking at the bigger picture, the game is progressing, and we’re facing better players," she said. "We have challenging matches constantly, which is beneficial as it exposes our weaknesses. Of course, we don’t want to concede goals. We’re examining how we concede and how to improve. Sometimes it starts with ball retention, other times with high pressing. We’re always refining our tactics."
Stanway was in good spirits. When asked about her pre-match analysis room comments, the Bayern Munich midfielder laughed heartily. "I’ll take the hit," she said, laughing. "But honestly, I did my best to recover from my early mistakes.
Germany is a top team, and we knew that going in. It was tough to prepare for as they could have thrown anything at us. We didn’t fully grasp their shape or formation initially, but after 30 minutes, we settled into our desired formation, allowing us to push forward and narrow the scoreline… Overall, it’s a learning experience, and we gifted them that scoreline with our play."
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