Georgia Stanway urges England to be 'brave and ruthless' against Netherlands

Georgia Stanway is ready to stop talking and turn her frustration into action.

The Bayern Munich midfielder was disappointed with her own performance during the Lionesses’ 2-1 defeat to France but has urged her side to be 'brave and ruthless' against the Netherlands as they look to make amends.

A determined Stanway feels the Lionesses need to go back to basics to put on a performance fitting of a ‘proper England’.

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“We have to be brave, we have to be ruthless,” she urged. “In spells of the game against France, that urgency and that desperation towards the end trying to put one in the back of the net. We need that for 90 minutes.

“We want to make sure that we put things right on the pitch in order for us to be able to have this setting and be able to talk.

“We're all just dying for the game to come around as fast as possible because we want to make sure that we're stepping on that pitch knowing what we've experienced, but also wanting to make change in that.

“We want to be a proper England and we want to go back to what we're good at. We want to go back to a traditional style of football in terms of tough tackles, getting back down to the roots, and remembering why we're here.

“We’re remembering playing for the little girl that wanted to be here. Sometimes it is about blocking out the noise and it's about just getting on that pitch and just getting stuck in.”

And there has been plenty of noise after the defending champions fell to defeat at the hands of France to put their progression into the knockout stages into jeopardy.

It makes their encounter with the Netherlands a must-win match, and Stanway is under no illusion of what is at stake.

But she insists there is no need to panic for England who are more than confident in their ability to turn things around.

“It's reality, if we're not good enough on Wednesday, then we don't deserve to continue in the tournament.

“(There is) no crisis. There's either a lot of pressure because we do have to make it work or there's no pressure because we also do have to make it work, and if we don't, we know the circumstance.

“We go back to who we are, what we know, what we do best, and we're England. We're full of English blood. We want to go out there and we want to fight as much as we can.”

It will not just come down to who the Lionesses can be. Their opponents the Netherlands ran out 3-0 winners against Wales without having to leave second gear in their opening match, which could provide some welcome momentum.

England, on the other hand, looked overrun both out wide and in central areas against France, with both goals conceded coming from their threat on the wings, and will face a Dutch side who like to pack numbers into the midfield.

“We know the quality the Netherlands have got. We are facing a completely different opposition,” said Stanway.

“If we look at the Netherlands, they play a lot of midfielders, so they’re maybe more likely to come inside than they are to go outside.

“In terms of what we can control, we're going to be better on the ball, we can control our mentality going into it, we can control our emotions on the pitch.

“We need to demand it of each other there, we need to communicate in those moments.

“If you put in a tough tackle, if somebody's doing the run for you or somebody's running back or pressing forward, those are the little triggers that we can all use as catalyst moments.”

Stanway will be one of those expected to step up and lead the way to enact those triggers, with 79 senior England caps to her name she has graduated to one of the experienced players in the squad.

At 26 years old, it is a responsibility that has perhaps come earlier than expected but, having started every match at Euro 2022, she has become a vital cog in Wiegman’s midfield.

Now she hopes to turnaround not only her individual form, but that of the team with England’s prospects of progression relying on it.

“One minute you feel like a kid that's breaking through and is fulfilling their dreams and the next minute it's the seriousness of it all and you’re invited into important conversations,” she reflected.

“I enjoy it. For me, I would say my leadership way would be consistency, so to have not had that on Saturday to me was disappointing.

“Going forward, that is what I want to create. I feel like I could lead by example in the way that I'm playing and the way that I'm trying to set the tone and the way that I do get stuck into opposition. That's my way of showing my responsibility within this team.”