The three changes Sarina Wiegman made to rescue England’s Women’s Euro 2025 campaign | OneFootball

England thrashed the Netherlands to keep their Euro 2025 campaign alive as the holders responded to the threat of elimination with a superb performance.

The Lionesses could have become the first European champions to be eliminated from the group stage had they followed their 2-1 loss to France with another defeat.

But Sarina Wiegman’s side thrived under the pressure of a knockout game, with two goals from Lauren James firing England to a huge win over a strong Dutch team.

Georgia Stanway and Ella Toone scored the other goals, which puts England in a great position to reach the quarter-finals if they beat Wales on Sunday.

By choice, Sarina Wiegman doesn’t often reveal too much in her pre-match press conferences. But while maintaining that she was not concerned about the “consequences” of defeat to the Netherlands, the England head coach did give away something about her gameplan, and how she wanted to exploit the spaces behind the Netherlands defence.

That’s exactly what England did. “The priority was that we wanted to skip and exploit space,” Wiegman later said. “The Netherlands pushed up so we wanted to go over them.”

There was no hesitation about going long to Alessia Russo or Lauren Hemp, with Keira Walsh in particular looking to immediately play a pass over the defence when she had time to turn. “I think it helped us playing longer,” Walsh said afterwards. “I think it plays to our forwards strength like Alessia set up so many goals for us tonight, just being a nuisance.”

England must have spotted a weakness in how the Netherlands defend crosses, too, because they also persisted with aiming diagonal balls towards the back post, creating several dangerous moments for Russo. The striker’s play with her back to goal also stood out, and she finished with three assists.

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Russo was named player of the match while Lauren James scored twice (Getty Images)

Of course, England almost stole an equaliser against France by switching up their style of play in the final 15 minutes and going long. After that match, Georgia Stanway said they had to be “proper England” and go back to playing a “traditional” game from the start. In contrast, the Netherlands head coach Andries Jonker spoke pre-match about how their unwavering commitment to “total football” was almost as important as winning.

England, evidently, did not have the same concerns. “We want to play football, [but] if that's the way to win and it’s playing one straight pass and that's what we're going to do,” Walsh said. “That's also the good thing about this team, we can be direct and I think it's important we change it up.”

That’s not to say there was a lack of skill, though. Take Hannah Hampton’s drilled pass to Russo, which showed how technically gifted the England goalkeeper is, as a result of playing as an outfielder until the age of 14 as well as her upbringing in Spain. “It was unreal,” Russo said. Quite fitting on a night where England were able to mix it up.

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(REUTERS)

Wiegman said she did not regret her starting line-up against France and her decision to play James at the top of her midfield, but the fact the head coach rectified that at the first opportunity just showed how much of an unnecessary gamble it was.

England’s shape against the Netherlands was so much better after Wiegman brought Ella Toone back into midfield. It gave England a willing runner in behind from central areas and England benefitted greatly from Walsh and Stanway having more support. Overall, England were far sharper and hungrier in midfield, winning the second balls that they were so often late to against France. Toone, who had a point to prove after being dropped against France, encapsulated that approach.

That isn’t to criticise James, because actually the England forward looked as if she had been released by being moved back to the right wing. It's such a more natural fit, given the almost unique shape James can put on her crosses and passes when cutting onto her left foot. There’s the devastating power, as well, as James made sure was on full display as she thumped England into the lead from the edge of the box.

“I think playing with Lauren James, you know that people are going to have to probably change something at some point,” Lucy Bronze said. “Because she's so dangerous and she's not even at 100 per cent yet. So I'm sure a lot of the left backs in this tournament, or right backs or wherever she plays, they'll not be wanting to see that Lauren James shirt coming up against them because she's that frightening.”

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(Getty Images)

The most unexpected change of all, especially as it was only revealed when England lined up at kick-off. After she was torn to shreds by Delphine Cascarino in the France match, Wiegman moved Jess Carter into centre-back and brought Alex Greenwood outside to left back. It was the first time England had played with a back four of Lucy Bronze, Leah Williamson, Carter and Greenwood, in that order, since the 0-0 draw against the USA last year.

Funnily enough, that was the last time England had kept a clean sheet against a top international team before beating Netherlands 4-0, and this was a complete transformation in terms of defensive resilience from the France defeat. Carter said: “Me and Alex didn't feel connected in the France game and this game felt the total opposite with her and the whole team. Alex was phenomenal at left back.”

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Jess Carter and Alex Greenwood swapped positions but impressed in England's defence (The FA via Getty Images)

Carter was flawless, limiting Vivianne Miedema to just eight touches in the first half, then handling the pace of Lineth Beerensteyn in the second. Across the back four, England were front-footed and tenacious. And with Greenwood also looking at home and bringing a naturally left-footed played at left back.

“I turned up to training and that's when Sarina [Wiegman] put me and swapped Alex [Greenwood]. Obviously, we analyse in training and that's what we worked on. I'm not one to question and ask for a reason, I just do the job I'm asked to do,” Carter said.

“I think that's a proper English performance,” Bronze said. “It might not be your strength, but you put in the hard work to make sure you're doing a job for the team and that your team-mates got your back. Those two on the left [Carter and Greenwood] really embodied that, especially from the very beginning and gave a lot of the rest of the team confidence.”