Lionesses are ultimate ‘Mentality Monsters' of international football

Telegraph

3 days ago

So now we have the definition of what 'Proper England' means. Up until the final of the European Championship it was just a kind of relatable phrase, with a bit of street language coolness, that the players were encouraged to use. But it could mean many things. It could mean anything. Good and, in fact, bad.
Now that the Lionesses have so courageously retained their title, becoming the first senior England team to win a major trophy overseas, we know exactly what those two words amount to.
Proper England is about character, about resilience, about desire, about digging deep and then digging deeper, about defying the odds, about defying logic even, about refusing to lose.
It is about Hannah Hampton emerging from the shadows and replacing such a big character as Mary Earps to be the penalty shoot-out hero; about Jess Carter returning to deliver an immense performance in the heart of defence following the despicable racist abuse she suffered; about Lucy Bronze being barely able to run but staying on until the pain was too much and she was reduced to tears and later revealing she played the tournament with a fractured tibia; about Georgia Stanway being outplayed by Spain's technically brilliant midfield for 45 minutes and then turning it around and taking the fight to them in the second half; about Chloe Kelly doing what Chloe Kelly does.
It is about Sarina Wiegman, the Dutch coach who has not just taken teams to five consecutive finals, three of them with England, but has won all four penalty shoot-outs that England, so derided in such scenarios before she and Gareth Southgate arrived, have taken part in. Once those shoot-outs provoked fear and ridicule. Now England just back themselves. And on and on it goes.
But it needs a simple definition and that definition is this: England are, to steal Jürgen Klopp's phrase about his Liverpool team, the new 'Mentality Monsters'. That is what Proper England means. That is what the Lionesses have done. That is the transformation they have completed. They have redefined England and England as a force in international football and what an astonishing achievement that is. What an overturning of convention.
Years of hurt? Forget about it. The shirt weighing heavy? No, it inspires them. Football's coming home? We have done that. Twice.
This is a Golden Age. A Golden Generation. For women and – we hope – for men. For England as a whole, in fact, so we need to exploit it as well as rejoice in it as, of course, it does not last forever. The men have lost two Euro finals (the first of which they should have won); they are so close. They have not got that mentality right just yet – hence the hiring of Thomas Tuchel – but we have to hope it is to come. It has already arrived for their under-21s who, like the senior women, have retained their European title. There is a pathway. So buckle up and enjoy the ride.
Any rational analysis will conclude that Spain were the better team. They played the better football. They had more control and more chances and will feel robbed. But sport is not logical, which is partly why it is so glorious.
Instead it can defy that logic and bend to belief. These Lionesses always find a way and they did it the hard way – as they did throughout this tournament: becoming the first holders ever to lose their first game, dealing with that pressure and criticism and then coming through three periods of extra time and two shoot-outs. That takes extraordinary resilience.
'Football is chaos,' Wiegman said. But it also about who holds their nerve and rides that chaos. Who can tame it. England did that whereas, for decades, they allowed the chaos to dominate them, overwhelm them and the fear of losing destroying the desire to win.
England's men's team went out of Euro 2016 to Iceland, arguably their biggest ever humiliation, with Wayne Rooney admitting he and his team-mates were fearing the media and fan reaction to defeat after they went 2-1 behind. Even though there was still 72 minutes to play. They froze; they felt the fear and could not cope.
It feels a distant memory now, not just a nadir struck only nine years ago and the Lionesses are at the vanguard of banishing it. It has to be stressed the men need to follow but Southgate has shown them the way; it is now for Tuchel to emulate Wiegman and get them to the promised land. But no longer does it feel an impossible mission and an impossible job.
Instead after the Football Association launched its 'England DNA' project in 2014, to improve the development of English footballers and produce a consistent and progressive way of playing, we have another layer to it: what Proper England means and how the Lionesses have taken that on, embraced it, rejoiced in it.
It is not about a bulldog spirit or showing passion or being physical or playing harum-scarum football. It is not even about how the game should be played or style of football although, if England are to prolong this period of success, the next step must be to develop a player as wonderful on the ball as Aitana Bonmati. Instead it is about having belief and never letting that waver. It is about that indefinable quality that comes with a simple definition. It is about being the Mentality Monsters of international football. And that is some title to claim.