Wiegman reluctant to play James as striker & England defense still a worry
England ended their Marbella training camp on a high with a convincing victory over Italy.
The Lionesses enjoyed another comfortable night as goals from Lotte Wubben-Moy, Ella Toone, Rachel Daly and a brace from Lauren Hemp sealed the win.
Wiegman made five changes from the team that had thrashed Austria 7-2 on Friday, with the England boss trying out new combinations in both defence and midfield.
Wiegman will have been pleased to have seen her side score 12 goals in two games ahead of April’s Euro 2025 qualifiers but will also have concerns over the defensive issues which led to the ones they conceded.
Here, Mail Sport’s Kathryn Batte picks out five things we learned from Tuesday’s victory.
Set-pieces a threat
Despite not having the aerial presence of Millie Bright or Leah Williamson to call upon, England made use of their set-pieces here.
The Lionesses conceded two goals from corners against Austria but the tables were turned here, with Alex Greenwood and Chloe Kelly’s deliveries causing chaos in the Italian box.
England’s first three goals both came from corners. Wubben-Moy produced an instinctive flicked header from Greenwood’s cross to put the Lionesses ahead before another Greenwood corner caused a scramble, with Hemp getting some luck as she netted a deflected goal.
The third was not directly from a corner but play started with Kelly’s delivery being kept in by Lucy Bronze, before Georgia Stanway crossed for Hemp to head into the top right corner.
Defensive weakness a concern
England dominated against both Austria and Italy yet still conceded poor goals through switching off.
The absence of Leah Williamson and Millie Bright was felt while the lack of pace in the back-line was also a concern. Italy regularly got in-behind
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