Talking Football With....Lianne Sanderson: Spain Are a Big Test, They Can Hurt England

We sat down with former Lioness forward Lianne Sanderson once again to discuss the Women’s European Championships. Lianne talked about her players and teams of the tournament so far and previewed England’s match against Spain in the quarter-finals. Lianne also revealed whether she thinks we can expect an England vs Germany final.

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England will be facing Spain in the QF. What are your expectations from this game? 

I am really looking forward to it. I think it is going to be a really big test. I think the fact that  Spain are the type of team England haven’t come up against yet. With regards to how much they possess the ball. And the midfield is a major, major key area where they are going to win the game. And I think that is where it’s going to come down to whether the game is going to be won or lost.

I think they are a really, really good team, but the fact that they obviously don’t have the two of their best players, anybody without their two best players would struggle. But I think the fact that Alexia Putellas and Jennifer Hermoso are both injured, I think it works in England’s favour. Because I had Spain as the favourites before the tournament started. And then with the injury, especially to Putellas, because I obviously knew about Jennifer Hermoso before, made me think differently.

But I still felt like Spain are one of the favourites. But I think during this tournament, they haven’t really looked like they were the favourites.

Sarina Wiegman being out with COVID. How do you think it will affect the English side coming into the knockout stage?

From what I gather from what she said in press conferences, she was still able to be part of the training from a distance. I am sure it is not the same. But she was still able to have some kind of impact on the team, in the way that she best knows how. But it is obviously pretty difficult for her, doing it from, say, watching the games from a hotel room. I am not quite sure how she is doing with regards to substitutions and things like that.

But I am sure she is watching the game, and they are obviously in contact, but it is something you never want to happen. But now they’ve, unfortunately, had Hannah Hampton has COVID as well, so she is not going to be part of the squad for the game. They seem to be taking extra precautions.

I think the team has come on leaps and bounces since she has been in charge. And hopefully, they can just get it under control, so it doesn’t affect any more out-field players as well.

What will be some key on-pitch battles in the England-Spain game, in your opinion? 

I think the midfield. I think with Bonmati, with Patri (Patricia Guijarro), I think Caldantey as well, depending on where she plays. If she plays in the middle or plays straight up top. I think it is going to be really difficult for England because they are not going to have the ball as much as they have had in the previous games. They just won’t.

We know this team possesses the ball, we know how good they are with the ball, and at times England will have to be patient, and pick their moments. But I think with the likes of Beth Mead, and the form that she is in, and Lauren Hemp, when they get the ball, I think they are quite good when they switch from left to right, and right to left, and I don’t think people know how to handle them.

But I think Spain have a really good backline, Paredes, and a lot of their players play for Barcelona. We know how organised they are, but I think England can hopefully use their pace as an advantage in this game. And we saw in the last couple of games when Alessia Russo has come on, and she scored. She looks really sharp, really ready to go.

So I think that Sarina Wiegman will go with Ellen White. Because we obviously know how good Ellen White is, and she is chasing that all-time leading goal scorer for England as well. But I do think Alessia Russo is a good option off the bench as well. So I think it could come down to decision-making in the game for this game as well because we know Sarina Wiegman is not scared to make substitutions. But she also doesn’t change anything from the start.

I thought against Northern Ireland, she was gonna change the team, but she didn’t. And to be fair, Northern Ireland did really, really well. But, you can only go so far when you are playing against a professional team, and the other team is not pro.

Which England player(s) do you think needs to step up?

I think it is difficult to talk about stepping up a game, because, you know, scoring that many goals in three games, and not conceding any goals. I think Alex Greenwood should start at left-back, but that is not to say that Rachel Daly has played badly because she hasn’t.

But I think that it was a strange one what Sarina Wiegman did that in the first place. But it is clearly working. And you can’t really change the team that started, when playing and performing well, scoring all the goals that they have. So, it is difficult because do I think she should make changes? Yes, maybe Alex Greenwood, but I don’t think she will, I just don’t think she will.

How do you expect the players to cope with the pressure now that every game is do or die?

I think I questioned that before the tournament. I spoke a lot about managing your emotions, and how they would do that. I think against Austria in the first 10 or 15 minutes, they certainly looked a little bit rattled. And I can understand why. Because I was explaining it was like being on a rave or in a nightclub, it was so loud, the players couldn’t hear each other, probably even think, even from Mary Earps to Rachal Daly in the fullback position. You could tell they couldn’t even communicate.

So I think after the first 10 or 15 minutes, when Beth Mead scored that goal in the first half, I think it calmed the nerves down. I think against Norway scoring that goal as well.

We haven’t seen them tested yet when going behind, so you can’t really talk about something that is hypothetical or hasn’t happened yet. I think England will show their true colours when their backs are against the wall. And I do think that they have it in them, to go all the way, I really do. But I also think that they’ve managed their emotions really well, because, they are unbeaten, and against Norway, eight-nil, what more could you ask for? You can’t ask for much more than that.

I’ve spoken about managing their emotions, and I think they’ve done a good job of that. I think it also helped that the crowds have been absolutely unbelievably loud. Against Northern Ireland, both sets of fans were unbelievable, I’ve never seen anything like it.

I think the fans and crowds have really helped the team. I don’t think it put pressure on them, I think in the first game, it did, being Old Trafford and the exterior of the stadium. But I think now with Saint Mary’s and Brighton, and the fact they are going back to Brighton again, having been there and done well, I think that helps, having that in their mind.

Do you think England will have their backs against the wall against Spain on Wednesday?

I think if they disorganise, Spain are the type of team that can really punish them with the way they play football. They might not have the quickest players, but they don’t have to have the quickest players, because their brains are so quick.

For England to stop Spain, they are just gonna have to go out, as they have done in all games, and just be fearless. And I think Sarina Wiegman has brought that to the team that they don’t play conservative, they play free. And I know a lot of the players have spoken about how free they feel under Sarina Wiegman.

I think they spoke under Phill Neville that they feel like they could play. But I don’t think you know just what to expect until you get a manager like Sarina Wiegman. Because she brings something completely different. And I absolutely love her, I think she is brilliant.

So, hopefully, she will be there on the sideline. Hopefully, England can get an early goal as they have done in this competition, in all of the games apart from the Northern Ireland game. They scored in the first half, but later on in the first half.

But in the warm-up games, they struggled in the first halves, so people were questioning that before the tournament. Because England didn’t score any goals in the three warm-up games apart from against the Netherlands in the first half.

I think they showed that they can play in the first half now. And I think they can do with anything thrown at them. But people are gonna say they have not been tested yet, but what can they do, they can only play against the teams in front of them. And everybody thought Norway was gonna be the test, and it just didn’t happen. I still can’t quite believe that it came now.

Think Beth Mead can go all the way and win the Golden Boot now? 

Obviously, the longer the people are in the competition, the more chances. And I think I’ve said it against Northern Ireland, not that I’ve been saying it in a condescending way, but I felt like Ada Hegerberg in the first game could have ended up getting four or five goals in the game, where she would have ended up having the golden boot.

And Alessia Russo is still in there as well. She keeps coming off the bench and scoring goals. She is up there as well.

But I expect Beth Mead to win the golden boot at this point. But, there are still others. There is still Germany, there are still players that are still in this competition. But I think the longer the tournament goes on, we are going to see lower scorelines. We won’t see that in this way. I could be wrong, but against Spain, it is not going to be five or six-nil. It will be a very tight game. But I said that against Norway, what do I know? You never know, but I just can’t see it being high, or any of these games being high-scoring, really. Maybe Austria – Germany, potentially, but Austria don’t really concede.

Who, in your opinion, has been the best player of the tournament so far?

I think when you watch the games, it’s difficult because you’re going to always look at the players who score goals. So you look at (Mariona) Caldentey, you look at (Alexandra) Popp. You look at the players that score. But, for me, Keira Walsh has been unbelievable in this tournament.

And it’s unfortunate because I gave two player-of-the-matches during this tournament and, you know, I’ve given them to the players that score the goals because you can’t not give it to the player that scored a hat-trick or two goals in a game. And it’s unfortunate for Keira Walsh whose teammates are scoring loads of goals.

But, I think she’s been brilliant. I really do. I’d love to play with Keira Walsh because she never really gives the ball away. And I’m not just saying that because she’s from England. But I just feel for her, because she never really gets the accolades because she doesn’t score goals.

When you watch the games, she’s like N’Golo Kante. You know, she’s like a quarterback. I’ve said it loads of times.

Then there’s (Aitana) Bonmati from Spain. I think she’s absolutely brilliant. I really do. You know, there’s (Delphine) Cascarino from France. When you watch her play football she’s on a different level.

I don’t think there’s been a player that’s been actually unbelievable throughout the whole tournament, even Beth Mead. She’s scored a lot of goals, but it sounds weird to sit here and say she’s not played well, cause she has played well. But when you look at the games in its entirety, the other day Fran Kirby was probably the best England player. But she didn’t get player of the match.

Football’s a matter of opinions as we know, but for me at this moment in time, I’d probably say Beth Mead, (Aitana) Bonmati, Keira Walsh, probably. And maybe (Alexandra) Popp, it depends. I’ll choose all of them.

You spent some time with the England team last week. What was the atmosphere like? How are they feeling?

It was really fun. I went down the other day and I interviewed Alessia Russo, who is amazing. Really, really nice person. Maybe I’m biased because she’s from Manchester United. The vibe was really good, really laid back. I said that I wished it was like that when I played there based on the fact that there was a basketball machine. They’ve got a games room where the media are all playing against the players. Really laid back.

Obviously there are still COVID protocols, so I wasn’t able to hug any of the girls and stuff like that. But there was a really good vibe down there and I think the players from what I’ve gathered from speaking to them have really enjoyed going out for walks in and around the Richmond area. Being able to be around civilians, because when you, I played for England and you’d be at St. George’s Park, which is an unbelievable facility. But you could go, you know like, weeks or months without seeing another person that’s not on your team.

It’s quite nice for them to be able to go out for walks around the area. To kinda really have those moments away from their teammates. Because even though you get along, you need a break sometimes and I know they planned like a family and friends barbecue last weekend. But that, unfortunately, got cancelled due to COVID protocols.

So they got to see their families but as long as everyone had a test. But it was supposed to be like a team barbecue for friends and families but that got cancelled which I think, as much as it’s disappointing for the players, it makes sense to do that, because, obviously they had a bit of an outbreak within the squad.

What are the main differences from when you were a player with England?

I think the main difference is how laid back everybody is. I think the connection there is between the media and the players. But having said that, there wasn’t as much media interest in the game when I played. And it wasn’t even long ago. And I say that like I was playing in ‘90 or ‘85 or something, but actually I only retired two years ago and the women’s game has only kind of elevated in the last year.

But I guess it makes sense to be nice to the media because they’ll write nice stuff about you.

Germany are the only other team with a perfect record. Do you think both they and England will keep that up until the final?

Yeah, I think so. Germany has kind of surprised me as well. I’ve always known Germany to be good. We always struggled to beat them when I played. We only beat them in 2015 for the first time in ages. But other than that, Germany always seems to breed talent and just know how to win and I don’t think you never write them off.

But I think the thing in the women’s game is that you can never really predict the results or who’s gonna win. Because the consistency just isn’t really there every single game. As we saw in England vs Austria, I think everybody expected England to win 4, 5 to nill, but it didn’t work out that way. And nobody saw the 8:0 against Norway coming.

I don’t think you can ever predict things in the women’s game and it’s all about consistency. I hope England will go all the way without conceding. But at the end of the day, I don’t really mind if we concede but if we win that’s all that matters.

I’m sure Germany also feels that way. If they win 4:3 and they still go through to the semi finals. So, if that’s how it has to be, that’s how it has to be, a win is a win.

We’ve already seen some big sides eliminated in the groups. What went wrong for teams like Denmark and Norway?

I’d also put Italy in that category as well. Because they were kind of a team that everybody was talking about after in the last tournaments having done well. When I was at Juventus and the players came up from the tournament, everybody was kinda talking about them and how well they’ve done. I think they’ve been pretty underwhelming as well and I’ve been quite disappointed with Italy.

But, Norway, I’ve no idea what’s going on there, but I’d be surprised if the manager would be in place. Something has to change, realistically. You can’t go to a tournament like this and the way they’ve lost as well. Not only that 8:0 to England but like I said against Austria, I expected them to have a reaction in a good way. I said they’d never get beaten like that again. Sometimes it needs to happen for you to react to it.

And then they lose to Austria, who realistically don’t really score many goals and they don’t concede many goals. They’re kind of an organised team. So, I am surprised that Norway performed in the way they have.

With regards to Denmark, I went to the Denmark vs Finland game last week and I was quite underwhelmed by that as well.

You mentioned Norway, would you say that they were the team that surprised you the most in the groups?

Yeah, definitely for the worse. I think I more or less expected England and Norway to be the two that went through. And it would be a matter of England would have to go above and beyond to beat Norway because they’re always really good.

But I think they have really underperformed. Unfortunately in tournament football, you can’t go back and do it again until in the next four years. Obviously, the World Cup next year, but it’s really disappointing and for some reason they just were really bad.

And I think with Norway, I noticed they didn’t see much leadership on the sideline. Whenever it was going wrong against England and the back-line was just all over the place, the manager didn’t do anything. They kept having huddles on the pitch, the players. And I’m not a manager. I’m not saying I know all the answers. But clearly, there was a leadership problem on the sideline for me with delivering that message to the players.

I think Iceland have actually done themselves quite proud in this competition. Obviously drawing with France, I think they looked decent. But they just don’t have that little bit extra.

Which players have surprised you the most in the groups for better and for worse?

I don’t want to sound like I’m just going on about Norway all the time, but probably Ada Hegerberg and Graham Hansen. I think that Graham Hansen played well in the first game. Very, very well. But that was against Northern Ireland. I expected Hegerberg to get the Golden Boot before the tournament. It doesn’t all come down to her, it comes down to her teammates. I think that you have to give her the ball and that kind of thing, but I think that both those players were pretty underwhelming when the team really needed them. And I think that Graham Hansen did a relatively good job carrying this team without Hegerberg when Hegerberg obviously wasn’t there for five years.

I have to say those two, probably Hegerberg for me. I feel quite bad saying that but I think when you’re talking about the best players in the world, if a player went to a tournament and didn’t score a goal, that was just one of the best centre-forward, you would be questioning then to a certain degree.

I wouldn’t say many players have surprised me. Maybe for some people Beth Mead, but I love Beth Mead. A lot of people tipped Lauren Hemp to get the Golden Boot and everything was all eyes on Lauren Hemp when actually Beth Mead got the Player of the Year at Arsenal. She had a really, really good year at Arsenal. Beth Mead for some people has probably exceeded some people’s expectations.

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