England Women head to Women’s Euro 2025 as defending champions.
It’s been three years since the Lionesses beat Germany to lift the European Championship trophy at Wembley, their first major title. But it’s been a long three years.
England are no longer invincible and losing has become a more frequent occurrence. The Lionesses have already lost twice this year alone, beaten by Belgium and Spain. Of course, England were also beaten by Spain in the 2023 World Cup Final, and La Roja are the Euro 2025 favourites.
So, what do England need to get right if they are to successfully defend their crown?
Defensive structure
Before Sarina Wiegman named her England squad, there was a big blow in defence. Chelsea centre-back Millie Bright removed herself from contention, as she was not 100% mentally or physically. Bright has since undergone surgery on a knee injury.
So, England need to find a partner for Leah Williamson. Alex Greenwood is the clear choice and together they’ll form a centre-back duo very strong on the ball. Greenwood completed 89.8% of her passes for Manchester City in the Women’s Super League in 2024-25, with 95.1% short-passing accuracy.
Williamson, meanwhile, completed 93.1% of her short passes with a 84.9% overall passing accuracy for Arsenal in the WSL. This partnership won’t be a problem, though it’s not used too often for England. The main issue is what happens on the flanks.
If Bright were part of England’s squad, there’s every chance that Greenwood would play at left-back – then forming a back three in possession. That’s crucial as right-back Lucy Bronze loves to get forward.
So now Wiegman needs to rely on someone else at left-back, and the options aren’t as good as Greenwood. Jess Carter and Niamh Charles are the main choices, with both having their strengths and weaknesses.
Carter is solid defensively but is also prone to an error, and doesn’t offer too much going forward. Charles, a converted winger, brings an extra attacking outlet but is lacking defensively. She also comes into the Euros having had an underwhelming personal season for Chelsea, struggling to find form after a shoulder injury.
England need their back four to be strong, especially with Hannah Hampton experiencing her first major tournament as No.1 goalkeeper.
Rotation
One of the biggest criticisms of Wiegman is that she largely sticks with the same players. While it’s certainly good to have consistency in your team in international football, it has worked to England’s detriment.
Fans can almost always predict an England starting XI. Which means opponents should be able to too. And that helps them to counter the way England play (more on that later).
And it goes deeper than that. Wiegman’s stubbornness to use the same players has hurt England at times, playing certain names when they clearly aren’t in form. It’s also meant that fringe players haven’t had the opportunity to grow as part of the squad and gel with their teammates.
England don’t have too many opportunities to rotate with two tough games to start the Euros. But they can rotate during matches.
Which leads us to the next point…
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Substitutions
Three years ago, Alessia Russo and Ella Toone would come off the bench for England in the second halves of their matches at Euro 2022. It was generally for Ellen White and Fran Kirby, who had spent the opening hour or so running defences ragged.
It allowed Russo and Toone to attack tired legs. And it worked. Let’s not forget, it was Toone who came of the bench to score the opening goal in the Euro 2022 Final. Three years later, both Russo and Toone are starters.
And there’s no Russo or Toone to come off the bench to replace them. While Russo is a good goalscorer, she still arguably works better for England when coming off the bench. But because Wiegman hasn’t allowed anyone else to develop, Russo has to start.
Aggie Beever-Jones comes into Women’s Euro 2025 after a good goalscoring season for Chelsea. But she’s not going to start over Russo, and she hasn’t been given too many opportunities to make a significant impact off the bench. In England’s recent 2-1 defeat to Spain, Beever-Jones got just three minutes as Russo’s replacement.
Another criticism of Wiegman is the timing of her substitutions when England are chasing a game. Granted it’s not something they do too often, but England’s substitutes need time to change a game.
Looking at England’s 3-2 defeat to Belgium in April, Wiegman used all five of her subs. Trailing 3-1 at half-time, Wiegman used two subs to shift about her defence. The next two subs were semi-attacking, but only focused on the midfield after the hour mark. Wiegman then waited another 20 minutes to make her final substitution. That one did work with Michelle Agyemang scoring almost instantly, but England couldn’t rescue a draw.
Managing Lauren James
After the withdrawals, there was a boost for England as Lauren James made it into the final squad. The 23-year-old missed the final eight games of Chelsea’s season due to injury. And there were worries that should would not be fit for Euro 2025.
James has already been seen training with England, and now it’s about Wiegman’s management of the Chelsea star. Wiegman must avoid the temptation to start James and instead use her as a substitute.
Now, James is a much better starter than she is an impact sub. All seven of James’ goal involvements for Chelsea in 2024-25 came in matches she started — though she was only a substitute for four games.
But she’s not ready to start. The 23-year-old hasn’t started a game since 4th April, for England in their 5-0 win over Belgium. Wiegman needs to slowly bed James back into the starting XI so she hits peak fitness and form by the knockout stages — should England get there.
Plan B
One of the reasons for England’s slight drop off in success is because — as mentioned earlier — teams have worked out how to stop them. And it’s a pretty easy tactic. You just can’t let Keira Walsh have too much time on the ball.
Going back two years to the 2023 World Cup, England didn’t really look convincing despite reaching the final. The Lionesses scored 13 goals in their seven games, but six of those came in a group stage win over China. And that was the one game Walsh didn’t play due to injury.
Without Walsh in the England midfield, Wiegman had to mix things up and China didn’t know what to do. Now, this isn’t to say Walsh isn’t an excellent midfielder and England are better off without her. It’s because of her quality on the ball that opponents target her with their heavy marking.
The problem is that Wiegman hasn’t worked out a gameplan for when Walsh is being marked out of games. So, when opponents do stick one or two players directly on Walsh, England struggle. If Wiegman can work this one out — perhaps using the width of the wingers and centre-backs’ passing range — then England might bring football home again.