England manager Sarina Wiegman has hailed her team's performance against Korea Republic in the Arnold Clark Cup and hinted at changes ahead of their next game on Sunday.
The Lionesses kicked off 2023 with an emphatic 4-0 win over their opponents at Stadium MK on Thursday evening. A first-half penalty from Georgia Stanway was followed by goals from Chloe Kelly, Alessia Russo and Lauren James after the break.
Wiegman's side take on Italy on Sunday at the CBS Arena in Coventry and the England boss could make changes as she continues to experiment ahead of the World Cup this summer.
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"I think we played really well against a very defensive South Korea," she told the media post-match. "The spaces were really tight and they dropped very deep. The first half, we didn’t have enough numbers high up so we couldn’t break their line enough.
“I think the second half it helped we scored such a quick goal, our fullbacks were even higher, we had more rotation and our centre backs were higher up too, so we had more numbers up front and that helps."
She experimented with her starting line-up, putting Leah Williamson into midfield and Rachel Daly came on up front as opposed to at left-back. Wiegman says she will continue to try things as this tournament is a huge platform to continue their work towards the summer.
“I want to try out things," the England boss continued. "I think this tournament is a big step in the preparations for the World Cup. It’s not July 22 yet, we really need to see a couple of things, where we are as a team and where the individuals are at the moment.
“There’s still a couple of months but it is a measure moment. We will figure out a couple more things, so we’ll make some changes. Keira (Walsh) is doing well, we expect her to be on the pitch tomorrow and then we’ll take it from there. She looks good.”
England take on Italy in the early kick-off on Sunday at 3:15pm before Belgium face Korea Republic the same evening at 6:15pm.
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