by Sarina Wiegman sits calmly in the stands of the Marbella Football Center, wearing a baseball cap, her feet resting on the back of the plastic chair in front of her, studying a team sheet. Around the England manager sits his squad of 23 players, littered with Euro winners and Champions League winners, with countless domestic trophies between them. For once, they are watching rather than playing, napping in the sun after a morning training session ahead of their match against Austria on Friday night.
They are getting a look at the England Under-23s, who started well against Spain before falling to a 3-1 defeat. Of the starting XI, several have experience with the senior side. Katie Robinson was in the World Cup squad last year and Ebony Salmon made her senior debut in 2021. A day earlier here, Bristol City centre-back Naomi Layzell got her first taste of playing with those sitting in the stands as she trained with the senior side. For now, she and her teammates are playing without names on their shirts, trying to catch the eye of Wiegman and her coaching staff.
Related: Alessia Russo and Mead at the double in the Lionesses’ 7-2 win over Austria
Manchester City goalkeeper Khiara Keating and midfielder Grace Clinton were two of the seniors promoted this round. These opportunities are there, but this week they have been there a little more, with the senior side and the Under-23s in a joint training camp in Marbella, playing two games each. This is an opportunity for Wiegman to get to know the players as people who are not on the field as much as they perform on it. “Happy people make great athletes,” says under-23 head coach Emma Coates. “It’s about getting to know the person, what makes them tick and creating an environment and culture around that. It helps relieve some of the performance pressures and that’s just beneficial.”
When the Under-23 teams were introduced in 2021 there was a gaping hole in the path, between the Under-19s (and the Under-20s, who play every two years in the Under-20 World Cup years) and the senior side. He keeps players in their early 20s at the moment, ensuring they don’t lose touch with the philosophies, conditions and demands of England’s coaching staff and international football. It means that even though it is a jump up the level to call the senior side, they are prepared as best as possible for that environment.
“The speed of the ball,” says Layzell, when asked about the difference after her first session with the senior team. “The standard of players is really high, and you can tell the difference. Sometimes you might think: ‘Oh, I’m out of my depth.’ But then you’re like: ‘I’m here for a reason and I’ll just do what I can.’”
Layzell left the session “thinking I gave a good account of myself” and said: “Yes, I’m probably not the best player on the pitch, naturally, but I think I came away with think they are not going to think. I’m trash, so that was the biggest thing.”
The senior players are no strangers to the Under-23s, many of whom compete with or against them in the Women’s Super League, but it is a step forward and the focus on developing consistency across England’s age groups makes that move a long way. easier.
Says Layzell: “Sarina and Emma work together a lot and talk about styles of play and try to get us to play in similar ways – using different combinations and shapes and everything … it’s just a matter of ensure that we can maintain consistency. But the Under-23 players are so talented, and we know a lot of players could train them and fit into that senior environment.”
Coates says she has meetings with Wiegman and her staff every Tuesday. In Marbella “it’s difficult” she says, “because we both want to prepare for our two games but I probably spoke to her every day. We collaborated, for example, over Naomi. There is also a link between the medical teams and the performance teams. It’s not necessarily forced or considered, but we have such a good working relationship.”
Coates first worked with Layzell at Under-18 level. “Her development was so good,” she says. “This season, everyone has been impressed with his defensive display. She is a true defender, and you rarely find young players who love to defend. She has improved significantly in some of her possessions.
“The fact that she had that opportunity to step up for a session will give her confidence. She also competes against these players week after week [in the WSL]. Sometimes it feels a little different when they’re in an England shirt. She’s probably gone now: ‘Okay, I felt what it’s like in the WSL, I felt it when I was training with the seniors and now I have a real clarity on what we were doing and what it will take me. to the next level.”
They celebrate each player’s success, like Layzell, together. There is no formula for building the perfect Lioness. “The strength of the wolf is the strength of the pack,” says Coates. “It’s just about being super. How do we get his strengths as a player to become his strengths, and do so often under pressure? They must be modest and fearless in their approach to this.
“I think it would be wrong for me to say: ‘This is the exact player we want’ because we have a lot of robotic football there. If you want exciting football it’s about making that person the best they can be rather than molding them into something specific.”
