Fara Williams slams Sarina Weigman’s tactics after England’s World Cup final defeat to Spain

England’s heartbreaking defeat to Spain in the Women’s World Cup final has been met with criticism from former Lioness Fara Williams, who believes Sarina Weigman’s tactics were ‘completely wrong’.

Olga Carmona’s first-half strike was enough to secure the title for Spain, who had several chances to double their lead before the interval and hit the post through Salma Paralluelo on the stroke of half-time.

England improved in the second half as they moved from a 3-5-2 to a 4-3-3, introducing Lauren James and Chloe Kelly with Alessia Russo and Rachel Daly making way.

The Lionesses improved significantly after the break but it was too little, too late as Spain had already gained the lead and could afford to play on the counter-attack.

Fara Williams criticises Sarina Weigman’s tactics

Williams, who made 140 appearances for her country, says Weigman’s tactics cost England in the first half.

‘I think it was lost in the first half,’ Williams told the BBC.

‘I think tactically we got it completely wrong against a dominant Spanish team in terms of their possession. We were too high down our right-hand side in terms of our press and it ended up the goal comingdown our right-hand side. We were over-aggressive in those areas. We got hurt down the right-hand side.

‘I thought we’d be a bit more…sat in deep and be compact. This Spanish team is exceptional with the ball and we saw that. Their rotation really hurt us. We had centre-halves going all the way to the opposition box and that left us vulnerable to counter-attacks.

‘It proved costly when Lucy gave the ball away and we conceded down that left-hand side but look, take nothing away from this Spanish side they were the better team over the 90 minutes. I’m sure Sarina and the players will learn from this experience and bounce back. They’re a young team, with plenty of talent and a lot more to come.’

England will learn from this experience

Despite the disappointment of losing the World Cup final, Williams believes England can take some positives from their performance and use it as motivation for future tournaments.

The Lionesses have been one of the most successful teams in women’s football over the past few years, winning the SheBelieves Cup in 2019 and reaching the semi-finals of the 2019 World Cup.

Williams is confident that England will be able to use this experience to become even stronger in future tournaments, and believes that Sarina Weigman and her players will learn from this experience.

England have a bright future ahead of them, and with the right tactics and motivation they could go on to achieve even greater success in future tournaments.

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