England hosted Austria at Stadium mk in its final home match before Euro 2017. Goals from Ellen White, Lucy Bronze, and Izzie Christiansen paced the Lionesses to a 3-0 win. Richard Laverty provides some key talking points from the match below.
Nobbs Is Crucial to England, in Whatever Position
After a good performance against Italy on Friday night, Arsenal’s Jordan Nobbs continued to show why she’s key to England’s hopes of Euro success despite once again playing outside of her natural position.
Nobbs pulled the strings in the midfield and while she didn’t get on the score sheet and some key passes went astray, Nobbs was by far England’s best performer on the night. She linked well with the strikers and as ever showed no hesitation in making jinking runs into the box and got her assist (of sorts) when Steph Houghton headed in her corner, although Izzy Christiansen may have something to say about that.
Nobbs played a very limited part in England’s World Cup success but it remains to be seen if she can influence the biggest games if her role remains on the wing. One bonus of head coach Mark Sampson potentially sticking with a 3-5-2 against certain opposition is Nobbs has to play through the middle.
White’s Making the Case for a Starting Spot
New Birmingham striker Ellen White hasn’t exactly been in the goal-scoring form of her life during her time with Notts County Ladies but the striker is proving form isn’t everything for the Lionesses at the moment.
Popping up with an important goal against the United States in the SheBelieves Cup showed the striker’s instinct any good attacker should have, and White once again found the net against Austria and would have probably had a second had Lucy Bronze not beat her to the ball.
With Jodie Taylor and Toni Duggan experiencing tough times in finding the net for England, White may feel harshly done by at this stage if she’s not on the team sheet against Scotland.
Same Issues in Center Midfield
I commented that maybe a combination of Jade Moore and Jill Scott was a little too negative without an outright No. 10 in front of them and Sampson went even more defensive against Austria, opting for Millie Bright alongside Moore.
Not that it didn’t work; the pair were solid but against another team relatively happy to sit back, it would have been nice to see one of Nobbs, Christiansen, or Karen Carney playing through the middle. It made sense once Carney came on and all three of England’s key creative players were on the pitch at the same time, but it does seem to stunt England’s creativity through the middle of the pitch.
It’s certainly a midfield worth thinking about should England progress to the stages where they’ll face the big teams, but against Portugal? Not for me.
4-4-2 or 3-5-2?
Sampson has stuttered between variations of 4-4-2 and 3-5-2 since the 2015 World Cup but it’s now four games in a row in which the England manager has gone with a flat-back four. It did the trick against the world champions last month and certainly saw England create more chances this week with two strikers up top.
Albeit the statistics are slightly skewed given the opposition has been much lower ranked than the teams they faced in the United States but four at the back seems to have taken away England’s defensive stability.
Against Italy, Antonio Cabrini’s side created several good openings while Austria will feel like they could have made more of their openings in the first half against the Lionesses. Bronze didn’t particularly look her usual self, and errors from both Alex Greenwood and Steph Houghton led to Italy’s equalizer.
It was also alarming how the Italian scorer was free on the edge of the box. With a flat midfield two, England lack a true defensive midfielder to sit in and protect the defense. A penny for Katie Chapman’s thoughts — how long until we see Keira Walsh post-Euros?
Christiansen Provides a New Dilemma
Sampson didn’t particularly ring in the changes at the MK Stadium on Monday, but one player who did come in was Izzy Christiansen, the Man City midfielder replacing Karen Carney on the left-hand side of midfield.
Like Nobbs, Christiansen was asked to play a more unfamiliar role than the one she plays at her club but the midfielder did well and put in a superb ball for the opener — something England has lacked badly in recent games.
Despite her small stature, Christiansen puts herself about an awful lot and her combative style saw her win the ball back for her side several times and her passing was neat and tidy. She was unlucky her looping effort hit the bar but she’ll definitely be claiming the third. We saw a brief glimpse of how her, Carney, and Nobbs could all play together late on and her performance will have given Sampson food for thought.