Head coach Melissa Phillips says Katie Robinson should be very proud of what she has accomplished in the England set-up in the last 12 months.
And Phillips is backing the Albion winger, who was part of the squad which reached the World Cup final during the summer, to force her way back into the senior squad after being left out for the forthcoming internationals.
Instead, Robinson has been included in the under-23s for their games against Italy and Portugal alongside Albion teammate Poppy Pattinson.
“What Robbo has accomplished in the past year with the senior England team has been absolutely fantastic,” said Phillips. “She’s had a lot of experiences which she will add to as she continues to grow as a player. She knows the areas we want her to develop and I think those align with what England are looking for.
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“She’s going into the under-23 squad and hopefully she will feel really confident and able to put her stamp on the games. We’ve seen some positive performances from her – two assists and a goal in the Conti Cup against Birmingham City – so it’s about her being consistent in terms of what she does for her club so she can step up to the next platform again.”
With top scorer Elisabeth Terland being monitored because of a hamstring injury, Phillips may turn to Madison Haley in attack for today’s game at champions Chelsea.
“Mady has the ability to score goals in this league, it’s about making sure she is prepared and confident when her time to start comes,” said Phillips. “A lot of our attacking players are good in that central space so it’s about building relationships on the pitch between players. Madison and Terland have similar qualities. The ball sticks to her and there’s a lot we can build around that.”
Haley missed much of pre-season with an injury but has had minutes in our last three games and played the second half of last Sunday’s 3-1 loss to Spurs.
Phillips added, “We’re pleased with the way she is progressing and learning our style of play and also how we can play through her.”