I can’t put into words what the mood will have been like at England’s base yesterday morning — being knocked out of a tournament is just the worst feeling.
I remember when we lost the semi-final of the World Cup in 2019, the next morning at breakfast no one was speaking, you could cut the tension with a knife. Then you’re on the plane home. It’s dead quiet, there’s no laughing or joking, everyone’s devastated and it’s just a period of real awkwardness, where no one quite knows what to say or do. You just get your bag off the plane, say your goodbyes and get home.
It was the same after the Olympics last year, when we had high expectations of what we could achieve but got knocked out in the quarter-finals. You get home and the games are still being played.
I couldn’t watch the final — in fact, once we were out, I didn’t watch another game. Anything that reminded me of the tournament, I didn’t want to be associated with, I just wanted to switch off. I wouldn’t be surprised if none of the boys watch the France versus Morocco semi-final on Wednesday, and I wouldn’t blame them.
Looking further ahead, it’s difficult to say straight after losing a game but I really hope Gareth Southgate stays on. Coming into this tournament, some people were saying he had to win it or go, but England have played some really good football and it’s not as straightforward as that — there are a lot of other good teams and good players.
You could look at our success at the Euros in the summer and say that a change of coach with Sarina Wiegman was the key to getting us over the line after a few near-misses. For us, though, the biggest thing was a mentality shift, which was attributed to Sarina but, of course, has to come from the players as well. We looked at ourselves after that 2019 World Cup. Were we mentally ready? Probably not. I don’t think a lot of us were confident enough to go and win that semi-final against the USA.
If you look at the boys under Southgate, and compare Saturday to previous defeats, maybe that mentality shift is already happening. France are the holders, they’ve got some unbelievable players and we’ve got such a young team, so to see them take the game to them like that, to compete and maybe even have won it shows where they’re at. Southgate’s got them playing great football and believing in themselves, which is something England teams have often lacked, that little bit of belief.
There’s also the question of a replacement because, in my opinion, there aren’t many top, top managers that aren’t in a job. So would you have to go for an interim? We had that situation after Phil Neville left, with Hege Riise coming in, but she was never going to stay because Sarina had agreed to start after the Olympics.
That period in between was really difficult, it felt like a really unsettled time for the girls and we didn’t play great. Everyone’s heads were all over the place.
The next Euros are only 18 months away — and 15 by the next international break in March — so I think it makes sense for Southgate to stay.
