FIFA World Cup 2026: England Tournament Thread [R]

One thing that's grating me is seeing a few people defending Tuchel by claiming the Argentina game was his only mistake of the tournament.

It's ridiculous how little balanced analysis there has been in the media throughout the tournament. Everything has been solely outcome driven.

He's made a litany of errors throughout his entire tenure and this tournament and gotten away with them. It doesn't take a genius to identify a well-coached team vs an incoherent team being dragged through by player quality. We played well for one half of the entire tournament and that was in the first game.

It's taken us going out of the World Cup in spectacular fashion for any proper scrutiny to occur. I feel like few other managers would've gotten away with this. His CV combined with his charismatic persona has allowed him to sell a lot of people down the garden path.

 

Reading the Athletic article I get the feeling come the Euros Tuchel won’t take 26 players if allowed to and will try and get the squad limit cut back to 23. He clearly doesn’t want 26 in a squad.

Suggestions Mainoo is unhappy so I Suspect in September he will be cut and someone else brought in.

Incredibly the FA agreed to a clause that said if we went out at the R16 to Mexico Tuchel could not easily be be sacked but if we lost to Ecuador or anyone else at that round he could.

 

The Athletic article is pretty detailed in that it points out some of the squad flaws through its suggestions are not great.

 

Thomas Tuchel was unhappy with what he saw from Kobbie Mainooin training in the build-up to the Ghana group game. The Manchester United midfielder was set to feature amid Declan Rice's fitness concerns. - Daily Mail

Argentina were stunned by England's response to taking the lead in their World Cup semi-final and were shocked by the defensive nature of Thomas Tuchel's substitutions. - Independent

Some England players believe the tactical changes did not help the team against Argentina. - Daily Mail

Lionel Messi tore England's failed tactics to shreds with a scathing assessment after Argentina knocked Thomas Tuchel's men out of the World Cup. - The Sun

 

I think there should be a levy on every foreign manager recruited by PL clubs, which should go directly to paying for more English coaches to gain the necessary coaching badges.

 

I'm deeply hurt by tuchel. He can't stay on. He's lost any trust from me or any other sane fan. It rankles with me more than any other tournament. 2 days later and his 'tactical masterplan' still grates on me. I'd be on the phone to pep before he takes the Italy job just to add previous tournaments I'd held my hand up and said we weren't good enough but this is unacceptable against an average Argentina team. We had them there for the taking and he does exactly what he pilloried Southgate for. He's a bottle job. The players get no blame from me

 

I susoect the chance of the PL clubs agreeing that is pretty slim. And if they did get forced to pay it they would do other things to cause trouble and get their own back. Including the nuclear option of seeing if CAS actually will enforce the international calander,

 

The PFA already funds coaching roles at clubs. Some info below. The FA employs its own coaches for all the England age groups.

"The primary PFA-funded coaching role is the Professional Player to Coach Scheme (PPCS), a joint initiative between the PFA, Premier League, and EFL designed to support former professional players in transitioning into full-time coaching careers.

Role Structure: Participants complete a 23-month intensive work placement at EFL clubs, engaging in various football functions such as coaching, analysis, recruitment, and physical performance.
Eligibility: The scheme is open to all PFA members at any age or career stage, with a specific focus on increasing representation from Black, Asian, and minority ethnic backgrounds, as well as women.
Development & Funding: Participants receive personalized mentoring from PFA coach educators and may access funding for FA/UEFA qualifications, culminating in a Diploma in Professional Football Coaching from Leeds Beckett University.
2026 Opportunities: As of July 2026, applications for the 2026 cohort are open or recently closed for roles at clubs including Derby County, QPR, Brighton & Hove Albion, Cambridge United, MK Dons, Luton Town, Wigan Athletic, Brentford, Burton Albion, and Birmingham City.
The PFA Charity also provides subsidized courses and career advice for current and former players seeking coaching badges, such as the UEFA A Licence, though these are distinct from the salaried PPCS placements.

AI-generated answer. Please verify critical facts."

 

So has anything been said about Sakas absence against Argentina? Was he saved to come on later, or was the 270 minutes he played in the tournament all he had this time?

 

If that’s the case then he’s clearly leant nothing about his first World Cup and running players into the ground without having sufficient replacements. He effectively picked a 23 man squad now and look at Rice and Anderson who are dead on their feet!!

 

England were 2nd best throughout the most of the game and Gordon scored against the run of play. It fundamentally wasn't that different to the Mexico and Norway games. The big difference was Argentina are so much better with the ball (as a team) than Mexico and Norway. So this system Tuchels had England playing hit its ceiling in the Qtr Finals. We probably should have gone out in against Norway, but because we got over the line, nobody dared to scrutinise Tuchel until we got exposed against Argentina.

The football England have played since Tuchel took charge has been archaic. And not enough people are talking about it. Its all been centred around either his decision to leave some squad players out or the 2nd half vs Argentina.
I know we've spoken about this before. But the level of discourse in this country is just not high enough for a country that aspires to win a world cup.

If Southgate were still in charge and all other things remained the same; playing style during qualifying, WC squad, the performances during tournament inc the games vs Mexico and Norway.
Southgate would have been roasted and rightly so. Because Southgate was at least trying to evolve England from 2022-24 and what we've had in the past two yrs would have been recognised as an enormous step backwards (if it were under Southgate).

 

There is too much football for the most successful clubs. This is an interesting article from before the World Cup. England players had played the third most minutes amongst all squads. We had the most players 7 to have started 50 or more matches. The top 5 squads for minutes played can all be argued to have disappointed. This obviously excludes players that didn't make squads due to injury.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/articles/c05yz1yr08mo

The Premier League should be reduced to 18 teams. I would like to see fewer European matches too. The club world cup had a negative influence, especially on Chelsea and that is a reason why Cole was not in the squad. He has been off form or injured all season. Would Tuchel have picked him? I don't know but he would have offered something if fit. Fewer matches would also increase the quality of those that are played.

It also means we should have managed players tournament minutes more carefully and this should have been part of the squad selection thinking.

 

The players he could have brought.

Lewis hall would have made a massive difference at left-back, he can carry the ball forward and get us up the pitch which may have allowed o'reilly to push into midfield role more.

Trent would have been a more creative force at right-back with James's injuries and his crossing ability would have been a big factor

Wharton/Scott would have lessened the load on rice and Anderson. They would have retained the ball better.

Colwill would have been ideal at playing accurate forward passes, he could have played through midfield instead of playing sideways dangerous defensive passes which we were lucky to get away with at times.

Palmer. He's not had a great season but he's a creative force thst you can use if you need someone to open up locked defences.

Lewis-skelly would have been another good option in midfield playing against the press he'd have been perfect in that aggressive Argentina midfield.

The likes if foden even if he's not produced for England, his name and reputation alone would have had Argentina worried about him. Maguire would have been far more dominant in that last 30 minutes against Argentina than burn or konsa were. Even Ngumoha would have surprised a few

 

Very unlikely clubs will ever agree to less European matches. The matches they want to get rid of are the domestic cups. As the PFA said they don’t want to kill the matches fans like only the ones they don’t (Through for the PFA international football is the part of the later)

 

The sad thing is that our depth, it could have been our advantage. Many other teams don't have the depth we do. They don't have a lot of top players sitting at home. And they don't have that great options off the bench. It could have been our strength, but instead Tuchel focused on a small group of players. And as you said ran them into the ground.

A team collapsing like England did, it might not have happend due to fatigue alone. But surely fatigue was an important factor.

Before the tournament Gary Neville said he thought England would last for 5 or 6 games. That was very negative, but he got it dead right. We collapsed in the 7th game.

Harry Kane played 99% of all minutes in the 7 games. Anderson 94%, Bellingham 92%- Rice is a known issue, only played 71% and it was too much for him. Saka about 40%.

 

Fully agree with reducing the Premier League to 18.

I would also reduce the Football League to 18 each as well. Have the top two leagues be national then go regional for the other two

Problem is the clubs would never vote for it. The proper time for reform was when the Premier League was formed.

Look at what happens as soon as a team had a free week. Fly off to play a friendly somewhere

 

Greetings to everyone here, a lot has been said here already. It seems I was the only one in Dagestan rooting for England, everyone laughed at me and rightfully so. Although I'm not English, I am also very angry at Tuchel. He is an absolutely spineless coach; in every match he tried to hold on to the score, but what he did in the match against Argentina is beyond comprehension. I believe the blame lies entirely on Tuchel. How could one play so cowardly in the second half, especially against Argentina who were just waiting for it? After an almost perfect first half, when their best player was completely shut down, in the second half Messi was calmly moving around the pitch and delivering penetrating passes. And it is akin to suicide to give him that much space. I don't know if there was an instruction from Tuchel to just clear the ball, but what happened to the centre-backs? Stones and Guéhi are some of the best at progressing the ball in City, but in this match, they didn't play out from the back normally a single time. Anderson and Kane were dropping deep there. Kane had to drop into the center too much to progress the ball, and he delivered several good passes, but GENIUS Tuchel decided to take off the most dangerous Gordon and bring on as many defenders as possible. He brings on Rashford in the 96th minute, when all was already lost. Why didn't he bring on Rashford right away and keep Gordon on? They would be super dangerous on the counter-attacks. Rashford managed to create danger with a high-speed run in just one minute. You can, of course, also blame the players who couldn't push the ball into the attack. In such moments, I believe they shouldn't have listened to coward Tuchel, they should've been braver and gone on the attack. Look at Spain's game, they continued to attack while leading 2-0. Look at how their CBs played, how they progressed the ball. 19-year-old Cubarsí was braver in progressing the ball than the SUPER EXPERIENCED Stones. Wasn't this the exact reason why Tuchel called him up to the national team, leaving Colwill and Maguire at home? England has no better player for ball progression than Colwill. I think Spain would have destroyed England in the final with a performance like that. Everyone here was talking about Southgate, but he turned out to be much better than Tuchel. I was rewatching the 2022 quarter-final against France quite recently, England looked magnificent there. If not for that ill-fated Kane penalty, who knows what would have happened. Tuchel's cowardice, as rightly pointed out here, was noticeable even at Bayern. Back then, he also bottled it against Real Madrid. Southgate with his boring football now looks like an unbelievable coach...

 

The PL did cut from 22 to 20 a few years after the PL will launched. It’s possible to get that through but cutting the leagues is non starter. No way would league one clubs ever agree to become regional clubs!

 

It won't happen. But frankly it is not even necessary. It is very possible to have players playing less without reducing the number of teams in a league. Just cap the number of games players can play. To say 40, 45 or maybe even 50 club games pr season. Everything helps.

I really don't see why it is so controversial. Why someone like Rice just have to play for 90 minutes + injury time at home vs Wolverhampton.

Another thing that could help is changing tie breaks in the PL, from goal difference to using teams involved, like FIFA do. Then if Arsenal is worried about losing the league to Man City on goal difference, then all they have to do is beat Man City over 2 games. Of course, they may end up being tied, but at least there is a chance they are not..

 

Kick the Welsh clubs out to their own league

 

Agree. The France game is the only knockout game which we've lost where I was actually proud of and I firmly believed at the time that we'd turned a corner

 

There is no way clubs would agree club cap without demanding a major cut on international matches. The risk is when you meddle it backfires and the PFA get their way and international game moves to a once a year thing. .

 

Welsh teams should be in the Scottish league. The Scottish has to few teams. If I remember correctly each team has to play each other 4 times. Makes perfect sense, the anti England league.

 

How can you cut world cup or euros qualifiers? They've already got rid of most friendlies and they're thinking of using the nations league as part of qualifying

 

It’s what the clubs would demand