How are Wales looking after another Nations League relegation?

“I don’t want this to get taken out of context, but I love it.” That’s what Wales defender Hayley Ladd proclaimed after the 4-1 defeat against Italy on Tuesday.

Admittedly, it’s not what you would expect to hear after such a disappointing loss in your final game before heading into Euro 2025. But when you delve deeper into it, you can begin to understand where Ladd is coming from.

“We’re going into a major tournament, and I want to play against the best teams, I want to play against Italy on their best day. We tried something, it didn’t come off, and we were punished at set pieces which reinforces where we’ve got to fine tune and where we have to go up another level.”

And there was no doubting Wales were punished by the Italians, who were absolutely ruthless in the first half. Pouncing on every small error made by Rhian Wilkinson’s side, Italy could have easily had more than four heading into the break, and the manager admitted that this was a result that had been coming.

“That first half performance was not one I expect from this team. There’s been a few games where we’ve gotten away with things, whether that be the opposition failing to score or hitting the crossbar, or our goalkeepers have bailed us out, and we’ve lived on the edge.

“Italy really put us to the sword in the first half. What frustrated me was a bit of capitulation from the team, and secondly, us as technical staff have to go and review how we didn’t adjust things faster. We got too stretched and they took advantage.”

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The worry is that a poor result like this could have a detrimental impact on the team before heading into a tournament. However, a bad result before a big game isn’t always a bad thing.

Rewind back to 2016 and Chris Coleman’s men suffered a very poor 3-0 defeat against Sweden and looked what they did out in France.

If Wales are to repeat their heroics from nine years ago it will of course go down as one of the country’s greatest sporting moments, but the point is, Wilkinson doesn’t believe the result will affect her squad negatively.

“There’s no psychological damage. We’ve had a lot go our way, but I’m not naïve and I know we had a lot of things go our way.

“Italy punished us for every mistake we made, and that’s something we talk about as a team. We have to react faster, we’ve got to fix lines, and that’s on players, staff, everybody.”

Improvement is certainly the key theme emerging from the loss at Swansea.com Stadium. Yet, when you compare Wales’ last League A run to this one, it’s chalk and cheese.

Against Germany, Denmark and Iceland a year and a half ago, Cymru only picked up a point, scoring four and conceding 15. Within that run there was a heavy 5-1 defeat away against the Germans and another 5-1 loss at home to Denmark.

This time around, Wales had two points, and while they scored four again, Wilkinson’s team only conceded ten. And when you remove the final game against Italy, all of Wales’ losses were by one goal.

Management and players have been saying all campaign long that they need to improve in front of goal, but for Ladd who played in that first Nations League A run, she knows how far this side have come.

“It’s night and day comparing this Nations League A campaign to the last one. The team were in a difficult spot before in League A and we suffered some tough losses and tough scorelines.

“I didn’t feel we had the right growth in that moment, whereas now, you can throw anything at us because I want us to learn, and I want us to be uncomfortable.”

Wales fall to disappointing defeat in final game before Euro 2025

Uncomfortable is what Wales have been for large parts of this run. Facing three teams ranked in the top 14 of the FIFA Rankings isn’t meant to be easy, but there have been signs at times that this is a team that can compete.

That’s why there’s such a hunger and desire to go out and prove a point after a heavy defeat. Ladd knows this team can be so much better but stressed that maybe they need to rediscover their mojo before facing off again against Europe’s elite.

“I know we can get better because I know what this team is capable of. We’ve got levels to go to, and we’ve got the potential to go far in this tournament, I really believe that. We need to get back to basics, get our identity back again.”

We will know in two weeks which players will be tasked with rediscovering that identity, and when it comes to that final squad, Wilkinson is pretty clear in her head over who is in, and who can make a late run.

“There’s only one place in my mind up left to fill. 22 of the 23 are all in place.”

The manager made clear that this Nations League run was perfect preparation for the Euros, and despite ending on a sour note, Wales have shown that they are able, at times, to hang with the very best.

Now, with a month to go until our first game, the onus falls on management and players to see if Wales can well and truly shock the world.

(Featured Image: Ashley Crowden/FAW)