'Smart' Germany build from the back
Monday, July 7, 2008
Article summary
England manager Mo Marley conceded Germany "were a bit cleverer about when to attack, when to defend" as the holders made a winning start to their defence.
Article top media content

Article body
Maren Meinert, Germany coach
I am very pleased with our performance today as there is always a lot of pressure before the first game of the tournament and the players fulfilled their tasks very well. It was a tough game against strong opponents; England will still prove this over the next few games. We could have scored one or two more. England were also dangerous with their quick and technically skilled style of play, but we didn't give much away defensively – Stefanie Mirlach and Josefine Henning were pillars today.
We had to get used to the speed at the beginning and the conditions were difficult due to the wet pitch. England are a great team and I am really glad we won and got the three points. They have quite a few young, talented players and we had to work really hard to beat them. Now we will relax a bit as we have worked hard. My players will have the afternoon off tomorrow.
Mo Marley, England manager
We always knew it was going to be a tough game. Today we have to compliment Germany – they were a little bit smarter, a little bit cleverer with their play. We had a plan, but struggled to break them down. There was a lot of effort, a lot of application but I think we need to play a bit smarter. [Germany] were a bit cleverer about when to attack, when to defend, and I think that we had a Plan A but not a Plan B today – it's something we have to work on.
Compliments to what [Germany] have done, they've done it in the past themselves and they've been consistent with it. We played exceptionally well in qualification coming into this tournament. We just have to transfer the quality we have against top teams. It's something we've discussed and we're getting better at it each game.