FIFA Women's World Cup: England 2-1 Scotland, 5 talking points

#4 First half good, second half not so good

Phil Neville might've been concerned with his side's second-half performance

“First half good, second half not so good” was the famous quote once used by former England boss Sven-Goran Eriksson to describe one of his team’s performances, and it’s been re-used countless times over the years when it comes to England games.

Today, the quote could’ve been used to perfectly describe the performance of England’s women against Scotland.

Their first half was an attacking masterclass, with Scotland barely being able to keep hold of the ball and England having multiple attempts on goal, two actual goals and a third disallowed for an offside.

The second half appeared to be starting in the same fashion too when Beth Mead found the net in the opening seconds, but once that goal was also chalked off, the tide appeared to turn.

It’s quite hard to put a finger on how and why England’s performance began to slip; certainly their attacks down the right flank through Lucy Bronze and Nikita Parris became less effective once Scotland replaced Nicola Docherty with Kirsty Smith, but in all honesty it felt like Neville’s players simply had an adrenaline dump and couldn’t keep up their first half pace.

Passes began to be misplaced, ball control began to get sloppy, and when Scotland scored in the 79th minute it almost felt like an equaliser was inevitable. That the second goal never came was a huge boon for Neville and his side, but it’s clear that if England want to win this tournament, they can’t let their second half performance drop like this again.