Phil Neville Admits He Was 'Bored' During Lionesses Win in Scathing Assessment of Slow First Half

England women's manager Phil Neville claimed that he was 'bored' during his side's 2-0 win over Denmark on Saturday after a below-par performance from the Lionesses was rescued by goals from Nikita Parris and Jill Scott.

England rode their luck at times during the first half and only went into half time in the lead thanks to Parris' powerful effort just seconds before the whistle.

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Manchester City midfielder Scott doubled their lead shortly after the restart and the Lionesses held out for a 2-0 win, but manager Neville wasn't pleased with his side's overall level of performance on Saturday.

"We want the standard to be better than that," Neville told BBC Sport in his post-match interview. "I just wanted them to do the basics well. [It was] sloppy, slow and I was bored watching it in the first half, so I wanted us to play with a better tempo and better quality.

"I wasn't bothered if [Parris' shot] went in or not. It didn't change my view of how we played in the first half. 1-0, 2-0 or 2-0 down, I wanted us to play a certain way. I'd prefer us to lose and play the better way, than play like we did in that first half.

"The three best players today were my goalkeeper Karen Bardsley, [Karen] Carney and Scott in midfield, three of the most experienced players. That's why I selected them.

"I just want them to relax. I'm relaxed, I'm going to a World Cup and I want my team to have the same joy and excitement as me. We've got nothing to fear, we can go there and enjoy our selves."

The Lionesses still have one more friendly match against New Zealand before they can focus on this summer's World Cup, with England kicking off their campaign at Nice's Allianz Riviera against Scotland on 9th June.