England Senior National Team General Discussion Thread

It’s about as predictable as me playing Christmas music in September

 

If we win on Tuesday this will be forgotten

 

Worrying how poor we are technically.

The amount of times a player just played the way they were/are facing rather than having their hips open and receiving on the back foot, causing the ball to go backwards or square was both frustrating and concerning to see.

These may feel like small details but against elite sides who are much sharper and press more aggressively, we will get eaten alive.

 

Boring match. Especially the second half. Madueke and Anderson did well but not sure anyone else did.

 

It’s all so low energy. Like they all hate it and cent wait to get home.

 

It’s more that he seems to be Tuchel’s favourite attacker.

I can se honestly see Rice being replaced by Henderson in Belgrade.

 

Not just the legacy cap for @elljanderson 👀

Our debutant is your England Player of the Match connected by @EE! 🤩 pic.twitter.com/trNGLtUuGC

— England (@England) September 6, 2025

 

Blimey, I know I can over react but there’s some going over the top here with the performance, yes it wasn’t great but was probably what we expected against a low block team. Let’s see what happens on Tuesday night when it really counts.

 

It's hard to deny that Tuchel's reign has produced more negatives than positives but ultimately Tuesday will be everything. The quality of performance will probably be more indicative of our future prospects than every other showing combined. I'll reserve judgement on him for now, but another turgid showing will have be panicking.

Rice is definitely an issue in possession in games like this though. He doesn't see the cute and intricate passes that other midfielders see and he doesn't seem to be able to hit many through balls over the top/around the back like a proper Hollywood passer can do.

I agree about Eze's ineffectiveness too but this is a common theme with whoever plays as a 10 for us - Eze, Rogers, Palmer, Foden etc. The truth is that we produce very few natural 10s. James Maddison is probably the closest thing we've got. We produce tonnes of these wingfielder/half space specialists (Palmer, Eze) and second striker types (Foden, Nwaneri) but not many who can really be a creative leader in that central space.

Hard not to agree with the Rashford takes either. He's just a million miles off it.

 

BBC player ratings.
Anderson - 7.02
Rice - 6.14
Madueke - 6.07
Gibbs-White - 5.76
James - 5.63
Guehi - 5.60
Pickford - 5.56
Burn - 5.42
Livramento - 5.37
Lewis-Skelly - 5,28
Eze - 5.26
Rogers - 5.26
Konsa - 4.99
Gordon - 4.96
Kane - 4.76
Rashford - 4.35
Andorra’s players rated between 6.04 and 5.30

 

Reading Tuchel’s comments I do not think he will be starting Eze on Tuesday.


Telegraph player ratings and (Paraphased) World starter chances
Pickford - 6/10 - Still N.1 ahead of Henderson and Trafford
James - 7/10 - Needs to stay fit but ahead of Trent and Walker by being in the squad
Guehi - 7/10 - Battling with Burn and Konsa
Burn - 6/10 - Stones will be in the mix if fit but Tuchel is huge fan and could keep him
Lewis-Skelly - 6/10 - Needs to get his Arsenal starting place back. James can cover left back so could be dropped.
Anderson - 7/10 - Bellingham will start at World Cup instead
Rice - 7/10 - One of the first names on the team sheet - Henderson will cover him.
Madueke - 7/10 - Showing his case to start ahead of Gordon
Eze - 5/10 - Palmer will probably start at the World Cup.
Rashford - 5/10 - Saka will start. Rashford needs to play for his club and improve internationally.
Kane - 5/10 - Will start at the World Cup ahead of Watkins,

 

What comments?

 

And how he didn’t show what he showed on the training pitch. It felt like the type of comment an international managers makes when he drops a player to the bench.

 

Maybe we should call the US and offer to swap Tuchel for Pochettino

 

▪️ Elliot Anderson's debut
▪️ Were England direct enough?
▪️ Eze and Madueke's contribution
▪️ Vital game with Serbia

Thomas Tuchel spoke to @GabrielClarke05 after England's win over Andorra 🗣️ pic.twitter.com/hDUvCCuVxf

— ITV Football (@itvfootball) September 6, 2025

"Maybe Ebz had not his very best day on the number 10 position. He trained so well; in the decision making, struggled a little bit."

I don't really see how you can draw any conclusions about the Serbia line-up from that, but it's fair to say that Eze's performance can't have helped his chances.

 

I don't expect to see a host changes in the line up from yesterday in Belgrade. The areas I think he may swap players out or around are at LB, the 10 and on the left side of attack.

Tuchel's after match comments suggested that Anderson had done enough to get another go alongside Rice, although he's said stuff before and then done the opposite so Henderson in at 6 wouldn't be a shock.

Who knows with Tuchel.

For me Burn doesn't start, but Tuchel seems to rate him. I move Eze to the left and bring in MGW in the 10. Livramento at LB.

 

Eze given three out of ten. Spurs? You dodged a bullet there.

 

Eze didn’t have his best game yesterday but he wasn’t alone, however seen many posts claiming Spurs have dodged a bullet which is just knee jerk silly stuff as he’s proved time and again how good he is in the Premier league so the suggestion that all of a sudden he’s a bad player overnight is hilarious.

 

I think the most disappointing thing about Eze is how within himself he always plays for England. He rarely demands the ball or really tries to put his stamp on the game. He only managed 38 touches of the ball in 77 minutes, Gibbs-White replaced him and got 25 in 13 minutes!

 

Grealish played very well as a 10 under Carsley last year.

 

I seem to recall Arteta singled him out for criticism against Liverpool. Not hilarious, Spurs certainly did better by not signing him and Arsenal just might regret it.

 

Harry Kane joins the great Bobby Moore on 108 England caps - the joint-fifth highest of all time. 👏 pic.twitter.com/Kc4AN9m3SZ

— England (@England) September 7, 2025

Tuchel acknowledged that Rashford has lacked a “wow” performance under him so far. He needs one if he’s to be worth a World Cup place ahead of his competition. https://t.co/jo8BeDIpnL

— Matt Law (@Matt_Law_DT) September 7, 2025

 

When players play for England they seem to be too afraid to express themselves. Eze being one example.

 

I'm guessing you're not English and here on a windup