The effort, the spirit and the moments – but are England lacking in quality?

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The effort, the spirit and the moments – but are England lacking in quality?

Thomas Tuchel said you can close the England idea and sell it. Who can sell their loyalty to the big game when it matters.

Coach Tuchel was speaking in a frank interview after winning the quarter final of the World Cup against Norway, where he criticized the way England played and won 2-1.

The disappointment that saw England lose to Argentina in the semi-final that followed, missing out on the men’s World Cup final for the first time since they won the tournament at Wembley in 1966, raised the usual questions about so many misses.

England can add this disappointment to back-to-back Euro final losses and a 2018 World Cup semi-final loss to Croatia, giving strength to the argument that they will always be an “almost” team.

The effort, spirit and ability to produce big moments is admirable but it will only take you so far – in England’s case, not far enough.

A devastating late collapse against Argentina joins a catalog of disappointments now spanning 60 years.

Does England not have perfect quality?

England’s World Cup campaign was led by the high quality of two outstanding players: captain Harry Kane and Jude Bellingham.

Of the Three Lions’ 14 goals so far, Kane and Bellingham have scored 12 between them – six each – with Marcus Rashford and Anthony Gordon also contributing.

Tuchel was hampered by Arsenal duo Declan Rice and Bukayo Saka struggling with illness and injury, reducing the effectiveness of the pair he would rely on.

John Stones remains a class player but is now 32, and elsewhere England are solid and reliable rather than spectacular.

England don’t have the class stamped in the middle of a team like World Cup finalists and European champions Spain or France with their attacking talent, and they don’t have the in-built desire and resilience to beat Argentina, aided by the endless brilliance of Lionel Messi.

It means that their mission is limited, and sometimes saved, by the things that exist at times. It didn’t show up for good play.

When England trailed DR Congo in the last 32, it was Kane’s double that led them far off the cliff. When they were behind against Norway in the quarter-final, Bellingham was the savior with two goals.

It was then that Tuchel might have given the game away when he praised England’s mentality but criticized their lack of quality.

England deserve a lot of credit for their big World Cup win when they came through the Azteca cauldron to beat Mexico in Mexico City, but did they really play well?

Only if you count the 30 minutes of the second half of the 4-2 win against Croatia in their first group game.

England only had 15 minutes left of embarrassment against DR Congo until Kane saved it.

For all the experience in the England team, even with the presence of quality like Rice and Elliot Anderson in midfield, Tuchel’s team lacks the ability to control possession and set goals and tempo against quality sides.

Tuchel said ball handling “plays an important role”.

“Maybe it’s not in our DNA as in the DNA of Spain or the DNA of Argentina or Brazil to take the ball, to control the game and the ball, which is also a big problem,” he said.

“I still think we can show how good football players we are. I think that’s in us, as I see it in training and in all the camps.”

This is why they have failed so many times against teams they are not expected to beat – and indeed when Croatia beat England to leave the field in Moscow in the semi-finals of the 2018 World Cup.

England would consider it harsh, for some reasons, to be called football’s version of the “flat-track bully”, but their record compared to the elite teams when the heat is shown to be weak, either on the pitch or in technical areas. Or both.

If there are statistics that will be used to insult Tuchel’s strategy, and England’s failure to control the game they were leading, it is the one that means that they got 12% between Anthony Gordon which makes them go ahead in the semi-final game in the World Cup after 55 minutes winning Lautaro Martinez in Argentina in three minutes in the game.

Tuchel, in fact, built his England using the Premier League template in style and system, with a back four, midfield anchors in Rice and Elliot, Bellingham in ’10’, then two ordinary men.

All very well – in the Premier League. In the World Cup at the highest level, it is clear that you need others.

England have physicality and a bit of skill, but apart from Kane and Bellingham they have another little X-factor that could serve them well in the big games.

The concern with the Football Association is that they have tried everything.

Tuchel was meant to be the anti-Gareth Southgate, although the same Southgate led England to two Euro finals and a World Cup semi-final.

This German coach was supposed to be a high-quality coach who will make a difference when it matters, and throw away the mantle of conservatism that has gripped England under Southgate.

Tuchel could be that point of difference between a lucky story and a success story.

Instead, with England leading the World Cup semi-final and in control, Tuchel embarked on the kind of retreat that would have many wanting Southgate out of town.

Should Tuchel extend too much?

Tuchel’s England successfully reached the semi-finals, but the par doesn’t win the big prizes. Quality does.

He went to a pragmatic group against another where he understood quality.

Trent Alexander-Arnold was exiled long before the team was named. Cole Palmer and Phil Foden were left out, admittedly after poor seasons with Chelsea and Manchester City. Morgan Gibbs-White has been overlooked after a fine campaign at Nottingham Forest.

And what would England give, at times, of Crystal Palace’s Adam Wharton’s ability to hold and control games with his range of passing?

Wharton may be an international rookie with only four caps, but he has the class and maturity for the big event, as he proved when Palace won the FA Cup and Conference League.

The conundrum is clear. Few would pick a different base for Rice and Anderson, and Bellingham is one of the best in the world at what he does.

Tuchel and England must find something different because what they currently have – or the coach they are using – is once again lacking.

zubairlaghari73 2 hours ago

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