Lionesses: England give 'many answers to questions' from friendly wins, says Sarina Wiegman

Sarina Wiegman says England have given "many answers to questions we had" in friendly victories over Austria and Italy this month.

Their fine displays capped a successful warm weather training camp in Spain alongside England's Under-23s squad.

"I think the whole camp pleased me," Wiegman told ITV Sport.

The Euro 2025 qualifying draw takes place on 5 March at 12:00 GMT.

Wiegman added: "We had the opportunity to play many players - basically everyone except for [the injured] Fran Kirby - see what the level is, see players in some positions and see the connection between players.

"When you have two wins like we have - that's really nice too."

Asked if she had learned a lot before the first qualifiers in April, the England boss added: "You never know because things in football can change quickly, but it gave us many answers to questions we had at this moment.

"We could take this opportunity to see many players and play two good games, train also and see the under-23s. Very, many positives about this week."

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Rotation and squad depth shown

Wiegman made clear her intentions to rotate the squad in Spain during a media conference at the team's hotel in Marbella last week.

Hit by injuries to key players Kirby, Leah Williamson and Millie Bright, she was keen to see her squad depth in these non-competitive fixtures.

Among those hoping for opportunities were Manchester United midfielder Grace Clinton, on loan at Tottenham this season, and club-mate Millie Turner, called up as a late replacement for Arsenal defender Williamson.

Clinton, 20, started both games in midfield, impressing hugely on her debut with a goal against Austria, before another confident display in the success over Italy.

Turner was handed her debut as a substitute on Tuesday, four years after her first senior call-up, while Arsenal defender Lotte Wubben-Moy and Manchester City's Jess Park were given rare opportunities to play.

"Millie trained really hard, she's so proactive and she wants to learn things," said Wiegman of the 27-year-old.

"She's an absolute team player and wants to improve every day. She came on and did well and I think every player that came on did well."

Asked about the development of Wubben-Moy, who has impressed for Arsenal this season and scored in the win over Italy, Wiegman added: "I think she's definitely taken a step forward because she's developing a lot.

"That's what we see weekly at Arsenal and she shows it[with England] too. What you can see is the competition in positions is really high."

'We've been working hard on set-pieces'

As well as rotation, and a chance to call-up several under-23s players to first-team training across the week in Spain, Wiegman was particularly pleased with the improvements to England's set-pieces, which they had put "a little more emphasis on".

Manchester City forward Lauren Hemp, who scored twice against Italy, admitted it was an area the squad had worked hard on throughout the week and it clearly paid off.

Both of Hemp's goals came from set-pieces, while Wubben-Moy flicked in a header from a corner in the opening minute.

"A lot of goals came from set-pieces which is something we've been working hard on," Hemp told ITV Sport.

"It's been massive. It's something we can be better on. We've got a lot of tall people in this squad that we can make more chances from and that's something we've been working hard on this week.

"I'm sure our set-piece coach will be buzzing on that one. I'm happy to contribute even though I didn't know much about the first goal [which ricocheted off Italy defender Aurora Galli]."