England look for ruthlessness ahead of Euro 2022, Premier League brings perfect opening weekend - The Warm-Up

FRIDAY'S BIG STORIES The Road To Ruthlessness Ad/> As the ancient proverb has it, the road to Euro 2022 glory begins with a single Belgian own goal. Maybe two own goals, depending on how you read deflections. It appears that Belgium are incredibly gracious visitors, and always bring gifts.

TransfersPogba to sign four-year deal to return to Juventus – Paper Round10 HOURS AGO The requirements for a pre-tournament friendly are as follows, in this order: no injuries; please no injuries; a good performance that has room to get better; seriously, not a single injury. And assuming nothing flares up today and nobody slept at a funny angle, England ticked all four boxes. They dominated the first half and made chances without taking them, then tweaked things, made changes, and eventually strolled to victory.

The most eye-catching performance came from Leah Williamson, given license to roam into advanced positions and play with Lucy Bronze and Beth Mead. Fran Kirby, recovering from fatigue, played the last half-hour; not a bad impact substitute to have waiting on the bench. And Chloe Kelly, playing her first international since knackering her knee a year ago, looked like she'd never been away.

As far as we can tell, Sarina Wiegman's favourite word is «ruthlessness». This is why she hasn't picked a single player called Ruth, ever, in her entire managerial career [citation incredibly needed]. She called for it in November ahead of a World Cup qualifier against Latvia, and provoked that 20-0 win; she called for it in February ahead of the Arnold Clark Cup final against Germany, and was rewarded with three goals and another victory.