Lionesses Diary - Day 6: Stanway raring to go as Keating lifts mood

As the temperature dropped in Zurich and the rain began to fall, England were itching to get back out on the pitch and prove their doubters wrong.

With analysis of their defeat to France now complete, Georgia Stanway went in front of the media and expressed her desire to do the talking on the pitch rather than in press conferences.

Here is everything you need to know on day six of Euro 2025.

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Today in camp

Yesterday afternoon, the Lionesses spent time going back through Saturday’s 2-1 defeat to France in order to diagnose the areas that need most work.

Having experienced that catharsis and processed their disappointment, there is now a steely determination emanating from the players who are keen to show exactly what they are capable of come Wednesday.

“I’m fed up with talking now,” said Stanway. “We want to put things on the grass.

“We want to make sure we put things right on the pitch in order for us to be able to have this [press conference] setting and talk [on better terms].

“We’re all just dying for the game to come around as fast as possible because we want to make a change.”

For Stanway, it is time on her own in her room that has proved most beneficial in both processing the loss and refocusing against the Netherlands clash.

For her teammates, there are plenty of activities to keep their minds busy at camp.

Spikeball has brought out competitive spirit off the pitch while Monopoly Deal remains as popular as ever.

“I always hear Maya [Le Tissier] and Grace [Clinton] arguing about spikeball,” said Stanway.

“I’m trying to watch TV and they come in arguing. [Ella] Toone is also very competitive and then Arj [Veurink] is super competitive on and off the pitch.

“Whatever the game is, he has to be involved and he has to be winning.”

Trending topics

While defeat in a major tournament requires introspection from the players, and narratives can often all too easily fall into a spiral of negativity, the Lionesses have been celebrating the players who can lift them out of such ruts.

Khiara Keating is one such personality, who Alex Greenwood believes takes the mantle from legend Jill Scott in lifting the mood around camp after defeat.

“She’s just a bundle of joy every minute of the day. She’s such an energy bunny to be around,” she told That Lionesses Podcast.

“Of course, she feels that defeat with us. She’s hurting. But somehow, she manages to bring her personality through and bring a lot of energy to the team. That’s so important.

“Jill Scott was that player, obviously it’s very different and in experience as well. Having these types of characters around the team is really important.”

What are the pundits saying?

As pundits continued to pore over England’s opening day defeat, Ian Wright suggested that the gamble to play Lauren James was a mistake.

“It’s very tempting to play Lauren James because she is very good. We saw that in the first 20 minutes,” he said on the Crossways podcast.

“We know that she’s capable of taking them on. You could see when she turned and ran past five of them in the midfield. They were absolutely petrified of her.

“So you can imagine her coming on, even if we were 2-1 down with 25 minutes to go and them using up their energy like they did.

“You saw France in the last 25 minutes - they were gone and it needed some creativity.

“I think Sarina will look back at that and go, ‘I’ve got that the wrong way round.’”

James had not started a match since April, when she was ruled out with a hamstring injury that saw her miss the end of the WSL season.

Despite 30 minutes on the pitch against Jamaica, she got off to a strong start against France but quickly saw her impact fizzle out.

Quote of the day

“It was like a bad night out, you want to forget it as much as possible and move on to the next one” - Georgia Stanway on defeat to France.

Best of the rest

Hosts Switzerland turned their tournament around in their second match of Group A in the feel-good story of Euro 2025, with their supporters coming out in numbers.

They took a 2-0 win from their fixture against Iceland at Stadion Wankdorf in Bern, sending their opponents out of the tournament but ensuring they need just a draw from their match against Finland to secure progression to the knockouts.

It gave plenty to celebrate for the sea of red watching on, but it was the display from their supporters that was arguably just as impressive.

The home fans, as well as those travelling from Iceland, gathered in Bern for the largest-ever fan walk in Euros tournament history.

A crowd of 14,000 made the walk to Stadion Wankdorf - 12,000 of them wearing the red of Switzerland and a further 2,000 who had made the trip from Iceland.