England World Cup Player Ratings: How Every Lioness Fared in France This Summer

The fun's over, the World Cup is done, and it's time for the post-mortems to begin. We've been right in the heart of the tournament for the last month, we've seen England train and play, and...it's time to judge them. 

Goalkeepers

Karen Bardsley: 8 – One of England's great 'What If's of this World Cup. What if Bardsley, in magnificent form and with a better reach than her understudy, had been fit to take on the US in Lyon? Telford got close to both of those goals, and with Bardsley's extra three inches...what if?

Carly Telford: 7 – You wait your whole career for a major tournament appearance, and then two come along in one summer. Didn't have much to do against Argentina, and was twice left exposed by her defence against the US.

Mary Earps: N/A

Defenders

Lucy Bronze: 8 – An astonishingly gifted player who shone throughout for England, Bronze looked as though she was feeling the weight of her own brilliance towards the end, trying to do everything herself. Failed in her marking assignment for Christen Press' first US goal, which will eat away at her somewhat. 

Steph Houghton: 8 – To quote the title of a recently released book, Brilliant Brilliant Brilliant Brilliant Brilliant. England's captain swept up so many problems created by both Phil Neville's system and her teammates, and should be commended for stepping up to take the penalty against the US. 

Millie Bright: 5 – Faced calls to be dropped from just about the start of the tournament, but kept her place in part because of her impressive physicality. In the end, one of England's weaker performers; name a defensive mix-up and she was probably part of it. 

Demi Stokes: 6 – Never really reached full fitness and, in an England defence that had to do a lot of running, that was a problem. 

Abbie McManus: 6 – The player who lost out to Bright in a straight head-to-head battle for the second centre-back slot. Was decent enough when called upon. 

Alex Greenwood: 7 – Shared the left-back spot with Stokes and added a different dimension to the defence. Scored a nice, well-worked goal against Cameroon too. 

Leah Williamson: 6 – Played six minutes in the tournament, so...

Rachel Daly: 7 – Versatile as anything, and introduced some real bite to England's semi-final side against the US. 

Midfielders

Keira Walsh: 7 – Put in a difficult position playing in a side where she was more or less the only midfielder close to sitting back, but dictated play well in most of her games. Most, not all. 

Jill Scott: 8 – Excellent and tenacious on the pitch, there was rarely a blade of grass she didn't cover; and only came 12 minutes shy of playing all of England's games, with Steph Houghton and Lucy Bronze.

Georgia Stanway: 6 – Five games, 108 minutes. Speaks to her role as the eternal substitute, but she did well with a lack of continuity. 

Jade Moore: 6 – Fine. 

Karen Carney: 7 – Alright, she played less than an hour in the whole tournament. Got a good assist though, and...well, it's nice to send a legend off with a bit of praise isn't it?

Lucy Staniforth: 6 – Erm, yeah. 12 minutes. Dunno. 

Forwards

Nikita Parris: 6 – Phil Neville's warehouse of good strikers worked against most of his good strikers. Parris was one of those who's been shunted out wide under his stewardship and, while she didn't play badly at any point, her lack of goalscoring impact is a disappointment. Oh, and there were those two penalties...

Ellen White: 9 – Not just England's player of the tournament, but possibly the best from any of the 24 teams out in France. Her goals were brilliantly taken, and the way they were spread out (one here, one there, two here etc) showed a player at the absolute peak of her powers. 

Fran Kirby: 5 – Another of the Lionesses whose tournament wasn't brilliant, wasn't horrific, and was mostly just...odd. It was hard to tell whether she was going to start from one game to the next, and the lack of a settled role can't have helped her. Looked lost in some games. 

Beth Mead: 7 – Could have played more. Should have played more? Finished with the most assists of any England player despite playing fewer than half of the Lionesses' minutes. She'll be back, and stronger. 

Toni Duggan: 5 – One of Neville's favourites, but England looked weaker when she returned from injury to her spot in the starting lineup against Japan. Disappointing tournament from a player who can deliver more. 

Jodie Taylor: 6 – Not right easy to be a striker when your competition up front is Ellen Actual White, having the tournament of her life. Did finish as England's second highest scorer though, with...erm...one goal.