Is it time for England Women Head Coach, Phil Neville to part ways with the team?
After an above average Women’s World Cup 2019, England travelled to the USA to defend their SheBelieves title - to no avail.
After winning the tournament last year, the Lionesses were only able to secure a third-place finish in the four-country round-robin competition last week. They won just one of their three games, only gaining points from bottom-placed Japan - and even then it was a narrow victory.
So, what’s the problem?
England have lost seven out of their last 11 games and haven’t shown signs of enough improvement to post a threat in the European Championships next summer.
The team scored just one goal in the SheBelieves tournament and were not strong in defence. Whilst Lucy Bronze’s absence undoubtedly had an impact, their weakness has been in defence - with or without Bronze - all year.
Neville, as a former defender for Manchester United and England, has been subject to plenty of scrutiny as a coach. Mostly, he has been criticised for the way his defenders have been playing during his tenure.
The goal that saw England lose to Spain last week was scored due to Alexia Putellas being left unmarked when England were defending a corner. If it wasn’t for goalkeeper, Carly Telford’s, strong performance, the Lionesses could have conceded far more goals due to poor defending.
Many of the players excel domestically; Milly Bright is essential to Chelsea’s back line. The same goes for Steph Houghton at Manchester City. However, when working together under Neville’s instruction, they don't perform to such high quality.
Despite this, Neville and players continue to state that they have a strong bond. However, that bond isn’t apparent when they’re on the pitch together.
What is Neville’s form?
Neville has just a 54.3% win rate since taking charge of the squad. Having played 35 games, the Lionesses have won 19, drawn five and lost 11. For a typically ‘great footballing nation’, winning just over half of his games is below average for England.
The coach knows that his statistics aren’t great and people have been fired even with better results. However, managers and coaches have also survived far worse results and turned teams around through time.
Meanwhile, at the other end of the scale, Jill Ellis, who coached the USA to their second World Cup title last summer, had an 87.5% win rate. The USA lost just seven of the 132 matches with Ellis at the helm.
Has Neville made any improvements?
In attack, England have grown in strength. Nikita Parris and Ellen White pose threats in the goalmouth and the addition of Beth England and Lauren Hemp to the squad has provided more support up front.
England has only made five appearances for her country but already scored two goals. England wasn’t in the national squad for the World Cup last year and could have been a valuable asset to the team.
Hemp - who is just 19 - may have only made one appearance in the latest tournament but proved crucial for the team.
Neville has also brought in a few young talents that may create an impact in the future but aren’t currently making waves within the squad.
Would sacking him make a difference?
Neville could turn the team around by developing the younger players brought into the team more recently. However, it could prove that experience wins out over youth and he wouldn’t be using the team to their full potential.
Changing the coach before his contract expires would create disruption in the team. Whilst bringing in a replacement could turn things around for the Lionesses, surely there is still the possibility of Neville himself making the necessary improvements - he does, after all, seem to be popular with the players.
According to Dutch economist Dr Bas ter Weel, who centres his research on hypothetical issues:
"Changing a manager during a crisis in the season does improve the results in the short term, but this is a misleading statistic because not changing the manager would have had the same result." This means that long-term changes may not be beneficial.
An example of this came when Jose Mourinho was sacked as Manchester United coach after just a 40% win rate. Norwegian coach Ole Gunnar Solskjaer replaced him and immediately went on an 11 goal unbeaten run. However, this success only lasted for a couple of months before a poor end to the season.
It isn’t known if the immediate effect Solskjaer had was purely because of an improvement of attitude in the changing room or because of the Norwegian's managerial techniques. There are always multiple variables at play within a team and it is therefore hard to track the direct and indirect impacts of structural changes.
Would he have already been fired if he was the men’s coach?
Roy Hodgson was criticised heavily by the media during his stint as the manager of the men’s team. Under his management, the team won only 33 of 56 games - a 58.9% win rate and his contract wasn’t renewed when it expired. He wasn’t, however, sacked from his role, merely not offered a contract extension.
So it seems that an amicable parting between Neville and the Lionesses might have to wait until his contract expires in 2021.
The fact that women’s football has fewer fans than men’s may have influenced the lack of contract termination. With #OleOut trending on social media when Solsjkaer’s statistics dropped, pressure built for the club owners. However, #NevilleOut is not quite as popular a hashtag. Therefore, the calls to fire him are not as loud.
Though this pressure has been building following the Spain defeat last week. It could be that now is the time for his downfall.
Who is Phil Neville?
The former Manchester United and England defender made 263 appearances for his club and 59 for his country’s senior team.
He was part of United’s iconic treble-winning team, securing the Premier League, FA Cup and Champions League in 1999. He played a crucial role in the team that season and also in his other 10 years as a Red Devil.
He stepped up as England Women Head Coach at the start of 2018. This came after coaching and managerial stints at United, Salford City and Valencia. His contract will take him to the end of the 2021 European Championships.
Have your say
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(Feature Image: PA Press Assosication)
