‘Difficult conversations a turning point’ – Beth Mead hails England culture ahead of Euro 2022 final

Beth Mead says a willingness to confront difficult issues head-on is a chief reason why England find themselves in the final of Euro 2022.

England have been a serial nearly side over recent years, finishing third and fourth respectively at the World Cups of 2015 and 2019, and falling at the semi-final stage again in Euro 2017.

Influential centre-back Millie Bright has talked about the squad’s ability to have difficult conversations with one another in the hope of generating better performances, and Mead backed that assertion, whilst also highlighting the overall step-change in culture from previous England groups.

“I think I would agree [with the importance of difficult conversations],” Mead said ahead of the Wembley final, set to be played in front of a sold-out crowd.

“I think it’s a culture we’ve created. We’re in a safe place where we are right now and I think the girls, when we speak to each other, it’s because we know we want the best for each other and we want to get the best out of each other.

“In the past, we maybe took it a little personally whereas now we know it’s for the greater cause for the team.

“If we’re speaking and communicating, that’s the best form sometimes of rectifying things and getting to the bottom of things we want to be better so I would 100 per cent agree with what Millie said. That’s been a big turning point for us throughout this tournament.

“I think it [the squad’s communication] been a lot better since Sarina came in.

“I think as a team we’ve done stuff off the pitch that’s made us more comfortable around each other and felt like more of a safe place.

“It’s become easy to speak to each other, whether it’s been left side, or as defenders or different units; we’ve been a lot better and open about communicating and what we expect and want from each other and I think Sarina has instilled that in our culture and it’s had a great effect on us.”