Sarina Wiegman must quickly find a way to make her midfield click – whether that’s with or without one of her brightest stars

There is no doubting that Lauren James is a generational talent. There is natural ability in abundance. She is also an example of what technically gifted women’s players can be when given elite-level coaching from a young age. She is an example of what is to come, an outlier among her peers, having benefited from her father, Nigel, being a Uefa-qualified coach with his own coaching programme that is, in his own words, “about pure ball mastery and delivery with panache, to ultimately create elite technicians of the game”.

James is effusive about her father’s input into her career, saying on the Nigel James Elite Coaching website that she is “grateful to my dad for all the time, effort and love that he has put into my football by coaching me in order to help me reach the very best level and fulfil my full potential”.

• Lionesses face the Netherlands after defeat by France

• ‘We’ve spoken about wanting to be proper England’

Georgia Stanway wants the Lionesses to go back to their roots and be “proper England” as they prepare to face the Netherlands at Euro 2025 after their opening defeat by France.

“We know as a team that we underperformed. We know as individuals that we underperformed,” Stanway said. “I didn’t want to do the press conference today because I’m fed up of talking now. It’s time that we focus on putting things right on the grass.

• Centre-back is recovering from knee operation

• ‘I feel better in my mind and ready to support the girls’

“There’s more than just England under consideration when it came to that decision,” said Millie Bright on stepping away from the Lionesses ahead of their European title defence. “There’s me being able to walk down the stairs after I’ve played 90 minutes of football, there’s me in the future when I have children being able to walk around properly, being able to bend down and pick up toys, there’s me being able to do normal life things like put on socks without being in pain and, for the first time in a long time, I genuinely didn’t think about the response of the public because that just wasn’t a priority.”

Chelsea’s Bright was discussing her decision to step back from this summer’s Euros for her mental and physical health with the former England international and close friend Rachel Daly. The pair have recently launched a podcast that leans into the chemistry they have as friends.