Kelly backs England’s ‘positive clique’ of finishers to deliver against Sweden | OneFootball

There was confusion among England’s starters on Sunday night when both Beth Mead and Aggie Beever-Jones scored and wheeled away clicking their fingers. It was an in-joke between the substitutes, or “finishers” as they are referred to internally, viewed as an important a piece of the team’s puzzle as much as those who step out of the tunnel before kick-off.

“It’s great,” the Arsenal forward Chloe Kelly says. “We have a little group of us, the finishers, the positive clique [pronounced click by Kelly, a play on words] we call it. We said if one of us comes on to score then we should do that as our celebration.

“We work really hard on the training pitch, in the gym, making sure we’re prepared when we go on to the pitch and we have a great group of girls so it’s about enjoying the whole experience as a group.”

Kelly showed just how impactful finishers can be when she came off the bench to score England’s winner in the Euro 2022 final, making her the poster girl of the tournament, her celebration in her sports bra with her shirt wheeled around her head adorning front pages, back pages, news broadcasts, merchandise and even bodies, with Kelly tattoos a popular way for people to commemorate the tournament.

“It’s been great, some highs, some lows and some in-betweens,” Kelly says. “It’s definitely taken some adjusting but I’m just me, a girl from London loving her football and that’s what I’ll always be. Hopefully we can have many good moments together with England.”

The negative connotations of being in a clique are not an issue, it is just a bit of fun and positivity, and as the Lionesses prepare to face Sweden in their Euro 2025 quarter-final on Thursday night, that is the energy they are trying to foster. “We’re good people that support each other every day,” Kelly says. “We support each other very well as a 23, that’s what it takes to win a tournament. In football sometimes cliques are negative, but this is a positive clique.”

Someone has even set up a group chat. “It might have been Maya [Le Tissier] that made the group chat,” Kelly says. “We get our pictures on an app and some of us didn’t have the pictures of the clicking celebration and that’s where the group chat came from, to send each other the pictures of it.”

It cannot always be easy as a finisher, watching the game play out in front of you that you desperately want to be a part of and may or may not get a chance to influence, but England benefit from extreme strength in depth.

“We have such quality in our team which is great for us,” Kelly says. “Not only in the games but in the training sessions we’re pushing each other, too. It’s healthy competition. You have to be at your best here and that’s really important.”

The 27-year-old has been reflecting on the role and attitude of the finishers recently. “I was saying to Lotte [Wubben-Moy] that throughout the tournaments that we’ve been playing in, whether that was the home Euros, the World Cup in Australia or here, the group of finishers have been incredible at supporting the team that are playing and being ready for their moment. The level of training is really high in the gym and we’re just grafting. It’s been really nice to see that as a consistent thing with England.”

In the 6-1 thrashing of Wales on Sunday, the clique was called into action earlier than usual, England’s superiority meaning the head coach, Sarina Wiegman, could rotate and rest players earlier than she otherwise would. Next, England play Sweden in the familiar Stadion Letzigrund in Zurich, where they played two of their three group stage fixtures, for the chance to reach the semi-finals of a major tournament for a sixth consecutive time.

“They are a team we definitely respect as England,” Kelly says. “They are maybe a team that does go under the radar but the consistency they have shown is impressive. They have so much talent. We have done our homework.”

Asked whether she has seen any changes in Leah Williamson as she has grown into her role as England captain, Kelly replies: “No, definitely not.”

Kelly has known Williamson a long time, having played with her in the Arsenal academy, rising through to the first team before Kelly left for Everton, then Manchester City. They still linked up in England camps, though, and have been reunited back at Arsenal after Kelly rejoined on loan in January before making her move permanent this month.

“I remember stepping into Arsenal at 12 and saying to my parents: ‘Leah’s going to be England captain one day.’ She’s just an incredible girl, shows great leadership qualities and is so approachable. She’s one that I get on so well with. To captain England at major tournaments there is a lot of pressure, but it doesn’t show in Leah’s personality at all, highs, lows and everything in between, she’s just so consistent.”

Header image: [Photograph: Annegret Hilse/Reuters]