Preamble
Always with his finger on the pulse, Phil Neville reckons there just isn’t enough anger in the world right now. So he wants his team to summon righteous fury today and use this friendly to show how much they despise the current state of things. Things such as the fact that England have managed to garner one win and five defeats from their last seven matches; and the fact that criticism of that miserable run has been “probably only half of what it should be”, according to Neville. The manager reckons it’s about time the Lionesses got their hulking act together.
“I want them to be really angry, I want them to be angry with me, I want them to be angry with themselves, and I want us to play angry,” stormed Neville, almost bursting his waistcoat with rage. “Because I think we’ve gone a little bit soft.” Now some folks might say that pleas such as that are the last resort of the clueless, but let’s wait and see how the one plays out. England must cope without four significant absentees – Steph Houghton, Alex Greenwood, Jodie Taylor and Ellen White – but if they don’t play with (a) anger and (b) brains, then everyone can feel free to vent on Neville.
Kick-off: 7.15pm GMT.
Updated
