27 October 2023 , 23:02
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Sarina Wiegman says the "competitive" nature of the UEFA Nations League means England fans may need to temper their expectations.
The European Champions edged out Belgium 1-0 at the King Power Stadium on Friday night thanks to Lauren Hemp's early goal. But a combination of some good saves from Nicky Evrard and poor finishing meant it was a tense night for the Lionesses.
Alex Greenwood, Alessia Russo and Ella Toone all forced Evrard into action, while Niamh Charles fired just over in the opening minute. At the other end, Mary Earps needed to make a couple of excellent saves to preserve the clean sheet.
The England No.1 pushed Justine Vanhaevermaet's header onto the post early on, then made a fine stop after half-time to keep out Sarah Wijnants piledriver. But the Lionesses attack was generally kept quiet, although they held on for victory. The win keeps alive their hopes of reaching the Nations League finals next year.
But the tense win was a stark contrast from the two teams met in the Arnold Clark Cup in February, when England ran riot in a 6-1 win. Manager Wiegman believes expectations of how many goals her team score might need to be lowered, when taking on top quality opposition in the seeded Nations League.
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"Yeah, I think the expectations are high, too," she said. "Of course we want to score four goals, like today we could have scored more.
"We want to do that. But don’t forget the opponents are really good too. It’s now the Nations League and it’s more competitive. Defensively, the opponents are better too. It’s harder to score goals.
"If we can win 5-0 we are really happy but I don’t think we will get those scores a lot any more."
Wiegman was able to welcome back Fran Kirby to her side for the first time in a year. The Chelsea star's knee injury ruled her out of the World Cup in the summer, but she was introduced as a substitute on the hour mark.
Replacing Ella Toone, she was given a huge ovation from the 28,321 crowd at the King Power Stadium in one of the best moments of the night. The England boss was thrilled to see her back.
“Yeah of course that was nice – for any players out for a long time it's great," said Wiegman. "Of course she already played for Chelsea so it was already good to see her playing with Chelsea.
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Fran Kirby made her first appearance for England since last October in the win over Belgium"She performed well there. When she came onto the pitch she brought what we hoped she would bring. She was very tight on the ball in the final third so that was really nice to see."
England face Belgium again on Tuesday in the second part of their double header after leapfrogging the Red Flames in group A1. They need to finish top to qualify for the Nations League finals, with first place currently occupied by the Dutch.
Asked if Tuesday's game could be different from the one seen at the King Power, Wiegman said: "Hopefully it won’t be a lot different. I just hope we create chances again. But maybe they (Belgium) will do something different.
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"But if we are good in possession, then hopefully we’ll create lots of chances again and score."