Every word from Sarina Wiegman's squad announcement press conference

You caught us by surprise. Erica Meg Parkinson, tell us all about her and why you called her up?

“Well, first of all, we called her up because we’re a little bit low in depth in midfield with injuries to Ella [Toone] and Grace Clinton. So of course, then we're going to look at who's next and Erica has come through the pathway. She plays in Portugal and she’s done well with the WU23s. She's a very dynamic attacking midfielder, wants to go forward and is also very aggressive and pretty technical. And of course, it's a big step from the WU23s and the Portuguese competition to go into our senior level. But she gets the opportunity to show where she stands at our level.”

Was she surprised when you told her that she was getting called up?

“Yes, she was. Well, first of all, she was speechless, but she was very happy, surprised and excited, of course.”

She’s a 17 year old who is playing in a in a league that isn't particularly well known. And then obviously coming into these games against Spain and Iceland. That must be a huge leap?

“Yeah, of course it is. But we have 23 players in the squad, so we can make decisions and she's done well. As I said, there was a little lack of depth in the team and then you can look at the next one, and she has done well with those teams and knowing also that's a big step to the senior level.”

You've called up Leah Williamson, who hasn't played for a couple of weeks. How is she and will she be ready for that game against Spain, do you think?

“Yeah, we're expecting that. Leah came back from injury after the EUROs, then she's had some small setbacks, but overall she's doing really well and when she plays, she's playing really well. We have been careful with her, so have Arsenal. Mainly, she herself is really, really on that too so I think she's going to make it and that's why we put her in the squad.”

Is it the kind of situation where if it was maybe a friendly, you wouldn't necessarily call her up, but because these games are so important, you want your captain?

“No, I think I would put her on the squad anyway, because I think she's in a good place and she's building. The niggles she picked up are not the worst, but it just takes a little bit of time. But because of where she comes from over the last couple of months, we just need to be careful with her.”

How's Ellie Roebuck? Because she came off on Sunday and we all know how much her getting back into the English squad meant to her, so it's nice to call her up. Are you concerned that she might have to pull out if the injury comes back and it's bad?

“Yeah, of course. She went out, so she's going to be assessed over the next couple of days. It didn't look too bad so we need to see how the next couple of days go, but we are confident and so is Ellie and the club that it takes a couple of days and then she'll be fine.”

How disappointing is it that you are missing some senior players, including in central midfield, without Ella Toone and Grace Clinton?

“Yeah, of course. Well, we know this is the world we live in and every time there are some injuries, there's a lot of games to be played. This is a very high level and this is what we have so when someone gets injured, who's next? We follow a lot of players very closely and of course, we look at a lot have they done before. Did they build some credits with us?Are they in-form right now? And of course, then it's good that you're fit and you're available and then when someone gets injured, we know which other options we have and that's how we work.”

You wrestled a lot during the World Cup about being one of the few female coaches in the last part of the tournament. Obviously with the changes to have more female representation on the sidelines, what is your reaction to that, please?

“I think we're talking a lot about more women in football, to get more balance between males and females in our sport and we still see that there's a lack of women and we want to support that so I think it's good. I compare it to when you're in a game and you're 3-1 behind. So if you could consider the women at one, that's still why we're moving forward, but we don't go fast enough and when you're behind, you need to do more to get equal and this is one of the things that makes it more equal. What we need to do is give women opportunities to develop, to educate, but also then put them in positions that they can do and the women themselves need to step up too. I think this rule really emphasises, supports and hopefully accelerates the balance between males and females in our sport.”

Is there anything else you'd like to see kind of come in that would help that?

“Well, I think there's a lot of things going on right now in supporting women. First of all, what you see, you can be. So that's why we also need more females in these positions. For example, what we do at the FA with some of the players who are still playing now or players who just quit playing football, to do these courses and get into these positions. I think that that's one example, but the FA does a lot. I think we need to continue doing these things to make it better for women.”

Obviously it's a busy schedule for quite a lot of your players with a lot of them in the Champions League quarter finals, for example. Are you going to have to be mindful of the players’ load?

“We always are. We know how the schedule is now. It's really busy and back-to-back games in midweek and weekends. What we always do when players come in, we’ll have our general periodisation with load and of course football tactics. But the first two days, we'll figure out also how do the players come in and if they need a little more recovery, then we do that. We modify individually and some players need a little less and some players will need a little more so that's what we figure out in the first part of the week. Later on, of course, we have some time to get ready for the Tuesday game on the 14 March.”

There's a lot of England players in fantastic form at the moment as well. Have you enjoyed watching Lauren James in particular?

“She's had some fantastic games in the build-up to the squad now. I always like to watch the games because they’re high level, so it's good to see all of them but it's also very good to see that a lot of players are in very good form. You're talking about LJ who’s in good form, but I can talk about many more players that are in really good form and that's just really good to see.”

Just going back to Erica Meg Parkinson, and she's had such an unusual upbringing. She’s lived across the world, she speaks four languages and she seems a very distinct character with a lot of distinct qualities. Did that appeal to you when you were considering selecting her for this?

“Well, we just follow the players. We have a very close connection with the WU23s, as you know. We watch it all the time. When we're both here, we have an opportunity to watch training at some point, but mainly what we have a look at now is, of course, the quality she brings and how she's done for club and country and what we needed in the squad. And we needed a midfielder, an attacking midfielder in the squad so then she came up. The other things come later on, but first of all, we look at what does she show on the pitch.”

You spoke about what she can prove on the pitch and what she can show on the pitch but from a psychological point of view, it would be perfectly understandable if a 17 year old didn't feel quite ready to play for the England senior team. What makes you think that from that mental side that Erica Meg is ready to play for England at senior level?

“Well, I think she's ready to come in. I think for every young player who comes into our environment for the first time, of course, there’s some anxiety, as we know it's a team that has played on such a high level. So for every player, it's really a step up and we're not going to force anything. She's going to come in and I hope she's going to enjoy it. I don't expect her to get in the starting lineup straight away. That's not what we expect so I think it's a learning thing for her, but I do hope that she can adapt quickly to the level that's needed in our environment.”

Obviously she's qualified to play for a lot of different countries. Did that cross your mind too?

“No, that's not the reason why we select players. I think that's up to the player who they want to play for. Mainly what we looked at is on the pitch.”

Would she be ready to play against that Spain midfield?

“Well, with the expectation we have from Spain and from us, she's not the first one that I would put on the pitch because there's competition going on in midfield and I think we have many players that are really good in midfield, but it's really good to see her. She would surprise me if we would consider her straightaway to come on the pitch.”

How much did you learn from the two games that you've had so far against Ukraine and Iceland?

“Well, we learned a lot about ourselves again. There was a lot of energy in the team. I think everyone was really excited that the World Cup qualifiers were starting and we really put a lot of emphasis on us being in possession and why we have struggled to be more ruthless in the final third. I think we made steps in that because I think also Ukraine and Iceland, they're hard to beat. They're really very well organised, both a little bit in a different way, but we really had to break down the wall and I think we did that pretty well. I think against Iceland, we could have scored earlier but I think we did better than we had done before so I was really happy with that. Against Spain, I expect a different game. Of course, we want to be on the ball, but we also know that Spain is really good on the ball and that we won't have the ball all the time so that asks different things from our team.”

Keira Walsh is coming up to century of caps for the Lionesses. How would you describe her and her development since you've been in charge of England?

“I think first of all, I would say that she’s really stepped up as a leader. She doesn't really like to be in the picture, but in her way, she really does actually. That starts with playing so well and being a very intelligent, smart player, but she’s also stepped up as a leader on the pitch and off the pitch and I really like that and it's really nice to see that. Before I came in, I already thought that she was a very good player. She has a great vision, is technically really good, but also out of possession I think she's worked really hard and tries to get into duels more than she has done before. There’s still things to improve, as always for every player, but she's an important player for us.”

We're coming up to the 500th game for the Lionesses. How significant is that milestone, do you think?

“It's a big celebration. It shows where we came from, where we are now and we're so thankful to everyone who was before us. And as we say a lot, we stand on their shoulders, all of the women that paved the way for us, we stand on their shoulders and we wouldn't be here if they wouldn't have gone before us. So it's good to celebrate that and to bring everyone together.”