Sarina: We played very well in moments

Sarina Wiegman was impressed with parts of the Lionesses performance during their 3-1 victory over Greece, but says there’s room for improvement ahead of the second leg of their FIFA Women’s World Cup 2027 play-off.

A patient performance saw Georgia Stanway, Maya Le Tissier and Alessia Russo on target as England opened up a three goal lead in Crete, before Ioanna Papatheodorou pulled one back for the home side to give them hope ahead of Tuesday's return fixture. 

Wiegman felt her side produced some positive periods at Pankritio Stadium, but has identified areas to work on as their preparations begin for the tie's second leg. 

“At moments we played very well,” she said.

“We started well, they started very aggressively too, but stayed calm. That’s what I’m most pleased with. I think we have a couple of things to work on too.

“At moments in the game we weren’t tight enough, the ball wasn’t moving quick enough, especially when we got the ball a lot in the pockets and higher up the pitch.

"We need to be tighter and more aligned because I think if we’d created these opportunities we had and we could have scored so many more goals, sometimes we were offside.

“So that is something we have to work on and of course I’m not happy with the goal we conceded.”

One player who particularly caught Wiegman’s eye was Le Tissier, who grabbed her first England goal with a powerful drive that Rafaella Petaloti got a hand to but was unable to keep out.

The full-back combined a constant threat down the right flank with typically reliable defending when called upon and Wiegman believes the 24-year-old is really growing in the international environment.

“There were more positives but one of them was Maya,” added the Lionesses head coach.

“She’s really improving her game with us and at club. She covered a lot of space today so of course she had to defend but at the same time she played in attack really high on the pitch.

“So, it was really nice that she got there at the far post and she got the shot and scored the goal.”

The Lionesses face Greece in the second leg on Tuesday 13 October (7.30pm BST) at the King Power Stadium. Tickets are on general sale now.