England's loss to Belgium was expected due to their wasteful displays in attack

It is hard to believe that England were on the cusp of winning a World Cup just 72 days ago.

As shocking as the Lionesses’ defeat by Belgium was, there was also a feeling that this was a result that had been coming for a while. Sarina Wiegman was visibly unhappy with her teams’ display, with cameras catching the manager turning away in anger and appearing to mouth the words ‘what the f***’ after England had conceded.

Wiegman described her team’s display as ‘sloppy’ and insisted they have work to do. Players looked almost puzzled at full-time, as if they could not quite believe what had happened.

‘You learn a lot from defeat, that’s how the greats are made, that’s how great teams are made,’ vice-captain Mary Earps said after the game. ‘Life isn’t easy, football isn’t easy.

‘You have to earn it. I think we are working hard but we have to find a way to win - and we are just missing that at the minute.

‘You are not always going to be at the top of your game all the time. How many times do you say the great teams find a way to win even when they are not playing well, and we have done that previously.

‘Sometimes that keeps everybody happy. I don’t think it is anything to panic about or be thinking it’s a wake-up call or anything like that. I think it is just the reality of football. We know we can be better and that’s where it’s a good thing. We know that is something that we can control and we have to put right.’

Wiegman’s side have been struggling against mid-level opponents that sit back and defend in a low block for the last year and they do not appear to have found a long-term solution.

A number of teams ranked between 50 and 10th in the world have majorly improved in the last two years. The progression of countries like