Former Liverpool defender John Arne Riise has slammed Norway's first half display against England at the UEFA 2022 Women's European Championships.
The Lionesses took on Martin Sjogren's side at Brighton's Amex stadium on Monday night and were 6-0 up at the break following a Georgia Stanway penalty, a goal from Lauren Hemp and braces from Ellen White and Beth Mead. It was a significant improvement from their performance in the opening game against Austria last week, they edged past their opponents 1-0 at Old Trafford.
Riise, who made over 100 appearances for Norway during his playing career, didn't hold back during the half-time analysis on BBC Sport.
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"This is the biggest game in a long time for Norway," he said. "You see the attitude, that's why I think it's embarrassing, it's pathetic, because there's no body language or the will to fight for your country.
"Tactically, they're all over the place! The defending was horrible, I said at 2-0 this could get ugly. It's unbelievably shocking to see how bad Norway were first half.
"When you see the players, they're looking to the coaches' bench and asking 'who should pick up who'. England are doing extremely well in their positioning with and without the ball but Norway don't know what to do without the ball. England's right side are killing Norway.
"The second half will be all about damage control and making substitutions. Hopefully one of the centre backs will go off and another will come on, thinking about the next game. Now it's just about damage control and trying to win the second-half to give them confidence going into their last (group game)."
England did, however, add to their tally shortly after the break with a well-worked finish from substitute Alessia Russo. Mead then completed her hat-trick and made it eight for England with 10 minutes left to play. The Lionesses face bottom of the group Northern Ireland in their final group match later this week.
Norway will take on Austria, who beat Northern Ireland 2-0 on Monday, in their final game with a place in the knockout stages at stake.
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