Ian Wright has told England they must start the Euro 2025 final much quicker after leaving it late once again to secure a dramatic 2-1 win over Italy in Wednesday night’s semi-final.
The Lionesses have reached their third straight final under Sarina Wiegman but they made hard work of it as a sluggish start saw Italy take a first-half lead through Barbara Bonansea.
England looked like they were heading out of the tournament before Michelle Agyemang popped up with a stoppage time strike to take the game to extra time, before Chloe Kelly scored a penalty rebound minutes before the game was set to go to a shootout.
It came after England came from 2-0 down to beat Sweden on penalties in the quarter-finals and Wright is concerned that their luck will soon run out in they don’t assert themselves quicker against either Spain or Germany in the final.
“You can’t continue to rely on that,” Wright told ITV. “Six semi-finals, three finals on the spin. At some stage, the luck will run out. We need to start better and get a foothold in the game.
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“The thing is, if it’s Germany, very physical and direct, it won’t suit us. Spain, they play a more technical game, it might suit us more. I’m not sure about Plan A and Plan B, we’re in a final.
“But we need to start games better. We take too long to start games, we need to get into that, how we can get into our stride quicker.”
Fellow ITV pundit Karen Carney agreed with Wright and claimed the team looked tired, calling on Wiegman to make changes to give the Lionesses some “freshness”.
“Sarina doesn’t make many changes, but we saw tiredness today,” the former England star said. “Freshness is important.
“She has to look at her squad, rip it up, we need freshness to start the game. Plan A isn’t working, Plan B is magnificent, we have to make changes.”
One change that Wiegman did make was to once again bring on Agyemang to make an impact from the bench and the teenager has now scored two vital goals at this tournament – leading to questions over whether she should now start the final.