Has Sarina Wiegman lost her magic touch? England boss needs to trust her squad and find new super-subs to reignite lacklustre Lionesses

When England lifted that European Championship title at Wembley back in 2022, they did so thanks to the incredibly reliable impact of players from the bench. Ella Toone, a substitute in all six games, scored the opener in the final against Germany, that her third direct goal involvement of the tournament, while Chloe Kelly, introduced in the second half, bagged the iconic winner in extra-time.

Toone had also performed heroics in the quarter-final against Spain, scoring an 84th-minute equaliser to send the game to extra-time, where England prevailed, while Alessia Russo scored her fourth goal of the Euros in the semi-final win over Sweden, a memorable backheel that would be crowned Goal of the Tournament.

Wiegman nailed down the substitute formula to lead England to glory. It was almost always that Toone replaced Fran Kirby, Russo came on for Ellen White and Kelly granted Beth Mead her rest, with Jill Scott also a regular off the bench for Georgia Stanway to add experience in seeing games out. It was a huge factor in the title win.

A lot changed after that tournament. White and Scott retired while Kirby and Mead faced significant time on the sidelines due to injuries, which meant Russo, Toone and Kelly moved into the starting XI more prominently, and Wiegman needed to figure out who would be best to come into this new-look team from the bench and make an impact. As of yet, she's not really done so.

Since the start of the 2023 Women's World Cup, substitutes have contributed just two goals and one assist in England's 20 competitive fixtures. Only one of those was a result-altering contribution: Toone's match-winner against the Netherlands at Wembley in December 2023. The other goal and assist came in the Lionesses' 6-1 thrashing of China in the World Cup group stage, a game that was decided well before any changes were made.

Moreover, only once in those 20 games - and that's the Netherlands game again - has a match turned into a more positive result for England after Wiegman has made her subs. The impact from the bench just isn't there anymore.

And that's not because Wiegman doesn't have great options. Yes, game-changing players like Kirby, Mead and Lauren James have missed time due to injury, with Stanway and Lauren Hemp also currently out, but England have plenty of depth.

On her bench on Friday, among others: Kelly, not at her most sharp right now but with a history of big moments; Aggie Beever-Jones, who has five goals in five league starts for Chelsea this season; Jessica Naz, a player Wiegman started against the United States at Wembley in November; and Nikita Parris, who has four goals in her last four games and 71 caps for her country. The former two were the only players introduced, and with just six minutes of normal time remaining. Kelly had seven touches, while Beever-Jones managed five.

That it took so long for Wiegman to make any changes at all in Portugal was a real surprise. After all, the last time she turned to her bench as late as that in a competitive fixture was at the 2023 World Cup, when England had convincingly gone 3-1 up in their semi-final win over Australia. Changes weren’t really needed on that occasion, but that it took so long this time around highlighted a lack of an effective formula when it comes to subs.

In stark contrast to events in the Algarve on Friday were those that took place in Belgium, just before England kicked off. It was there that Spain, the Lionesses’ opponents on Wednesday in their second game of this new Nations League campaign, used their bench perfectly to turn a 2-0 deficit into a 3-2 win.

The world champions were still in need of all three goals with less than 15 minutes remaining but, after Claudia Pina pulled one back, stoppage-time strikes from two substitutes - Lucia Garcia and then Cristina Martin-Prieto - sealed a dramatic victory. Martin-Prieto wasn’t even in Montse Tome’s initial squad, and was only called up after injury to Amaiur Sarriegi. Yet, winning just her second cap, she was trusted to come on and make a difference - and she duly delivered.

Tome certainly has her critics and some of the faults found in her decisions are fair. However, she will certainly use the breadth of her squad and so she should, because it is brimming with talent.

One of the criticisms levelled at Wiegman, on the other hand, is that she doesn't always do that. Whether this is fair or not can be debated, but that she only made two subs on Friday, when it felt like England were crying out for a change, certainly supports one side of the argument more than the other.

It is becoming clearer and clearer that the Lionesses need more from their bench, and to get there Wiegman needs to give players the chance to stake their claim to be those super-subs. That might be in terms of general opportunities, with someone like Beever-Jones not getting as much game time since her first call-up last May as some might've expected, or just actual time to make an impact, which both late introductions lacked on Friday.

There were a lot of reasons why England won the Euros in 2022, it wasn't just because of their substitutes. But they certainly would not have triumphed without the impact that players such as Toone, Russo and Kelly made from the bench. It feels unlikely that they will successfully defend their title in Switzerland without others stepping up into similar roles in the next few months.