England haven’t any excuse for poor begin to Euro 2025

Lauren Hemp has insisted that England’s underwhelming begin to Euro 2025 can’t be blamed on gamers getting back from harm, following their 2-1 defeat to France in Zurich on Saturday.

The Lionesses have been second-best for a lot of the match, and now face a must-win conflict in opposition to the Netherlands on Wednesday to maintain their title defence alive.

A second straight loss would eradicate the reigning European champions on the group stage.

Reflecting on the efficiency, Hemp acknowledged the workforce lacked sharpness on the ball and paid the value for his or her sloppiness.

“We should work on the standard of possession,” she mentioned, admitting England made “mistake after mistake” all through the sport.

It was an uncharacteristically error-strewn outing from Sarina Wiegman’s facet, with France capitalising on England’s defensive lapses to safe all three factors.

Hemp was considered one of a number of gamers within the beginning XI who solely lately returned from long-term harm.

She missed a big portion of the season after present process knee surgical procedure in November, solely making her return in April.

Group-mate Alex Greenwood was sidelined with an MCL harm from December to April, Georgia Stanway was out from January to Might with a knee subject, and Lauren James made her comeback from a hamstring harm simply final week throughout the 7-0 win over Jamaica.

Lauren James begins for England! 📋

“Any defender higher be nervous!” 👊

Lauren Hemp had a number of reward for her team-mate. pic.twitter.com/87IN2SrHLF

— Match of the Day (@BBCMOTD) July 5, 2025

Regardless of this, Hemp refused to attribute England’s poor begin to a scarcity of minutes on the pitch.

“I imply a number of us have had an enormous period of time out and that’s clearly been gutting for us,” she mentioned. “I’ve missed a lot of the season, however we’ve additionally had 4 or 5 video games to stand up to scratch and I feel it’s no excuse actually.

“We’re all on this as a workforce and we’ve acquired a lot expertise on the pitch although I’ve been out for seven months, additionally performed six years of my profession.

“It’s vital to do not forget that and take confidence from it. Clearly we’re going to be a bit rusty however everybody’s going to be a bit rusty so we’re all in the identical boat, I’d say.”

With all the things now driving on their conflict with the Netherlands, Hemp is assured the workforce can rise to the event. Keira Walsh’s late aim supplied a glimmer of hope and perception regardless of the loss to France.

“A number of the time we thrive below strain,” Hemp mentioned. “From how we acted within the final 10 minutes of the sport, we all know what’s up for stake and we clearly wish to get so far as we will. We’re reigning champions and that’s vital to recollect and acquire confidence from that.

“I really like enjoying and soccer matches the place we have to win, they’re the video games you wanna be concerned in. So yeah, it’s vital we take confidence from components of yesterday.

“I feel the most important factor for us to only stick collectively. I feel we caught collectively as a workforce yesterday all through the entire sport and into the ultimate levels and that’s what we have to take with us.”

The showdown with the Netherlands will even see Hemp reunited with a number of acquainted faces from her membership days. Final season at Manchester Metropolis, she shared a dressing room with Dutch internationals Kerstin Casparij, Jill Roord, and Vivianne Miedema.

“I imply we all know a number of them are good high quality gamers,” she mentioned. “I’m fortunate sufficient to play with a few of them within the WSL, and in opposition to them as properly and so we all know like their strengths and weaknesses and we’re going to undoubtedly work on that going into the subsequent few days.”