What exactly is Wiegman-ball?

Days before the final, we still do not know what is getting the England manager's team - elite mentality aside - through the big moments in Switzerland

- Jonathan Liew

"This is a movie," Sarina Wiegman said, and as England celebrated their heist in Geneva that sense of unreality seemed to have infused her players too. "Goodness me," sighed Esme Morgan as she returned to the dressing room after the 2-1 extra-time win over Italy, blowing out her cheeks in relief. Meanwhile, the captain, Leah Williamson, was trying to explain just how England manage to keep going behind but pulling out victories at the very end.

"Whilst there are seconds on the clock, there are seconds that we're just waiting," she said. "It's less 'if' and more 'how'. I don't know how to explain it, I don't know how we do it." And frankly, this was the sort of victory that defied rational explanation. By the dying minutes of this game Beth Mead was playing in central midfield as part of a double pivot behind Ella Toone and the strike duo of Michelle Agyemang and Aggie Beever-Jones. Lauren Hemp, who started the last World Cup final as a second striker, was now left-back. And England were basically just pumping long balls into the area hoping something would happen.

The formation: like, 2-6-2? 3-2-1-4? In a way, it scarcely mattered. This is after all tournament football, where the usual logic does not always apply, where the result is the result, however you get it. The new plan is no plan. Just go at it. "Everybody's fighting and everybody wants to win and everybody feels like they can win," Lucy Bronze said afterwards and frankly her stirring performances in this tournament suggest that ultimately it may be no more complicated than that.