Women's Nations League: England will find it 'harder' to score, says Wiegman

Gone are the days where the Lionesses win matches 20-0 - they are facing stronger opposition and it is becoming harder to score.

When Sarina Wiegman took charge of England in September 2021, they scored 32 goals without reply in their first four matches in Women's World Cup qualifying. Later that year, they beat Latvia 20-0 in their biggest ever competitive victory.

But now, competing in the Women's Nations League against higher-ranked European opposition, Wiegman's side have found it frustrating in front of goal.

A narrow 1-0 win over Belgium was a welcome result however, following their defeat by the Netherlands in September, and means they go level with the Group A1 leaders on points.

England made hard work of it having dominated at Leicester City's King Power Stadium but squandered several chances and Wiegman said it was "frustrating" not to have scored more.

"I'm very happy with the win. Three points is very important," said Wiegman. "I think we started the game really well, very aggressive and we wanted to dominate.

"But we had some different stages in the game. In the second half we started dangerous then we dropped the tempo a little and they could come [into the game more].

"I just hoped we would score a little more goals because we created so many chances. It becomes easier when you score the second goal because then we are a little more comfortable."

England had 23 shots but only seven were on target in Leicester as Alessia Russo, Chloe Kelly, Niamh Charles and Ella Toone all sent efforts wide or over the bar.

Asked if expectations on England to score more are too high, Wiegman said: "Yeah, I think the expectations are high too. Of course we want to score more goals, like today, we could have scored more.

"We want to do that. But don't forget the opponents are really good too. It's now the Nations League and it's more competitive. Defensively, the opponents are better too.

"It's harder to score goals. If we can win 5-0 we are really happy but I don't think we will get those scores a lot any more."

'Everybody wants to score against us'

England kept their first clean sheet in six matches, since their last 16 victory over Colombia at the World Cup

While England were wasteful in front of goal, they were resolute at the back, having to deal with Belgium's dangerous threats from set-pieces.

Goalkeeper Mary Earps was called into action - denying Justine Vanhaevermaet and Sarah Wijnants in each half - while captain Millie Bright made several crucial blocks.

However, it was a first clean sheet in six matches for the Lionesses which is a welcome boost to their efforts to qualify for the 2024 Olympic Games on behalf of Team GB as the nominated nation.

"Oh yes, you keep score of that! Thanks for remembering that. First of all, I'm very happy with the win. In the end you want to win the game and if that's with a clean sheet I'm really happy because you don't want to concede goals," said Wiegman.

"If it's a 2-1 win, depending on how we concede the goal, then I'm still happy because that's a win too. What we look at is how we defend, how we press the ball and how we do in transition.

"We had moments we did really good although [Belgium] did counter-attack but not that much. They were dangerous at that too."

England defender Lucy Bronze said England had "worked hard" to improve their defensive record in recent months.

"I think that's something we wanted to get back to this week," said Bronze. "We've got players that work really hard and you know, we're England, everybody wants to score against us.

"If they don't win the game they see it as an achievement to score against us. So I think it was important to get back to that solid defensive shape. Mary [Earps] is doing well, stopping chances. Yeah, 1-0 we'll take that, for now."

'She brought what we hoped'

Fran Kirby had knee surgery in March and missed the Women's World Cup in the summer

Aside from three points and a clean sheet, there was a welcome return to the international stage for Chelsea midfielder Fran Kirby.

The instrumental playmaker missed the World Cup through injury and last played for England in October 2022 before having knee surgery.

She came on as a substitute in the second half and Wiegman said it was "nice" to see her back.

"Of course she already played for Chelsea and she performed well there," added Wiegman.

"When she came onto the pitch she brought what we hoped she would bring. She was very tight on the ball in the final third so that was really nice to see."