England Women’s boss, Sarina Wiegman, was in fighting mood during her press conference ahead of the second of the Women’s World Cup group games against Group D table-toppers, Denmark.
In the first game of the tournament, which is taking place in Australia and New Zealand, the Lionesses were lethargic against Haiti.
A twice-taken penalty was all they had to show for their win against a side that was making its debut in the competition, and that’s clearly not good enough for the Dutchwoman.
“I want to make changes. What we do is approach every game, and then when we get ready for that game we see who is fit and available, and then we make decisions to what we need to start with,” she was quoted as saying by the Enfield Independent.
“And then we decide whether we are going to start with the same XI or maybe make some changes.
“[…] We shouldn’t compare it (the European Championship win) all the time. We’re in a new situation now, and we have some changes in team dynamics.
“We have our style of playing, we want to develop our style of play every time and we want to score goals. That’s one of the parts, of course.
“And that’s what we’re working on all the time, every day. What do we have (to do) to create chances and score goals? That’s what we talk about all the time too. At the end, we hope that the ball gets into the back of the net.”
A second group win would almost certainly qualify England to the knockout stages of the competition, and give Wiegman a chance to get into her players and see if she can get them to build up a head of steam.
Clearly, things have to improve after the last lacklustre 90 minutes if her charges want to be considered as genuine contenders for the trophy.
Lars Sondergaard, a 64-year-old from Aalborg, is tasked with trying to better Denmark’s previous best showings of the quarter-finals in 1991 and 1995, so they’re unlikely to be a pushover for England.
The game takes place in the Sydney Football Stadium, commercially known as Allianz Stadium, at 6.30pm local time/9.30am UK.
If Wiegman gets her changes spot on and the players give her the ruthlessness she wants, it could end up being a great day for anyone associated with the England Women’s team.