Why ‘scared’ England need rapidly to change at Euros

As England’s players fronted up in Zurich and vowed to take responsibility for their opening performance in the defeat to France, defender Jess Carter admitted to something that you wouldn’t expect to hear from a team who entered the tournament as champions. “I think we played like we were a

- JAMIE BRAIDWOOD IN ZURICH

little bit scared today,” Carter said. “We maybe were worrying about their threats in behind and what they can do rather than doing what we can do.”

Carter had endured a difficult night herself, tormented by France winger Delphine Cascarino. Lucy Bronze struggled too on the other side, outnumbered by a combination of Sandy Baltimore, Sakina Karchaoui and Selma Bacha. Captain Leah Williamson, in a typically honest assessment of her team’s 2-1 defeat, said England paid the price for “cheap defending one-v-one”, which all stemmed from the same issue. “Not good enough with the ball,” Williamson said. “We couldn’t keep it.”

Sarina Wiegman conceded that England were “sloppy” and had created their “own problems” with the sort of wayward, hesitant passing into midfield that invited France to press. “When you lose it and you’re that expansive, it is tough,” Williamson added. “We got exposed at moments, losing the ball when we didn’t want to lose the ball,” said Wiegman. “That’s what we need to find a solution for.”