England 2022 beats England 2021 and not just because Phil Neville has gone

England go into this summer’s European Championship with a brilliant manager and options beyond what seemed possible in 2021.

In March 2020, England limped to a third-place finish at the SheBelieves Cup and didn’t look like a team remotely capable of successfully negotiating a pivotal 18 months, with an Olympics and home Euros approaching in successive summers.

But the Covid-19 pandemic intervened, delaying both tournaments by a year, and as a result England look in a vastly different place one month away from the European Championship than if everything had unfolded as expected.

Phil Neville had been the man originally tasked with leading the Lionesses at Euro 2022, but the tournament’s delay meant it no longer coincided with the former Manchester United defender’s contract, and he departed the job early for the bright lights of Inter Miami.

In September 2021, in came Sarina Wiegman. Handling the pressure and expectation of a home European Championship with just 10 months to prepare is a pretty daunting task; fortunately Wiegman had done just that with the Netherlands at Euro 2017, with just a six-month preparation period, and won the whole damn thing. Pretty promising credentials thus far.

Wiegman has been able to quickly stamp her mark on the Lionesses squad, encouraging an exciting brand of attacking football and creating a more robust, defensive unit. England look more of a multi-faceted threat than they have under previous regimes, capable of adapting depending on their situation and opposition.

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