by By Laura Howard, Sportsbeat
Chloe Kelly believes that England’s 4-0 victory against the Netherlands at Must-Win-Clash on Wednesday was a sign that they thrive under pressure.
If the lionesses had lost, they would have left the tournament in front of the Knockouts, whereby Wales fell to France at the later start in Group D against France
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But Kelly insisted that the lion women never doubt themselves and have the feeling that they are strongest when the missions are high.
“Pressure is good. We work really well under pressure and we really take pressure,” she said.
“In advance in the changing room, we all just wanted to get back on the pitch. As soon as the game was completed, we only wanted the game to come very soon. We started quickly and showed a lot of character.
“It was a great reaction from the team. We knew that we were not in the best form against France, but we weren’t the worst either.
“We knew that we had such a quality in our changing room, and we showed that today exactly.
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“We glued together, we reacted together and everything we did, we made together that this is a real team performance and a real English performance.”
A 2-1 defeat against France increased the importance of a result against the Dutch, but England, which was delivered stylishly.
A Lauren James clip and gates from Georgia Stanway and Ella Toone helped them to reach a blow that keeps them too sensitive to qualify for the knockouts if they can defeat the neighbors Wales.
Manager Sarina Wiegman made two large tactical layers from Saturday evening when she changed Jess Carter and Alex Greenwood in the line of defense to withdraw Carter centrally.
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Ella Toone was higher on the field when James entered the right, a switch that Kelly believed, the key to the success of the lionesses in Zurich.
“Our structure looked brilliant tonight. We looked really good in the ball and we looked really good from the ball,” she said.
“But we worked really hard in training to do things and also in the meeting room, and it was really important that we did it.
“We really accepted the game on our neck and from the beginning we were on everything – every first ball and every second ball. So we got into your faces and we did a great job this evening.
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“It was much easier.
It was a complete U -turn from an English side that had fallen flat against France when her performance rejuvenated the fading hopes of a title defense.
For Kelly, who achieved the winner in Wembley in 2022, the desire to miscalculate the critics was a fire to step against the Dutch, believed that the mentality remains the same.
“I would not say that there was a difference in the mentality, I think we just wanted to show a reaction. We did exactly that,” she said.
“With regard to the mentality, we always have the shirt for England and want to win and win, but sometimes it’s just not your day and it wasn’t the other night.
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“But Wednesday was and we continue to build it out.”
