England Senior National Team General Discussion Thread

The Telegraph report the FA have held informal talks with Tuchel to extend his contract.

 

What are the odds?

 

I don't think there's any alternative other than to extend Tuchel’s contract. He's clearly the best man for the job and there's no alternatives

 

Lee Carsley is the only other person I'd take right now.

I think Tuchel probably realises he has a very talented squad, the temptation to lead England to a trophy in a home tournament in 2028 must be strong

 

This seems kind of hubristic given that Spain totally outplayed us in last year's final. They dominated us in the first half, and after their best player went off injured at half-time, they continued to dominate us in the second. We were tactically disorganised, but the fact is that our players looked less capable on the ball and lost a lot of 50/50s.

Yes, we have a healthy collection of attacking midfielders and wingers, but what about Spain? Yamal is an exceptional talent, and to support him they have Oyarzabal, Torres, Olmo and now Fermin Lopez. In central midfield, let's be frank, their options are *easily* better than ours: Rodri, Pedri, Zubimendi and Fabian Ruiz are probably all top 10 in Europe, while Anderson, Scott and Wharton play for midtable teams.

 

Well, he played right back yesterday in the europa and looked good, but it’s Zack Abbott.

Transfermarkt list him as a centre back tho so he could just be getting minutes just to get senior experience.

He’s 19.

 

I wouldn't say their midfield is easily better. Better yes but Wharton Anderson are destined for top clubs. Rice is the best in the world for what he does. If u include Bellingham foden they'd get in ahead of olmo. And the final yes we were outclassed but when we equalised there was a 5 minute period when we were on top. It was Southgate who had us defending again which led them to score the winner

 

Yeah, whilst I think it’s a tad hyperbolic to suggest we have best squad in World football as like you say Spain is insane, France also have an abundance of talent to call upon. I think maybe it’s a bit harsh on Anderson and Wharton though just because they play for mid table Premier league teams. I mean the Premier League is the most powerful league in the World ( not necessarily the best )so those Clubs aren’t in dire need to sell and those players and would demand a hefty fee where as the best teams in Spain and PSG can snap up the best talents. I’m pretty sure if Wharton and Anderson were available then a host of top teams would snap them up.

 

I couldn't disagree more and I will not be happy if the FA extend his contract before the tournament.

 

Perhaps we should wait till he's actually had a tournament, or even beat a top 30 ranked team first.... The only one we played we comfortably lost.

International managers reputation ultimately live and die entirely based on the final tournament.

 

The bigger tests are certainly to come, but how refreshing is it to hear an England manager defining the exact positions he sees each and every player competing for?

That simple, unambiguous messaging has got to make things a whole lot clearer for the likes of Foden and Bellingham, and be a big reason why Tuchel has got the team functioning like a well-oiled machine so quickly.

 

Spain are probably stronger in central midfield but you’ve not mentioned Rice (and Bellingham who could play a deeper role) and while Anderson and Wharton play for ‘midtable’ teams they are both playing European football for their clubs. They’ve both been linked with expensive moves to CL clubs.

Kane is far better than any striker Spain has, our number 10s (Palmer, Rogers, Foden, Bellingham, Eze) are overall stronger than theirs, they are stronger out wide with Yamal and Williams but then Saka + Rashford/Gordon is still strong.

Defence and goalkeeper I’d say is about even.

Personally if we get our tactics right I think we can beat anyone including Spain.

 

I would say yamal is definately better but Williams is slightly overrated. I've seen him numerous times and his numbers don't really match the hype. I'd rather have saka and Rashford .than Williams. I agree with everything else

 

I think France are the outright leader in the international football talent pool, then you've got 3-4 teams who are a similar level on paper, one of which is England.

I think the reason you could argue Spain have an advantage over England is that they have arguably the best game-breaking attacker in the world in Yamal. There's also the fact that there's a clear cultural identity across the board in Spanish football which makes coaching appointments easier and makes it easier for the coach to set up a well-oiled unit, largely because there's going to be full alignment between the players' qualities and the team's style at all times.

I do agree we could undoubtedly beat Spain though. There's not a single unbeatable team in international football. I don't think we're the favourites for the World Cup but the aim should be to win it. It's a very open tournament and I really can't confidently pick a clear favourite because every team has issues.

 

France are good at overall depth but they a pretty similar thing as England in that their production of elite midfielders has been really lacking which seems to hold them back from getting across the line in tournaments. I mean their midfield call ups for November are Kante, Camavinga, Kone, and Zaire-Emery.

I'd say Spain's constant through production of midfielders makes for a generally better talent pool than having depth everywhere but central midfield.

 

Yeah, I'd rather have the best team at the WC than the best set of individual players. Which, hopefully, Tuchel is showing some very promising signs of developing.

In saying that though, it'll be interesting to see if he can integrate Bellingham and Foden into this particular England Xl, without disrupting its fluency and dynamism. If they can't adapt, then their star status matters diddly.

 

We could easily field 4 line ups that would do well at a would cup. And I'd say James rice Bellingham foden saka kane pickford palmer would easily walk into the French team. I don't think they're any stronger than us but centreback

 

All of those players (bar maybe Kante in 2025, but there are other more deserving candidates) are really good? Manu Kone is a really top player imo and will likely end up getting a big move this summer. Spain's latest squad contains Pablo Fornals and Aleix Garcia so I don't think their depth is that outstanding in that area.

They've obviously got Pedri who's their standout, but if Rodri doesn't reach his best level again post-ACL I think their midfield depth looks extremely different. I don't think the likes of Merino, Ruiz, Baena and Barrios are better than the French players you mentioned. Tchouameni is obviously injured for France but I don't think there's much difference in level between him and Zubimendi, although they're different players.

I don't think France's lack of trophies is a player quality issue either personally. I mean they only lost the WC final on penalties in 2022 and at this point, Deschamps has probably just been in the job too long and hasn't really evolved. Things always go stale eventually.

 

I have no fears over playing France. Their midfield isn't particularly great and they rely too much on mbappe as at the last euros. We should have beaten them at the last World Cup and that was with a less talented team than this one. In the meantime they've lost benzema giroud Griezmann

 

Think we'll have to agree to disagree on France's midfield, the players in isolation are fine squad players (none of them close to world class either I would say mind), but it makes for a very stodgy midfield in practice which has really been probably their major issue ever since Pogba declined.

They did "only" lose the world cup on penalties but I don't think they were particularly good getting there, and it wasn't the most difficult run. They got absolutely battered in the final too, they were awful for about 80 minutes. In a very similar way that England didn't play well at all for most of Euro 2024, and only losing the final in the 86th minute wasn't a reflection of England being competitive in it either.

 

Extending his contract after a few good games would be classic FA.

 

I agree they've not been particularly impressive in the last few tournaments but I also think they're a team that's much smaller than the sum of its parts. If I had to pick a winner next summer I probably wouldn't go for them despite their talent. I do think that could change drastically post-Deschamps though.

 

Adam Wharton has done an interview with David Ornstein and he told him earlier this week he didn’t expect to be recalled.

 

Big risk for them. They do it and it goes like 2010/2014 and then they can’t easily sack him but are left potentially with an unpopular manager going into a home Euros.

But I will be suprised if we get to March and he hasn’t extended to 2028 or even 2030.

 

Yeah I mean how many times have they done this previously and still apparently not learned anything from it, if it’s true they want to give him a new contract.