Questions over England's ability to convert dominance into goals have followed the Lionesses since their runner-up finish to Spain at the 2023 World Cup, and the issue has resurfaced during this year's World Cup qualifying campaign.
In that 2023 tournament, England stumbled through the group stage with narrow 1-0 wins over Haiti and Denmark before needing a penalty shootout to see off Nigeria and coming from behind to beat Colombia 2-1 in the quarter-finals. The same pattern has emerged in qualifying, with hard-fought victories over Iceland and Spain followed by an underwhelming display against Greece, despite England registering 58 touches in the opposition box and 210 passes in the final third.
Midfielder Keira Walsh insists the team's underlying play is not the concern. "We played differently back then [in 2023]. There's a lot more pressure when you're at the World Cup," she said. "In these [qualifying] games, the worrying thing would be if we were not arriving in the final third. That would be a bigger problem. It's the final pass, final cross and final shot. That was what was missing [on Friday]. I see the girls do that in training every day. They are fantastic at it. It's just putting that in the game tomorrow and hopefully we will."
Walsh described the team's hesitancy near goal as "frustrating" and acknowledged there is work to be done ahead of the second leg against Greece.
Manager Sarina Wiegman echoed those concerns, pointing to specific technical details that need sharpening. "We got in good positions but then it's staying onside, having the final pass, the right pass at the right moment, the run at the right time and deciding what cross, what cutback and whether to go for the far post," she said. "That is also about the connections between the players in those situations and taking out the counter-attack threat."
Arsenal's Georgia Stanway has been a rare bright spot, scoring 10 times since Euro 2025 and ranking among the top three goalscorers in Europe for international football, with a minutes-per-goal ratio of 81. Yet elsewhere, question marks remain over how best to deploy England's attacking talent. Chelsea's Lauren James has been shuffled between wide positions, a number 10 role and even centre-forward, while injuries to Aggie Beever-Jones and Michelle Agyemang have left Alessia Russo with little competition up front. Lauren Hemp continues to impress in form but has scored only twice in 687 minutes, and James has gone 425 minutes without a goal.
Former England striker Ellen White, the Lionesses' all-time top scorer, believes the answer lies in building stronger partnerships and controlling tempo. "You need to build your own rhythm. You can't just whizz the ball around quickly all the time so you need players in midfield who can dictate it," she told the Women's Football Weekly podcast. "You then have to have connections with players who are close to you, for example between a number 10 and a number nine. Fran Kirby was like a dream for me because she could always put the ball near me and I felt like we had a good connection. You have to build those."
Goals have at least come from a variety of sources, with 11 different scorers for England since Euro 2025, including defenders Lucy Bronze, Jess Carter and Maya Le Tissier. Still, the team has failed to win any match in which they have trailed since that tournament, losing to both Brazil and Spain in such circumstances.
Former midfielder Fran Kirby suggested the issue often lies in breaking down deep-lying defensive blocks. "The movement you have around the box is so important. You need to be unselfish in your movement," she said. "You need runs in behind, even if they won't get the ball. You have to entice teams to come out. You need one person to make a mistake and leave space. You also need to pass to someone who has a higher percentage shot position than you. It seemed rushed [against Greece] instead of controlled. You have to be intricate in and around the box."
Based on reporting from BBC Sport.