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Hege Riise: England Women interim boss 'disappointed' at lack of creativity and cutting edge against Canada

England Women suffered a second defeat in a matter of days after losing 2-0 against Canada in friendly; Riise: "I'm disappointed that we lost this game. I feel like the thing that I'm most disappointed in is that we don't create chances"

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Head coach Hege Riise was left disappointed after England Women slumped to a ninth defeat in 14 games, with a 2-0 loss to Canada

England Women interim manager Hege Riise said her side's lack of cutting edge was the most disappointing aspect in their 2-0 loss to Canada.

The Lionesses twice saw errors at the back punished in the friendly at the bet365 Stadium as they suffered another defeat, four days on from losing 3-1 to France in Caen.

Jordan Nobbs having a 29th-minute free-kick tipped against the crossbar by Stephanie Labbe was the closest England went to scoring in their final fixture before Riise names a Great Britain squad for this summer's Tokyo Olympics.

AP - Lucy Bronze battles for the ball against Canada
Image: Lucy Bronze battles for the ball against Canada

Riise said: "I'm disappointed that we lost this game. I feel like the thing that I'm most disappointed in is that we don't create chances - not enough.

"We had the ball, we switched the play better second half than first half, but we don't create enough to get the goals.

"We were a bit stressed with the ball, Canada aggressive in the pressure, so that was the struggle I think we had today."

England were without injured centre-back and captain Steph Houghton and Riise - who gave Millie Bright the armband for the contest - admits a mistake cost them.

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"She (Houghton) has been captain for England for how many years, so of course you miss a captain and a leader," Riise said.

"But I feel like it was more of a mistake today and you can never predict that.

"I feel the team effort was good. We tried, we held together as a team and we fight, even though we were one goal down early. We kept going and I felt like we did well in the game - except the chances that we didn't create."

England, now with nine defeats in their last 14 games, were playing for a third time under Riise, the first having been a 6-0 win over Northern Ireland in February.

AP - Canada Women celebrate against England
Image: Canada Women consigned England to a second consecutive defeat

She added: "I'm very confident that next time we'll learn from this. I'm happy having these two games, it's good to see all the players and moving forward I'm confident that we will perform better."

Riise will name an 18-player GB squad next month, and asked if she now knew her GB squad, she said: "Not at all - now I go back and start thinking about players' positions."

After the Olympics, Sarina Wiegman is to take charge of England, ahead of them being the host team at the European Championships in 2022.

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