Sarina Wiegman has faced ‘hard’ decisions with a fully fit England squad [Catherine Etoe]

HEAD coach Sarina Wiegman has her eye on a more “ruthless” England performance as the Lionesses look to make it into the knockout stages of the Women’s World Cup in the coming days.

England kicked off their campaign in front of more than 44,000 fans in Brisbane last weekend – a retaken Georgia Stanway penalty securing a gritty 1-0 win over Haiti.

New Arsenal signing Alessia Russo was chosen to start, but the European champions struggled to break down the lively debutants, and Wiegman is hoping for better in the games to come.

“We need to keep the ball moving quicker and have less touches,” she said. “And keep creating chances.”

England face Denmark tomorrow (Friday) and China on Tuesday, and time will tell whether Russo will again get the nod over Aston Villa’s Rachel Daly and Tottenham’s Bethany England.

Wiegman admitted that deciding which striker to play had been a “hard” choice to make given the sparkling form of all three, but added that she was “really happy” with her squad, which includes Arsenal defender Lotte Wubben-Moy.

“It’s very nice when you have 23 players fit and ready to play,” she said.

The England boss has also been delighted by the level of support her players have received both in Brisbane and at their current base camp in New South Wales.

“I said to my assistant it almost feels like we play in England because there’s so much noise,” Wiegman said on Saturday.

“That’s pretty special when you play on the other side of the world.”

And after supporters turned out in their droves just to watch her players train on Tuesday, Wiegman added: “To have around 2,500 fans – and so many of them children – watch training is so amazing and we never take the support for granted.”

Meanwhile, Gunner Steph Catley got co-hosts Australia off to a winning start with a decisive penalty against a Republic of Ireland side captained by club-mate Katie McCabe last Thursday.

And Tottenham’s Ria Percival was part of the New Zealand side that overcame a Norway line-up that included Arsenal’s Frida Maanum.