England captain Leah Williamson was full of praise for Lucy Bronze after the Lionesses emphatic 5-1 friendly win against the Netherlands on Friday.

Bronze, Beth Mead, who netted a double, Ella Toone and Lauren Hemp scored to seal an emphatic victory for Sarina Wiegman's side in Leeds.

England had fallen 1-0 behind to a Lieke Martens header, before Bronze put a cross into the box that somehow found its way into the net.

A Netherlands penalty was missed by the Dutch captain, Sherida Spitse, who was making her 200th international appearance, before the hosts put on a show in the second half at Elland Road, bagging four more goals to ease to victory.

"Lucy scored one of them in training yesterday, so I was trying to tell her to take it," a smiling Williamson told Stats Perform after the game. "But at the end of the day she's got forward and we've seen her in that position so many times that when she gets there she'll take it for the team.

"But also the state of the game and the penalty, it's not great, but our reaction after, you can't change that."

Following the win, Netherlands boss Mark Parsons said England are favourites for next month's Women's Euro 2022 tournament, and Williamson was asked if teams are playing against them with some fear.

"A little bit, I think, we're playing well, we're the home nation. It's a brilliant combo to have," she said. 

"Other countries will potentially look at the score lines and think 'Yeah, England are doing really well,' But I think we've just got to stay focused on what we're doing and what our job is.

"We know that even though we won 5-1 tonight, there was many things that we can work on, and get better at. Being clinical is something that we've wanted to improve on and we've obviously done that tonight and in a lot of the games previously with Sarina [Wiegman].

"I mean, if I was on another team, I don't really pay too much attention to score lines, because you don't know the ins and outs of the game. But I'm sure a lot of people will be speaking about us.

"We're very much focused on the one game at a time cliche."

Netherlands head coach Mark Parsons believes England are favourites for the Women's Euro 2022 after seeing his team well beaten by the Lionesses on Friday.

England ran out 5-1 winners at Elland Road, with goals from Lucy Bronze, Beth Mead (two), Ella Toone and Lauren Hemp sealing an emphatic victory.

England's previous meeting with the Oranje was a 3-0 reverse in the Euro 2017 semi-finals, though the Lionesses maintained their record of having never lost back-to-back games against the Netherlands.

Sarina Wiegman was managing the Dutch side that day as they went on to win their home tournament, and now has the chance to do the same with England.

Speaking after the game, Parsons expressed his admiration for England, pointing to their home advantage and resources.

"This is our third top opponent we've faced," he said. "Brazil, we felt we should have won, France, we weren't good and didn't deserve to draw or win.

"Tonight, I think England will be favourites in the Euros where they're at, the qualities of players, the home crowd, the resources that the WSL have been putting in, the work the clubs have been doing. You add all that up, it's very hard to see that they're not favourites."

Netherlands will be in Group C at Euro 2022 along with Sweden, Portugal and Switzerland, starting off against the Swedes at Bramall Lane on July 9.

"Very difficult evening. I think the one thing we wanted to avoid by taking on such a big game, big opponent early in our preparation, was this outcome" Parsons admitted, before suggesting that England's extra preparation time after the end of their season played a big part.

"If we had avoided this outcome, I think we will only be taking positives. I feel a big responsibility because I knew how big of a step this would be.

"Also, I was aware of the English league finishing May 11. They got their holiday, they got in two weeks before us that they would be in this place, but was aggressive and ambitious in having the game when it was, hoped that we'd be in a controlled position at 60 minutes because the minds probably would have carried the bodies at that point."

The contest had been relatively even in the first half, with the score still 1-1 until the 53rd minute when Mead grabbed her first of the night.

Three more goals in the last 18 minutes gave the game a scoreline that had not seemed likely at the break, and Parsons took some solace in that, while taking some of the blame himself.

He added: "Some of the great decision-making we had in the first half had gone [in the second], so it's going to feel like two games. Analysing the first 55, 60 minutes and throwing the last 30, 35 minutes in the bin very quickly because I don't think there'll be anything worth taking from that due to the level where we're at physically, which is normal, but the organisation didn't help the players at that point.

"When the [final] whistle went, I knew I was going to be analysing a shorter game... There'd be no point in looking any further because I let them down. At that point, the organisation should have been a lot safer, more defensive, because the legs had gone and England were just getting fresher and fresher with their changes.

"With the home crowd, we felt it once or twice in the first half. In the second half it was the flags and the noise coming from the home crowd, which is an experience we needed to learn. Yeah. Tough night."

Sarina Wiegman is "absolutely happy" with England's progress ahead of the Women's Euro 2022, but she did not see a stunning 5-1 defeat of the Netherlands as cause to get carried away.

England have never lost back-to-back matches against the Oranje, yet their previous meeting had been a crushing 3-0 reverse in the Euro 2017 semi-finals.

Wiegman was in the Netherlands dugout on that occasion, guiding her country to a home tournament success.

That is now her aim with the Lionesses, and Friday's victory at Elland Road surely laid down a marker, with Beth Mead scoring twice – either side of goals from Ella Toone and Lauren Hemp – after Lucy Bronze had cancelled out Lieke Martens' opener.

England are yet to lose in their 13 games under Wiegman, scoring 80 times across those matches, but the manager still saw room for improvement.

"Maybe," Wiegman told ITV Sport when asked if she had to temper expectations. "For us, it's just that when we lose, we go with our plan; when we win, we go with our plan.

"We had a good win, but we cannot think we are there. Today showed that we have still lots of things to do.

"Things went really well, but lots of things didn't go well, and we really have to improve that, too. We'll start working on that again on Monday."

That is not to say Wiegman was unhappy with what she saw, adding: "I'm absolutely happy. It was such a high-level game.

"Of course the score says a lot: 5-1. That's really good, the game in the second half was really good, so there are very exciting things to see.

"Yes, we're in a good place, but still we have some things to improve."

The slow start was undoubtedly one area that could have concerned Wiegman, although she was enthused by England's response to only the third goal they have conceded in her tenure – this the first time they have trailed.

"It's very nice to score five goals, but for us it actually was good that we got behind for the first time and how we reacted to that," she said.

"We needed to come back from not playing well, conceding a goal, and get the game to a higher standard. That was good."

Fran Kirby has praised England manager Sarina Wiegman for her honest and "special" communication while the Chelsea star's availability for Euro 2022 was in doubt.

Kirby missed three months of action towards the end of the season due to an illness that was causing extreme fatigue.

But having returned to action and been named in England's squad for the Euros on home soil, the 28-year-old opened up on her conversations with Wiegman while she had stepped away from the game.

"Obviously, it's going to be in the back of my mind. But for me, right now, I want to make sure that I'm feeling confident going into the Euros," said Kirby.

"Leading into it I had loads of conversations with Sarina on the phone in terms of how I was feeling and how I was doing.

"She always made me feel confident in terms of if you get yourself right, then I want you to be part of the squad. 

"And for me, as a player to hear that when you're not playing, it's really nice and it's really special to hear. 

"When I speak about her honesty, I said to her, I need you to be honest, if you don't think I'm ready, then you tell me that. 

"I wouldn't want to be part of the squad if you didn't feel that I was ready to participate or to give something to the team. 

"When she said that I was in the squad, it just reaffirmed the confidence that she has in me to make a difference.

"She's been great. She's really brought this togetherness in the squad, she makes everyone feel like they're respected and that their voices are heard. 

"She's just brought this honest nature, in terms of dealing with difficult conversations when they have to be had. 

"And she also makes people feel good, she makes you feel confident in your ability, she makes you feel like you're valued in the team and that's important when you're going into a tournament." 

Kirby had previously been ruled out for much of the 2019-20 season with pericarditis, a condition affecting the fluid sac around the heart.

England beat Belgium 3-0 in their first warm-up game for the Euros last week, with Kirby coming off the bench in the second half. 

"I'm feeling really good, feeling healthy and I've been able to participate in all the training sessions and be a part of them," added Kirby.

"For me, now, I'm not really thinking about much what has happened previously, because I just want to make sure that I'm focusing on the here and now and focusing on my performance in training. 

"I have to show that I'm ready to go and that I'm ready to play and I've been able to do that in the last few weeks."

Friendlies against the Netherlands and Switzerland are up next before England begin their Euro 2022 campaign against Austria on July 6.