Phil Neville admits questions should be asked of him as England coach after SheBelieves Cup defeat by Spain

Lionesses won one of three games in the tournament

Thursday 12 March 2020 10:48 GMT
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England Women's football coach Phil Neville
England Women's football coach Phil Neville (Getty Images)

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Phil Neville accepted his position as England Women manager should be questioned after two defeats from three games at the SheBelieves Cup.

After an opening loss to the USA, the Lionesses responded well to beat Japan, but a poor second-half performance saw them slip to a 1-0 defeat by Spain in Dallas.

Neville praised young substitutes Chloe Kelly and Alessia Russo, but made no attempt to sugarcoat the shortcomings on display.

He told the BBC: “I’m frustrated and I’m a bit angry. It’s not good enough, the second-half performance. We started playing stand-still football.

“I thought first half we controlled the game. Even the last five minutes I thought we showed some urgency for the first time in the second half.”

On his own position, Neville added: “Questions should be asked because I expect better. I’ll always look at myself. I’ll go away, I’ll reflect and we’ll take it from there.”

This tournament was the latest disappointment for England since their strong showing at last summer’s World Cup.

Neville said: “There’s been some massive pluses. Carly Telford has been sensational in all games, I think Nikita Parris is getting back to somewhere like her best.

“There’s been some good individual performances, but ultimately we will be judged on results. I’m not going to hide behind the fact that this was a tournament where we wanted to experiment with the younger players.

“I don’t think the results have been good enough and I take full responsibility for that.”

PA

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