15/06/2025

SPORTS 13 ON SUNDAY JUNE 15, 2025

Troubled Lions England have regressed under Tuchel and he has a year left to fix them

it by Senegal. The right-footer Marc Guehi could seem the best option; in Stones’s absence, Ezri Konsa is in pole position on the right. A fit Lewis Hall would add to the left back options; Tuchel certainly cannot bank on a fit Luke Shaw while Myles Lewis-Skelly’s inexperience was a factor on Wednesday. England have more options at right back and yet it has brought two of Tuchel’s stranger choices, first using the midfielder Curtis Jones out of position on Sunday and then the declining Kyle Walker three days later. “After his broken elbow (in April) he lost his rhythm,” Tuchel said; the con cern should be that the manager did not recognise that he lost his pace some months earlier and that he should have been pensioned off. And, indeed, that Trent Alexander-Arnold was twice over looked. “Trent is Trent. He’s a special player,” said Tuchel, but a special player who only got 26 minutes in the two games. It may only be a theory, but Tuchel could be reluctant to field Alexander Arnold and Lewis-Skelly together, look ing to field one defensive full-back. So far, Reece James looks his preferred option on the flanks. Over a season, the greatest benefit to England may entail complicated deci sions. The Carsley kids, the players given senior debuts by interim manager Lee Carsley, have added to Tuchel’s options. But Noni Madueke was England’s fin est player against Andorra and Morgan Gibbs-White added a spark against Senegal. The sense is that Tuchel likes Morgan Rogers, while Jones, despite an ill-fated week, has still had a decent start to his England career.

A YEAR AGO, England finished their sea son a few minutes from going to extra time in the Euro 2024 final, agonisingly close to the second major trophy in their history. A year before the 2026 World Cup begins, and Thomas Tuchel’s time in charge will come to both its climax and end, their 2024-25 campaign finished with demoralising defeat to Senegal. Over a season, England have an 80% win rate. But they have lost to the two best teams they have faced, Greece and Senegal, and faced none of the favourites for glory in the United States next year. It is a moot point if England have gone backwards since Gareth Southgate’s res ignation. But, having appointed Tuchel to try and win the World Cup, they look fur ther away from it. The short-termism of his contract means his four games thus far may already constitute 20% of his eventual reign, maybe even 25%. The laboured win over Andorra and loss to Senegal have been underwhelm ing at best. “If you know me, then you know after a loss I will never say yes it’s a good start,” said Tuchel. “Never. I will never allow that to myself.” But the idea that taking a world-class manager and bolting him on to a group of players, some of whom are world class at club level, is a shortcut to winning the World Cup is starting to look simplistic. “The job looks always easy from the outside,” Tuchel mused. “There are always millions of football coaches who have an answer and better ideas and I’m far from perfect.” His mistakes and strange decisions illustrate as much. It gives him a year to fix England. There are so many issues it can be hard to know where to start. A collective lack of chemistry, of the fluidity and fluency the best teams exhibit, can be a recurring theme for England. They lacked crea tivity against Andorra. They have played in

many of the potential No. 10s he accom modates. If he continues prioritising wingers who can offer width and run in behind defences – something England lacked in Euro 2024 – there is only room for one in the team. Eberechi Eze was one of the better players against Senegal and played the full 90 minutes; Cole Palmer was more subdued against Andorra. The competition for places could mean that, unless Phil Foden recaptures form, he is squeezed out of the squad. In attack, Tuchel tried to argue that Ivan Toney’s three-minute cameo in Nottingham was longer, given stoppage time, and that he had a specialist role in the last few minutes. Perhaps, though it will be instruc tive if he really sees Ollie Watkins as the deputy to Kane, or if joining Chelsea will give Liam Delap that status. So far, England’s reliance on Kane is underlined by the scorers: the captain has four of the seven goals under Tuchel, the vast array of attacking midfielders and wingers just one.

Tuchel has little time on the training ground to address that while the depth of English talent gives reasons to rotate and experiment, but can come at a cost to cohesion. It will be instructive if he settles on a small core and gives them the vast major ity of minutes. Some felt wasted in the last week. Jordan Henderson’s influence behind the scenes is considerable and beneficial; whether he will have enough in the mid field in a World Cup when he turns 36, however, is dubious. Yet Conor Gallagher’s performance against Senegal showed he remains lim ited in possession. Playing what

strayed too close to a 4-4-2 for mation on Wednesday, England allowed them selves to be outnumbered while they don’t have a natural passer in the mid dle of the pitch. Adam Wharton could have been a candidate but Tuchel overlooked him in March and he was unavailable this time around. With England Bellingham could be propelled into contention by his move to Borussia Dortmund. “It works well in his family,” smiled Tuchel, a for mer Dortmund man ager. Part of the dilemma, of course, is where he deploys the first Bellingham to go to Dortmund: as a cen tral midfielder or further forward as Harry Kane’s sidekick. And part of the tactical question for Tuchel is how short of compelling central-midfield options, Jobe

And yet Senegal’s domi nance in Nottingham sug gested the bigger prob lems may lie in defence. John Stones remains the out standing English centreback; for all four of his tourna ments. Tuchel is not guaranteed to have such luck. The cupboard can otherwise look bare. Southgate was for tunate an injury prone player was fit

The same might not be true of Tuchel. On Tuesday, he had argued England would raise their game if plunged into a competitive tie against Spain or Portugal. He must hope so. Because the evidence from this week was that England are regressing when they needed to progress. – The Independent

Tuchel wants a left-footed cen treback but Dan Burn was exposed on the ball against An d o r r a and Levi Colwill off

straight lines too often. They don’t always bring the intensity of the Premier League to the international stage.

England’s Jude Bellingham (left), manager Thomas Tuchel, and Ivan Toney. – REUTERSPIC