England centre half Esme Morgan reflected on her side’s winning mentality after suffering defeat against Brazil in their first homecoming game after retaining their European crown in the summer.
The Lionesses very quickly went two behind, and a second-half penalty converted by Georgia Stanway wasn’t enough to restore parity.
For Morgan, though, the game played at the City of Manchester Stadium, where she once had a season ticket, had extra significance.
“It was really special. It was a great atmosphere. Personally, it was nice to be back in Manchester, and it was lovely to be able to celebrate as well as the reception we got. We are really grateful for everyone who came,” she said.
“It’s frustrating to lose,” she continued. “There is plenty to improve from, just little moments in the first half where we gave it away and then were punished on the transition. But on the flip side, especially in the second half, it’s a bit different with game management when they are a player down. But I felt like we kept going and kept knocking on the door, and had good opportunities.
“I suppose it’s just being a little more clinical in the final third. We got into those areas quite a few times, and maybe just let them off the hook a little bit. It was quite pin ball in the box at times. Our best chances were probably from outside of the box, so we want to create more clear-cut opportunities. I think we can take a lot of positives from how we handled the game, and particularly after the red card they did not really have anything beyond that. So that is a positive for us.”
Despite dominating possession, England struggled to break down a stubborn and combative Brazil outfit who conceded 17 fouls and had Angelina sent off in the 21st minute. Morgan assessed the way her side could’ve reacted differently to this tough test.
“They way they play is very aggressive. They were player for player all over the pitch. We had to try and find Alessia [Russo] more and at first we weren’t getting enough support to Less. She was doing an incredible job holding the ball up. We just didn’t have people positioned quite well enough around her, to be able to give her an option. We were going a bit sideways and backwards, which is exactly what they wanted to be able to jump on and pinch the ball in transition as they did. We could have been a little bit more vertical and a little bit more direct in going forward in the first half, which is what we adjusted and they got the red card off the back of us going more direct and trying to exploit the spaces they were leaving in behind,” she said.
Despite the team’s struggles, Morgan was still able to find the benefits of England testing themselves in preparation for next year’s Finalissma against the same opponent, and the following year’s World Cup.
“This period is all about building on the good things we did in the game today. Learning from it, putting it into the next game against Australia, and reviewing what we could have done differently in the first moments. They play a very different style to Australia. There is learnings that we can take forward and come the World Cup, we will be playing other oppositions who have a similar style of play. It’s just about building and learning, and continuing trying to improve,” Morgan said.
“We spoke about wanting to start quickly. The game was really end-to-end, a bit like basketball. Because of the style of play. Both of us were aggressive and man-to-man out of possession. There were a lot of transitioning and it was very back and forth. It’s something that we are working on, and we know that we don’t want to keep having to come from behind, we know we are capable of doing that. Obviously today we didn’t quite manage it. It’s frustrating but we are just constantly reviewing and trying to improve. So we’ll get there.”
Ultimately, Morgan conceded that this result and performance were mixed bags: “We always want to win. We go into every single game wanting to win. That comes from reflecting on the things that we can do better and trying to pull together that and the things we did well today. Because there were a lot of positive things in the second half. We played some really good football, created opportunities into the final third. We’ve just got to be a little more clinical. Our full focus turns to putting on a good performance and win against Australia.”