‘She’s been the best teacher’

ADELAIDE – Georgia Stanway is confident she is ready to step up in Keira Walsh’s absence for England’s final group game against China.

Walsh will play no part at the Hindmarsh Stadium after suffering a knee injury in the 1-0 win over Denmark, though scans have confirmed she has not damaged her ACL and the issue is not as serious as first thought.

After Walsh’s substitution, Stanway dropped into a deeper role alongside Laura Coombs for the rest of that match and as the Lionesses head to Adelaide knowing that a point will secure qualification for the last 16, the Manchester City midfielder said a career of playing alongside Walsh for club and country will help her to hone the defensive midfielder role.

“I think for me it’s just bringing that discipline into the game, not necessarily knowing I can run forward and attack every single time and just knowing I need to protect the back four,” Stanway said.

“I’ve played it [defensive midfield] a little bit at [my] club and I’ve played alongside Keira who is the best teacher without knowing it. So going into tomorrow the biggest thing is we need to communicate in the middle of the pitch, the connection we have between me, Keira and [Ella] Tooney has been easy, it’s been synchronised.”

She added: “I speak to Keira 24/7. To be honest it’s about 10 minutes of football-related stuff, the rest of it’s just rubbish. I’m sure she will be giving me some tips and I’m sure the message will be to perform in the game. She’s got trust in whoever is going to be on the pitch.”

The 24-year-old’s significance to Sarina Wiegman’s game has grown incrementally over the past 18 months, especially as one of the most influential European Championship winners still standing in a field decimated by injuries.

“I woke up this morning feeling a lot more mature!” she joked.

“I think I’ve just created a little bit of a leadership role in the way that I’m playing, I feel a lot of confidence in my own game, I’ve been consistent off the back of the Euros, so I want to keep my momentum, and prove my leadership by the way that I’m playing and lead by my example.

“I’m not afraid to communicate, so I can try and do two jobs.”

That will mean adapting her natural game and, asked if she would have to change her mindset to fulfil the holding role in Walsh’s place, she said: “Yeah, especially the other day against Denmark with my role being predominantly the defensive one, that was when defensive midfielder is in the title, I’ve got to be defensive.

“I’m covering the back four, I’ve got to make sure I’m disciplined, I’m not getting any cards and I’ve got to stay on my feet.”

It is particularly crucial Stanway is not booked against China as she is carrying a booking from the opener against Haiti and would miss the round of 16 if she picked up another yellow card.

“Of course I’m conscious [of that],” she said. “But I managed 45 in the first game and 90 in the last game, I’m hoping I can manage a lot more minutes without picking up another.”

Stanway described Walsh as not only her “teammate” but her “best friend” and was one of the first players to go over after the injury.

“For the first second she was telling me to get off then within a few minutes we were laughing,” she said.

“The funny thing was that the most embarrassing thing for her is the fact she got stretchered off, she wasn’t necessarily thinking about the knee, she was more worried about the whole nation watching her. She was a little bit more anxious about that.

“But she’s in good spirits, we’ve heard from her today and she’s doing well and we just want to support her as much as we can. There’s 22 of us now that have got to step up and we’re just excited for tomorrow.”