Wiegman looks for improvement after Brazil defeat

Sarina Wiegman says England’s defeat to Brazil on Saturday left her in no doubt on how the Lionesses can improve, following a narrow reverse to the South Americans in Manchester.

The Lionesses, back in action for the first time since their EURO title win in the summer, were caught out early on to find themselves 2-0 down before Brazil were reduced to ten players following a red card for captain Angelina.

After Georgia Stanway scored from the penalty spot to halve the deficit, England could’ve completed a comeback after spending most of the second half on the front foot.

But Wiegman knows where it went wrong for her team, as they prepare to move on quickly ahead of their game with Australia in Derby on Tuesday 28 October.

“They [Brazil] started how we expected them to start, and when we found Alessia [Russo] we did well,” she said.

“But when we played it short, they hit us on the counter-attack and that harmed us twice. That’s exactly what we did not want to do, so that gave us troubles.

“But even before their red card we had opportunities, we got in behind twice. Then they got the red card and it was unlucky that we then hit the crossbar.

“Then, I think we dominated the game but I think we need to improve in the final areas.

“We could do better in execution. We hit the crossbar another time and we didn’t give away much, which we’d hope to do because we have one more player on the pitch.

“The learning we take from this is to get in the final third, get in even more and improve on execution.”