FIFA World Cup 2026: England Tournament Thread [R]

You can obviously never think this way at the time but in hindsight you can argue it would've been better if we'd just lost to DR Congo.

We wouldn't have had the Azteca win which is a memory that will last a lifetime but when you square that with what we're risking in terms of throwing away a home tournament (which some of us may never see again) it might not have been worth it.

 

Scaloni and the Spanish coach didn't have club management experience but they both know how to set a team up. Between them they've won 4 tournaments and are both in the world cup final. If Scaloni could speak good English and was to leave Argentina after this tournament I'd have him in a heartbeat. I'd take carsley because he had us playing some of the best football in years

 

Absolutely bang on! It really make me wonder how the media don’t pick up on these issues. Has anyone from the media even asked him about what he quoted last year about the last Euro’s when he said England looked scared to lose and not being brave enough. There’s just so many flaws with what he says and what’s he’s actually doing on the pitch that it just doesn’t add up.

 

in first the first half of Norway/Argentina any game really they use their physicality pressing to control games once the tank is empty the lack of touches on the ball becomes a problem.

 

Unfortunately I’m not even sure the FA would have pulled the plug then! Not without at least checking if Pep and Howe were available. I don’t think they truly keen on Carsley getting it full time.

 

I am expecting at least one of the likes of J Henderson, Toney and Burn to be called up in September.

 

I think the FA's preference even in that scenario would've been to keep Tuchel, but I think public pressure to get rid would've been seriously intense.

I mean look at how much pressure there is to get rid now, and that's after a semi-final.

 

You keep bring up Norway but England's midfield got worse in the Norway second half precisely because Rice came off with no replacement at the beginning of the half, not a failing of that particular midfield.

Surely having England leading Argentina at 55 minutes in the second half is a job well done for the midfield and you at that point sub off a struggling for fitness Rice - only again with no one to come on for him. Then you undercut the midfield by leaving them outnumbered by putting an extra man in defence.

 

Unfortunately, I agree. Maybe not Toney as I think he was only taken for penalty shootouts. Remember Tuchel said England would have to win two penalty shootouts to win the tournament.

 

it's not for me because first half Norway first half Argentina they did not create anything they just pressed and ran the opposition into retreat. Once the physicality evens out both opposition teams took over. It should not be the case that a midfield trio of players from Bodo and Fulham dominate on the ball against Englands trio regardless of who comes on as a sub.

That may be an issue of not bringing Wharton or whoever else but we are not saying these players don't exist or no English players can play the ball just that Rice Anderson Bellingham are un-balanced and limited on the ball at the highest level as a trio. As runners they are great well ok run yourself into the ground that seems to be working.

Using Eze Rogers James in midfield is part of the problem as well. The entire midfield that was used across the tournament had a fatal flaw. Obviously they have huge strengths too but live by the sword die by the sword. How many times will an England manager gamble with the same notion?

Southgate used Trent in midfield Tuchel used James. Why? Carrick sat on his bum in 2006 so that three number 8s could run around. It's the same thing. Be brave play lesser players that fill their correct positions. Oh look now you have world class like for like substitutes for your number 8.

 

We'll probably play well tonight given that it's a totally meaningless game.

I still think we'll lose as France are a much better team but the implosion we saw against Argentina was largely psychological, I think our players realised that they had one foot in the final and that all they needed to do was not concede and in their minds they could completely stop playing football to achieve that.

 

I'd like to see Trafford get a chance not Henderson. Also give Watkins 45 minutes and mainoo

 

And there is something very wrong with that mindset and this is something that needs addressing at all levels. Mainly starting with grassroots football where you hear parents ( or you certainly used to in my younger days ) shouting to their kids ‘ get rid of it ‘ ‘ boot it out ‘ etc. Until we conquer this fear then we will never really progress.

 

Hard to say what the line ups will even look like. Often teams use this game to give players who didn't play much a chance, but this is Deschamps last game so he may want to go out on a high, and of course Tuchel probably wants to restore some pride after the criticism.

Suspect the golden boot contenders will start anyway.

 

I say again colwill would have been perfect in this defence He's the only one who can play forward key passes

 

Now, you don't need to be a leading physiologist too see that, watching England play some tournaments is enough to learn that this always happends.

Knock out games, its not only about who you play but also about when you play them. It is well known that after 1966 England have an extremely low win ratio against top teams in knock out games. After 1966, in knock out games, against Germany we have 1 win and 4 losses, against Argentina 3 losses, against Portugal 2 losses, against Italy 2 losses, against Brazil 1 loss, against Croatia 1 loss, against Netherlands 1 win, against Spain 1 win and 1 loss.

2 of the wins in the list are by Southgate, and his win ratio in knock outs against the teams in the list was 33%, not great, but a huge improvement compared to other England coaches who all except Venables have win ratios of 0%, zero. That is one of Southgates important improvements. Maybe his dull playing style cost little energy so we could keep going for longer.

Naturally you don't meet top teams in the group stage that often, but in the group stage England has performed well against teams in the list. For example. We beat Germany in 2000, Argentina in 2002, Croatia in 2020 and 2024, we have been fine against France sometimes.

The first time England collapsed was in 1970. It should be well known within the FA, we have a huge drop in performance This looks like it has been ignored by most England coaches. But it is something that needs to be thought about and talked about, how can it be mitigated. One way might be to adopt a low energy cost playing style, but the most obvious way is rotating players. Player minutes is a precious resource that can not be wasted.

The Ghana game was a huge waste in that respect, we used a lot of player minutes for a 0-0. If we have saved players and still gotten a 0-0, it would have been perfectly fine.

There is a quote about Tuchel saying he considered starting Mainoo against Ghana, but dropped him because "he did not look good enough in training". Perfectly sound club manager thinking. But in a world cup, maybe that is a mistake. You should still start Mainoo against Ghana, even if "he did not look good in training", because cost of using someone else is higher.

One of our best players late in the tournament was Anthony Gordon. He looked bad against Croatia, so he featured little in the first four games on average playing less than one half pr game. Then a new Gordon emerged and he was one of our best players. The important point here not being why he did not feature much, but the fact that he did.

And it all goes back to squad selection. There is a limit to have many "fitness/injury risk" players you can have (Livramento, James, Saka, Rice) and also "specialists" (Henderson (off pitch), Burn, Toney). You also need minute crunchers, players that can eat up minutes, so other players don't have to.

So all in all Tuchel got this wrong. He got us to the semi, but by then there was only fumes left in the tank.

If England is ever going to win a tournament, the FA, the coach, we just have to figure out how to fix it. Hoping that it does not happen, it is not enough.

 

I'd go for Trafford Spence ghuei konsa James mainoo Anderson Bellingham rashford kane saka. Its not like we have much depth to do otherwise

 

Mbappe is the only genuine golden boot contender that could play tonight. Bellingham or Kane would each need a hat trick when you take assists into account.

 

https://m.aiscore.com/tournament-kupa-e-botės/p0ndkz6izigq3z1/playerminutesplayed

This link is a list of minutes played across all teams. Harry Kane has the most of any outfield player. Obviously a mistake. Overall it doesn't look like England players have as many minutes in the tank as Spain. That leads to obvious questions. Are Spain fitter; does their football require less physical or mental effort; are they less fatigued from the season? Cucarella has played a lot of football. Rodri was out injured for a lot of the last 2 seasons. Someone might research this properly.

Argentina have clearly rotated a lot more. As have France.

Another advantage of squad rotation is that players are match sharp and ready to go when needed. The one area where England did rotate heavily was the wingers. I struggle to believe we didn't do a straight swap for them on Wednesday.

Rotation must also be good for team spirit.

 

Tuchel should also be called out on his assertion that we would need to win two penalty shootouts to win the World Cup. That is incredibly negative thinking. Argentina and Croatia are the only teams to have won two shootouts in the same tournament. Amazingly they have both done it twice. Argentina are the only team to have won two shoot outs and the World Cup. There have only been 4 shootouts this year, so far. There were only 5 in 2022.

We should be prepared for shootouts but this idea that they're essential to win the tournament is nonsense. The extra round was never likely to go to a shootout because it was likely to be against a 3rd placed team. Also his record in penalty shootouts in finals with club teams is won 2 lost 4.

 

I’d quite like Tuchel to go tbh. I’m already bored of his negativity

 

Spain let the ball do the work. They walk to every throw in every corner they hardly move unless they have to. They also rotate as every player can do the job Fabian Ruiz did not play the early games and now he is starting. Merino Pedri Olmo Ruiz have all started or come off the bench. Of course total distance covered will still be high when they have all that possession but I am sure the intensity of the runs are lower if that can be measured.

Englands wingers and midfield were tasked with running opponents down since the Croatia game.
If Switzerland and France won their games England may have been able to win the world cup with this physical method but we also saw France chase the ball and lose. It's no coincidence that the two most physical teams came up short against the two most technical teams. Tuchel/Deschamps made their bets and they almost worked.

 

On managers for me the most important thing in a future one is actually picking someone who's default mode isn't to go all out defence if they get a lead in big games. We keep asking why it happens again and again and yet we only ever pick managers who are obviously going to do that because its literally how they made their reputations.

There's a lot of talk about this being a England player issue, and to some extent that may be true... But if you looked at every England manager over the past 25 years before they came into the job and were asked "how will they play if England are 1-0 up against a big team".....the answer for every single one of them would have been bunker down and try to hold what they have.

Now if England went in to that game with a manager who wasn't known for that, and we still did it, ok, then its clearly a fundamental issue with the players. But you can't pick that list of managers and suddenly be surprised that they tried to sit on leads in big games.

 

Good point. Why does the FA continue to hire defensive manager after defensive manager?
Capello's brand of football was out of date by 2003.

The continentally successful managers in english football over the last 25 years that have not been defensive were Fergie Pep Klopp. Then there are Tuchel DiMateo and Benitez that were more defensive. That would be a good place to start. Find a manager of that front foot premier club in europe profile.

 

As much as I agree that modern players (everywhere) are playing far too many games and the Prem needs a winter break and should ideally scrap the English League Cup.

I never bought into the theory that England's philosophy always fails, because the players run out of gas late in tournaments being the number one reason. I've always argued that its much more than that.

I'm leaning more towards the argument that once we have to solve the problem of Spain/Argentina/Croatia, our football culture hits its structural ceiling. Its that straightforward, but that explanation requires a much more challenging solution, so people are more reluctant to go down that rabbit hole. Yes the players have had long seasons and are tired from playing club football. But so has everyone else. Argentina have been looking jaded since the the beginning of the knockouts, needed extra time vs Switzerland and had the same amount of recovery. But they still found that extra gear when they needed one, in the 2nd half (on Wednesday).

Similarly, if you look at the France's football philosophy. Its all about using their midfield archetypes (Pogba, Matuidi, Kante, Tchoumeni) to dominate space, then get the ball into the areas of the pitch where their transition monsters (Mbappe, Dembele, Doue) can overwhelm the opposition defence. Again the French system works extremely well against most teams in international football and has a higher ceiling than England's philosophy. However, it begins to hit it's limit when you match it up against Spain and Argentina, and to a lesser extent, even Portugal. But particularly Spain, Deschamps has not been able to solve the Spanish problem in many attempt now. Again, is it because the French players are too tired, when they play Spain? or is it because the French system hits its structural limit once its stress tested against Spain's?