‘We play like Sarina Wiegman is watching’ - How the Lionesses aligned the player pathway to help Lauren James, Niamh Charles and many more become England stars

There are a lot of reasons why reintroducing the U23s team made sense. Given the talent pool and the nation’s lofty status in the women’s game, it’s not easy to get into the England senior squad. Yet, the age groups previously in place meant that once a player’s teenage years were over, the chances were that they could fall off the radar, even if they still had the potential to be a Lioness later down the line.

The U23s, then, would help to "bridge the gap", as Kay Cossington, head of women's technical at the FA, put it at the time, as well as challenging those excelling in lower age groups. “Some players will go faster and some players have the opportunity to play international football in the U23s, so I think that's a really good step,” Wiegman said.

Putting Mo Marley in charge, an experienced and well-respected coach who had previously overseen other England youth teams, was a brilliant decision, too. “I think she's one of the best coaches there is to bridge that gap,” Anna Patten, the Aston Villa defender who captained the U23s in one of those first camps, told GOAL.

Wiegman and Marley were not working in silos, though. The Dutchwoman described a “real good connection” between them when it came to ensuring the pathway was aligned, and Marley illustrated that point even further when talking to reporters in one of the first camps after the U23s had been re-established.

“It's been really refreshing for the players because in both camps, [Wiegman has] come out and she's present and she's live. She's in and around the sessions, so every day the players have got a chance to show their own personal development,” Marley explained.

“I think it's hard when you're a young player and you don't know the top and you've never met the top. It's almost like you're guessing if you're making that connection. But the fact that [Wiegman is] present and she can see it and I've reassured the players that the technical team, the information, it's basically joined up, it's the plan. They can tell with the language that I'm using and the change, they can see that pathway is consistent and it's joined up and it's connected.”

“You never really know where you stand sometimes,” Patten added. “They say they're always watching but you never really know - until you have opportunities like this to be brought in. On our first day, actually, the whole senior squad were just out there watching us! [Wiegman] is in and around and I think that's pretty positive for us to know that the seniors are watching.”

Of course, it’s not just that Wiegman watches a few sessions and asks the U23s coach - now Emma Coates after Marley stepped back into retirement having helped the team get off the ground - who has been performing well. It’s about individual development plans, embedding England’s style of play and seeing how players are in the national-team environment.

Charles, the Chelsea star who has progressed through the U23s to the senior team and is now a regular starter for the Lionesses, outlined the importance of this connected pathway in a chat with GOAL during last year’s Arnold Clark Cup. “You know exactly what you're working on. I think it's very clear what you've got to do to get [to the seniors],” she said. “The U23s were at St. George's Park with us earlier in the week as well. Everyone knows each other, so it's really good that when you're there, you know you're not too far away.”

She’s not the only player to have done what she needed to do to move up into Wiegman’s team, either. In fact, there are six players in the senior squad for England’s February camp who have walked that path – Charles, James, Jess Park, Maya Le Tissier, Khiara Keating and Grace Clinton. It’s an impressive number given the U23s team has only been back in place for two-and-a-half years.

Something that several of those to have progressed into the senior team have noted, too, is the consistency of the style of play and messages that the players receive from the coaches. It’s something that the best footballing nations have had in place for a long time, a recognisable thread that runs from the top down – think about Spain, Germany and Japan, who’ve enjoyed success at youth and senior level both in terms of winning tournaments but also in player progression. It takes a lot of time to ingrain this, but the word from the players is that England are on their way towards doing so.

When called up for the senior team for just the second time last February, Everton goalkeeper Emily Ramsey told reporters: “I've come to the seniors and it's consistent with what I'm getting told at U23s. I think that's just really important for the pathway, that it is bleeding down from the top and everyone's following that same direction, so when you do get players stepping up, they're ready to perform.”

Charles echoed this sentiment to GOAL just a few days later. “I think [the players coming up] know exactly how England want to play because they get it at the U23s as well. I think just coming in and being fearless is what the U23s gives you. It gives you that experience so that when you step up, it doesn't feel like a massive step.”

It’s hard to overstate how much of an impact it has on all of those in the England youth teams when they see a player progress up to the senior team, too, never mind be given the chance to shine at a World Cup like James did less than 12 months after winning her first cap, after coming through the U23s. It’s encouragement and extra motivation for anyone whose end goal is to be a Lioness because they see that it’s possible.

When Aggie Beever-Jones spoke to reporters after the U23s beat Portugal in October, the delight she felt for team-mates Clinton and Keating for moving up to the senior team was clear as day. It’s obviously a boost to the whole group to see one of their own succeed, and not just because it means they could too.

“We’re all immensely proud of them,” Beever-Jones said. “The more people that get called up, the more it shows the pathway is working, and credit to them and the staff here. If you trust in the coaches and do what we need to do, then we know we are making Sarina happy and also England happy. For me, and the rest of the girls, we want to make that push into the senior squad. To see those players doing it, it fills me with motivation to do that myself.”

When GOAL asked what difference it made to know that Wiegman and the senior-team staff were following the progress of the U23s closely enough to call several members of the team up, Beever-Jones couldn’t have been more to the point. “We play as if Sarina is watching every day,” she said. That’s what a connected pathway does.

Perhaps the biggest test of the pathway, though, is the players that come back down to the U23s. Katie Robinson, for example, was part of the squad that went to the Women’s World Cup last summer. However, Beth Mead’s return from an ACL injury has pushed her down the pecking order in the wide areas, so she’s returned to the U23s in the months since. If there wasn’t clear communication between the staff and the players, it’d be easier for the 21-year-old to be disheartened. But Beever-Jones sung the praises of the Brighton forward in October when asked about her return to the youth team.

“She’s been brilliant to be fair,” the Chelsea starlet said. “She came back here and acted like it was a senior camp, which I think any of us would do if we got called up and came back down. She demands standards from everyone all week and you can see that across the board.”

Coates explained just a few minutes later that she and her staff meet weekly with Wiegman and her team in order to align on the development of each individual. It means everyone is on the same page. “Hopefully that helps the players in the way we work,” Coates added. “We don’t just have players going up to the seniors, we have players coming back into us, too, and that helps with player development.”

At the heart of all of this, of course, are some extremely talented players, some of whom probably would’ve made it up to the senior squad even without these changes further down. But the alignment of the pathway and the work from Wiegman and all the FA’s staff increases the chances of even more players being able to progress to the top.

That’s an exciting thought if you’re a fan of the Lionesses. While the likes of James, Charles, Le Tissier and Keating have already made the step up to Wiegman’s team, there are lots of names in the U23s squad this month, which will join up with the seniors in Marbella, that are exciting.

Be it Beever-Jones, who has shone on the fringes of the Chelsea team this season; Robinson, who already has a senior World Cup experience under her belt; Laura Blindkilde Brown, the talented 20-year-old who just signed for Manchester City for a bumper fee; Naomi Layzell, one of Bristol City’s stand-out performers in the Women’s Super League this season at just 19; or another of the promising talents in Coates’ February squad, Wiegman’s eye is sure to be caught on more than one occasion in Spain this week.

It feels like only a matter of time until the U23 team feeds another top prospect to the Dutchwoman’s title-winning squad, and that’s not just exciting as England enter a new tournament cycle, either. Indeed, it should also make fans optimistic about the years to come, because this work is only going to pay greater dividends over time.