I totally get that Gordinho. They were in all the games and I do respect that. I also expected better. As Readings himself said, they under achieved (but also did say they did not under perform which I am not sure I can agree with)
The thing I took note of in the lead up to this game (I watched the Netherlands and China games did not see the Canada game) was that people asked 'where will the goals come from?' 'where are the game breakers?' 'Why is this person playing and then doing this?' Against Netherlands, we looked very comfortable with possession, but their back 4 was untested. Against China, I thought our goals came from luck of the bounce in the box. Here we are talking about losing because of a couple of refereeing errors on penalty decisions. Good teams don't live or die by refereeing errors and if we had played to our potential and created genuine chances, then it would not have made a difference what the referee did. We had a stonewall pen against Wilkinson in the Netherlands game that was turned down, unlucky. We missed one against Canada and were unlucky with one given against us against China. We are talking about referees decisions on penalties and not how fantastical the opposition keeper played to deny us goals which summed up what others said - where are the goals going to come from?
I was a little surprised in the manner is which some players were used. Betsy Hassett was one player I thought should have started all 3 games and made a difference when she did come on against Netherlands. Readings realised that. I was surprised in the manner in which Wilkinson was used and as a wide man. Yes Amber Hearn is a better striker but then what advantage do you get from chucking a lumbering 6f 4i girl on the wing? Hearn had zero serevice and question if dropping a front person for a nother midfielder and better service would have helped. When Rosie White did appear, it was as a Right Half (she is a striker). I was surprised a little that Kirsty Yallop got 5 mins all tournament. I'm not fan of her but has the ability to change things up. I thought Riley came inside a lot and thought she may have been told to hug the touch line a little more. I thought she took up some of the midfielder job at times and thought that was odd for a LB.
Its as I said after the Netherlands game, under Herdman, we got results and were progressing. Under Readings, we almost get results and look like we have plateaued at best.. This tournament was another 'almost got'. Considering their program and considerable build up, then this is a failure.
The better teams does not always win, but you can't sell that line 3 games in a row.