‘We could have done a bit better’ – Wiegman reacts to England’s defeat against Brazil | OneFootball

England head coach Sarina Wiegman admitted that her side could have performed better as they went down 2-1 to Brazil at the City of Manchester Stadium on Saturday evening.

The Lionesses played their first game of football since their UEFA Women’s EURO success in the summer, but the scoreline was hugely disappointing against a Brazil side that played well over an hour with 10 players following the dismissal of captain Angelina. England were 2-0 down inside 19 minutes before Georgia Stanway pulled a goal back from the penalty spot in the second half.

When speaking to the media after the match, England boss Wiegman admitted that the performance could have been better.

“It was not the result [we wanted], but I think this was a very good game to start with again after the EUROs,” Wiegman said. “It was against a good opponent, a South American opponent, which is what we want because it’s different and more emotional. It’s good for us to have that in-front of us and they played direct.

“Of course, we want to get better results, but I also think we got a lot of challenges in this game that we really needed to experience, so that we know what we can improve. We tried but we could have done a bit better.”

This was the fourth game in a row where England conceded first and Wiegman shared her views on the somewhat sluggish starts.

She said “We start slow and we make these mistakes. If I knew why then I would have sorted it straight away because I don’t like to get behind, no-one in our team likes to get behind. I can just say what I say and I think our decision-making, execution in these moments, we helped them to get the counter-attack and score two goals. If I can solve it, I will do it straight away.”

Brazilian captain Angelina was shown a straight red card for a pull back on Ella Toone in the 21st minute. Wiegman highlighted the fact that her side created chances but their execution could have been better.

She said “We don’t have many situations where we play against 10 [players]. I think we created some opportunities but the execution and the final pass; it’s about the decision-making in the final third and the execution that needed to be aligned a little bit better.

“We did get some opportunities and hit the crossbar, but you don’t get that many chances even when you play against them because they did drop a little deeper and you’ve seen the physicality that they have; tall and very physical players, so that’s why we tried many times to keep playing football, don’t cross too early. We just have to keep doing those things.”

In the absence of first-choice goalkeeper Hannah Hampton, Wiegman offered an England debut to Khiara Keating. The England boss had a lot to say about the young keeper.

She said “I think she is a very talented player. She’s been with us for a while and of course, played for the Under-23’s, so she has shown how talented she is and now she’s got an opportunity to debut. Of course, it was a hard start of the game, but I think she’s done really well with that, so I think we can be happy with her debut.”

England return to action when they face Australia at Pride Park in Derby on Tuesday evening. Tickets for the game are now sold out.