England looked one-dimensional last night. They have had great success at this tournament with Jodie Taylor being clinical up front and then being hard to beat, but it seemed as though Holland had worked them out.
Mark Sampson’s side look most comfortable when they haven’t got the ball but it’s not enough to be solid and try to score on the break. You have to have a plan B, but once they went behind England never looked likely to equalise.
Another sign that this was a step too far was the obvious frustrations shown and fouls conceded. It was a niggly and fraught performance against a composed side.
Caught out by unstoppable cross
Some goals are impossible to stop and Holland’s opener was a perfect example of that. It all comes down to the cross — it was inch-perfect and no doubt something the hosts have worked on during training.
One of the hardest parts of defending is when you are back-pedalling with the ball in the air. It’s so hard to get in the right position and still be able to generate the power to jump as high as your opponent. It was superb placement by Vivianne Miedema to put her header into the bottom corner but England’s defenders were taken out of the game by Jackie Groenen’s cross.
Scott sorely missed
Suspensions can sometimes cost you in tournament football and England missed Jill Scott in central midfield last night.
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Jade Moore works hard defensively and Fara Williams has great experience with more than 150 international caps but neither player showed enough willingness to break beyond
a deep-lying role.
Early on, Taylor looked isolated and England’s tactics seemed reliant on Fran Kirby producing some magic.
They needed Scott’s athleticism and ability to break forward and make attacking passes. Her yellow card in the quarter-final proved very costly.
Lack of teamwork
When you have two players coming into your starting line-up for a big game you need some help from your team-mates, but Fara Williams and Siobhan Chamberlain, the goalkeeper, didn’t get that last night.
Both were brought into the side due to injury and suspension and both will be seen to be at fault for Holland’s second goal. Williams’s header back to her goalkeeper was uncertain and Chamberlain’s hesitancy in dashing from her line showed a lack of confidence. But they needed to be helped by the regular starters and England never got going. The whole team performed like they were playing for a draw in a group game, not desperately trying to reach the final of a major tournament.