FIFA World Cup 2026: England Tournament Thread [R]

Which is even more bizarre because when he did change things it required a much more dramatic change to team shape and instruction than Saka for Rogers ever would have.

And as much as he badly managed the period we we were winning, the biggest crime was not changing anything after the equaliser. I'm convinced if we bought two attacking changes on immediately after the goal to restore balance to the side, Argentina would have sat off for fear of over commiting and accepted extra time.

 

Copa America is basically a three team tournament. Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay have won 40 of the 48 finals between them.

 

Sorry but scoring six goals in a game with zero jeopardy against a French team who only tried in the second half doesn't make up for that last half hour in midweek. Makes it worse actually and raises so many questions. The main one being why Saka didn't get a minute v Argentina?

— Alex Crook ⚽️🎙 (@alex_crook) July 19, 2026

Ignore the wider point about the game against Argentina and Saka, I’ve no problem with that but what bugs me here and you see this throughout the English mindset implies the only reason we were 4-0 up was because France couldn’t be arsed ( I’m guilty of it also ). I wonder why we automatically just have this thought process when in reality I don’t think the England players particularly cared either or is it the fact we were winning meant to mean we really, really care. Any opportunity to downplay ourselves we will do it.

 

There's a balance to be struck right, obviously basically nothing is going to make up for the semi-final, but the reality is Tuchel is going to be here till the Euro's, and England certainly weren't going to sack him regardless of the 3rd place match. So we might as well at least hope he has learned from Argentina going forward and will take on those lessons.

We can be skeptical that he will, but it is reality there's nothing beyond that we can do, and with that in mind we should be happy with the wins. Even if it was just a friendly equivalent, winning a friendly equivalent against France is still positive. People certainly would have held a loss in that game against him, if we're being fair about it. They certainly did against Southgate for the loss against Belgium in 2018.

 

If you asked neutrals before the match, 95% would have France as heavy favourites based on the respective lineups. Id don't put much weight behind the result, but saying they simply didn't care is way to simplistic.

 

Yes, of course, I just forgot him and everybody else after Ramsey.Whose results outside wining the world cup was pretty awful.In the 70's in was particularly bad. While English club teams with mostly English players dominated what was CL back then, England could not even qualify for tournaments We even had a coach that did not even know that goal difference was a tie breaker, so while the opposition worked on the goal difference, we just played as normal. Tuchel is of course not worse than anyone between Ramsey and Robson.

 

France didn't care in the first half, England didn't care in the second half, well for a bit and then they cared a again. Asinine analysis whichever way you look at it.

 

Brian Clough was a brilliant coach and manager. He even wanted to be England coach, and if he was he would probably have won a trophy. But the FA did'nt want him. He was to colorful and not grey enough. He talked to fast and to loud and used some words the FA did not like.

England winning trophies was and maybe still is not that close to the top of FAs priorities. And certainly below the criteria of having grey coaches.

 

Its funny how before the tournament there was this competition between Rogers and Bellingham for the No. 10 spot. This was of course resolved. But seems like Tuchel was not done with that. He somehow needed to revive Rogers as a main starter. And right wing was the position he chose to sacrifice, where everyone else knows Saka when fit, is clearly is well above anyone else.

And yes this will probably continue going forward. Maybe back to the battle of the number 10 spot.

 

Even by your standards, this is honestly the worst thing I've ever seen you post on here.

 

I think starting Rogers didn't turn out to be ridiculous, he did make the goal after all. Not bringing Saka on was ridiculous.

I don't think Rogers is in the fight with Bellingham for the ten spot anymore unless Bellingham has some incredible drop off in form.

 

Sadly to be honest, after the equaliser. I don't think much could have been done, to turn things around. We had collapsed, physically and mentally empty. We had nothing.

Tuchel panicking and picking Rogers over Saka, it started a chain reaction, that together with our team being physically and mentally fatigue, ended with our demise.

Even if the coach has an extremely bad day. It is still possible to win, if the players bail us out. And they tried, but it was to much.

 

4 plus Europe and/or Carabao cup matches for every PL team before it’s announced. Team will come out on Friday 18th September at probably 10am as that is what Tuchel likes.

 

The Secret Scout couldn’t make his mind up. I have another example of the differences taken in the same match scenario:

Wow wow wow!

Absolutely stunning!

Look at this football!

Olise Mbappe wow

— TheSecretScout (@TheSecretScout_) July 18, 2026

The secret scout waxing lyrical about France in this game meanwhile…

Come on, it’s a dead rubber

— TheSecretScout (@TheSecretScout_) July 18, 2026

When someone gave some praise to Rice it’s insignificant because ‘ it’s a dead rubber ‘! It’s not important but a bit hypocritical to base the same game with two different metrics for both teams. Just something we seem to be very good at doing probably subconsciously.

 

Mainoo felt a sharp pain in his back?

I bet there is a picture of Tuchel with a knife

 

Still not a lot of time to make an impact unless they fly out of the traps.

 

🚨🚨| JUST IN: Harry Kane was caught by a lip reader saying after England's win over France - "That was some great work. It's a shame we didn't play like this the other day."

[@DailyMirror] pic.twitter.com/ILB2KDLoba

— CentreGoals. (@centregoals) July 19, 2026

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/footbal...off_tw_post_that-left-england-blaming-tuchel/
According to this article the players were puzzled at Saka getting no minutes in the semi and didn’t agree with Konsa being dropped because he had played well and some thought he was their lucky charm. Players were also confused after half time during the Norway match by Tuchel’s tactical changes. Also Tuchel apparently genuinely took Henderson as back up to Rice and Anderson. Article says they is speculation John McDermott and Dan Ashworth helped to encourage Tuchel to fill 24-26 with good tourists. And that the Florida camp was boring except for the golf fans like Kane and D Henderson. And that the weather wasn’t as hot and humid as expected. And when they got to Kansa the hotel pool was too small. Also Kyle Walker is still puzzled by how quickly he was frozen out last year.

 

Must be the secret Scottish or Irish scout.

 

I know. Changes will be restricted to whose who were called up last Autumn and/or in March but did not go the World Cup plus Ngumoha. Unless there are lots of injury issues or retirements in certain postions,

 

“It’s incredible that people can’t be convinced that a ball didn’t touch any cable… A graph was shown where, when a player or an object touches the ball, a peak is visible,” insisted Collina.

“In that case, a flat graph was seen from the moment the goalkeeper released the ball until the other player controlled it. There was only a slight wave, related to the air. The same applied to the ball’s rotations, and the camera also remained stable. There are technological tools that allow you to clarify certain things.”

“And if the goal is confirmed, there’s a second celebration; if it’s disallowed, the opposing team celebrates. I find it much fairer that emotion is based on a correct decision, rather than an incident destined to be debated for weeks or decades. Even today, sixty years later, people still question whether, in England’s goal in the 1966 final, the ball truly crossed the line…”

When Collina speaks I listen! Those eyes see all!

 

Rogers as a false nine in the Nations League...

 

Felt bloody hot in Florida to me!

Bit of a red herring in the end anyway as they only played one game that was heat affected.

 

We will never know what would have happend if Saka started against Argentina. We could have lost even more badly. But what we do know is that Saka was fit. Must people also consider Saka as the best RW we have. Some might consider Rogers a better RW than Saka. But if we for a moment can assume Saka is our best RW. Now we can look at what top coaches do. They normally play their best players. World Cup winner Deschamps, he starts Olise if fit. Spain coach. He starts Yamal if fit. They would never ever start someone else, because they "need their physicality". Oh and they rarely save the best players neither. But if they do, they do it with a plan. Tuchel could have swapped Rogers for Saka after 45 min. He did not do it. Why because he wanted Rogers instead for the whole game. Not playing your best players, prioritizing something else, it rarely works. It is different from adapting in game to eg fatigue. Koeman did something similar against Morocco. He lost to. People like Koeman and Tuchel does stuff like this. Top coaches rarely do. And if they do. It works.

 

I remember Carsley playing him there for the U21s and him being struggling a bit.

It's going to be interesting with Rogers and where his career goes because I think he's going to have to change his game to be elite.

The role he plays at Villa doesn't really exist in elite teams, hence why his only start for England this summer came in an unfamiliar position.

The chances of him developing the qualities to be an elite 10 are pretty slim at this stage so he'll need to use the qualities he does have as a foundation to develop into a different role.

It sounds like Chelsea have sold him on playing a role off the left which suggests to me they have a better idea of who he is as a player than Arsenal, who likely would've played him as a midfielder - which probably would've resulted in an Eze-like season.

I think his best chance of maximising his career will be if he can develop into an elite production forward. Someone who largely just runs in behind and shoots, cuts inside and shoots etc. Simpler but more effective.

I still think he needs work to even become that though. Nuts how much Chelsea have forked out for him.

 

Henderson’s Instagram post gives the vibe he might not be involved anymore as he says he can’t wait to see what the team does next.