Grace Clinton urges Lionesses to gain confidence from one positive in Euro 2025 France defeat

When Sarina Wiegman turned to her bench in the closing stages of England’s 2-1 defeat to France in their Euro 2025 opener, the singular need to just score a goal became abundantly clear.

A struggling Georgia Stanway was replaced by the more attack-minded Grace Clinton, while Michelle Agyemang’s introduction saw the Lionesses close the game with four forwards.

Ironically, it was a strike from range by playmaker Keira Walsh that got England their goal in the 87th minute but Liverpool-born Clinton believes England can take confidence from their ensuing spirited close to the game.

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“We've done that so many times since I've been here, coming back from losing positions,” she said.

“Especially in the last 10 minutes, we always get that little spurt of energy and we have players like [Lauren] Hempo that just don't give up and they don't stop running and it helps the team so much.

“Michelle coming on making an impact, I felt like we could have got another goal if you gave us a couple more minutes, but we’ve just got to take that into the next game.

“I've got loads of confidence in this team. The experience we've got and the players that we've got, I've got all the confidence in the world.”

It is a belief that will be needed as England face the Netherlands on Wednesday in what is now a must-win fixture if they hope to progress to the knockout stages.

Oranje Leeuwinnen were treated to a much kinder start to their Euros campaign as they barely left first gear to overcome a Wales side debuting at an international tournament with 3-0 victory.

But for Clinton, regardless of the opposition ahead, England remain capable of beating anyone on their day.

“If we play our game and we do our game to the best, everyone knows that sometimes we’re untouchable,” she said.

“Obviously it’s getting our passes where they need to go, just the little details, then that would have been able to break down France a bit more.

“It was tough after our goal got disallowed, the momentum swung and we just have to get back into the game.

“But it's tournament football and these things are going to happen and now we've just got to take each game as it comes and win the next game.”

England possess such depth in talent to make such a statement true, but the nature of their loss to France will prove most concerning.

After an opening period of dominance, that saw a brilliant chance for Lauren James and a goal overturned by VAR for an offside call on the finest of margins, the Lionesses stumbled.

Exposed down both wings by the pace of France’s Sandy Baltimore and Delphine Cascarino, the full-backs received little help from a midfield that appeared defensively absent. Clinton, though, put those worrying signals down to the strength of their opponents.

“I don't think [the midfield] did [struggle]. It was a very transitional game and France did what they needed to do well,” she explained.

“They were getting one-twos down the side and France knew what they needed to do and I thought they came out and played very well.

“We played good football and I thought we made chances. We had one big chance in the first minute and then obviously the momentum hit us when our goal was disallowed and we just have to get ourselves back into the game [in training].”

The Dutch play a far more technical game to that of the fast and direct French side who exploited England’s lack of pace at the back.

While Wiegman has seldom made changes to her starting line-up at major tournaments, she has also never lost a game at a European Championships before.

With Stanway still building fitness from a spell on the sidelines that saw her miss Bayern Munich’s domestic run-in, now could be the time for Clinton to shine.

“[Wiegman brought me on] to try and get us a goal. We were 2-0 down and she sees me, obviously in that midfield role I can defend, but she also thinks I'm an attacking midfielder,” she said.

“She wants me to try and get on the ball and try to create things and get goals.”