That lack of control of the game in the second half appealed to me. The three subs that came were all quite young, inexperienced international players – and I thought it showed.
The question for me is, would it have been better for a game like this, where it felt very tight at 1-0, for someone like Jill Scott to come on? At 35 years old, Jill is playing in her 10th major tournament. Did we need experience or did we need three very attacking players?
There is no right or wrong answer to that question, but personally I value experience very much. And while England’s greatest strength is our depth, the quality of the players coming off the bench, sometimes it’s about recognizing when multiple changes need to be made and when not. Those questions pose tough choices for a manager, but those are the decisions you have to make.
But in the end England won. The team has done such a good job of learning lessons, and that’s exactly what you want them to do to become champions, to analyze the things they can be better at.