06/09/2025

SPORTS SATURDAY | SEPT 6, 2025

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20/20 vision Tuchel has clear plan for England but one major change needed T HOMAS TUCHEL says England’s players need to “drop their club hats” as he insists his true England better now”. The former Chelsea boss added: “We will work on exactly these patterns that we want to see. We need to make them clear, transport them to the players. ‘Stuttgart school’ or whatever! I think there is so much going on on a football field that it is scary. Ű BY MIGUEL DELANEY

England manager Thomas Tuchel looks on during a training session. – AFPPIC

“There is man-marking, there is zonal into man-marking, there is deep blocks, there is back three, there is back four, long throws are back, the long ball from the goalkeeper is back. “Everything is back, and everything changes between matches and it changes even within matches. Change of position is back. Overlapping, underlapping is back. It’s very, very demanding. “Shall we now try to play in Birmingham (Villa Park for Andorra) like we play in Orlando? I think it’s simply not possible. “We will maybe have more intensity, hopefully more sprints in Birmingham – very likely – than we have when we arrive in the USA. “But first of all we need to qualify. I know that everyone expects us to qualify. I expect us to qualify. But we need to do it. “Both teams come now in a deep block. Both teams will play 5-4-1. It’s so difficult to break down a 5-4-1. Almost every team struggles to play against a deep 5-4-1. “And we have to overcome these things first, before we think about a game model for America. “But we cannot wait until we are there. We can then modify our model. But the model starts now.” – The Independent

“And then everyone needs to learn them because we don’t have a lot of time, so they need to be understandable. “And the players need to drop their club hats, the way they play in their clubs, and buy into these ideas and from there we go.” Questioned on how England haven’t yet offered much sign of a new identity, Tuchel promised that would change. “We will see them. I’m very sure because it will be very clear,” said the German. “They involve the different phases of the match. The focus will be on deep build-up when we are on the ball. “The focus will be on how to overcome a middle block and, defensively, how do we want to attack and press in the opponent’s half and how do we want to attack and press in the opponent’s half and how do we want to defend ourselves in the middle block.” Asked about playing his classic pressing game – “the Stuttgart school” – in the stifling heat of the States, Tuchel said that the game itself is now too varied. “I think there is no more

football team will start to be seen over this international break, but admitted that the Club World Cup has influenced his thinking on preparation for a hot summer next year. Tuchel acknowledged the team would not be able to play in the same way in different parts of America, as he marvelled at just how much variety there is in the international game now. He said that the camp for matches at home to Andorra (Sunday 12.01am Malaysian time) and away to Serbia (Wed 2.45am) will primarily be about developing a plan to open up a 5-4-1 low block, but also while incorporating it into a longer-term system. Tuchel said that one consequence of a difficult June break was to strip down the squad, as he also stressed that all decisions – like leaving out Trent Alexander Arnold – were ultimately “competitive”. England narrowly beat Andorra 1-0 before losing a home friendly 3 1 to Senegal, but the manager felt that was mostly due to the fractured nature of the camps and said “I understand international football

CRAIG B ELLAMY promised Wales would improve after his side had to“dig in”to beat Kazakhstan and top their World Cup qualifying group. Kieffer Moore’s close-range winner secured a tense 1-0 win in Astana and took Wales above North Macedonia in the race for a place in next year’s finals in Canada, Mexico and the United States. But Wales had to ride their luck 3,000 miles away from home as Kazakhstan had numerous chances to equalise and twice struck Karl Darlow’s crossbar in the second half. “It was hard work, you could see that we knew it beforehand,” manager Bellamy told BBC Wales . “Kazakhstan’s a very difficult place to come, it has been for international teams and also British clubs. “You could see why today as well. Also being in September our rhythm… you could see at times they are in the middle of their season. It’s not excuses, it’s just reality. “I knew it was going to be really hard. We had to dig in. You have to do that in qualifiers and we were able to do that. “But we’ll be better for this. We’re a better team than what we showed consistently.” Wales host Canada in a Swansea friendly on Wednesday before turning their attention to World Cup action again next month. Third-placed Belgium – who have games in hand on Wales and North Macedonia – visit Cardiff City Stadium on Oct 13 in a game destined to have a crucial bearing on the final outcome. Only the group winners will qualify automatically for the finals, with the runners-up going into the playoffs in March. Bellamy said:“I am not thinking about Belgium yet, we have Canada to play first. The next game is the most important. “I want to see a higher intensity, more legs in our players. Reactions better, second balls. Lot of the habits that have made us a good team. “We had parts of it, but it wasn’t consistent enough to be the team we want to try and be. But we will take the win.”– The Independent Wales will improve, promises Bellamy

O’Neill says players ‘got the message’ at half-time

Northern Ireland’s Shea Charles (top) celebrates scoring their second goal with Justin Devenny. – REUTERSPIC

MICHAEL O’ N EILL said his Northern Ireland players “got the message” in his half-time team talk before going on to secure the 3-1 win they needed against Luxembourg to start their World Cup qualifying campaign on a positive note. On the ground where they blew a 2-0 lead to draw 2-2 in the Nations League only 10 months ago, Northern Ireland failed to build on an early goal from Jamie Reid, with O’Neill’s frustration at some poor passages of play obvious long before Aiman Dardari brought Luxembourg level. But after some home truths in the dressing room at half time, Northern Ireland needed less than 30 seconds to retake the lead through Shea Charles and,

when we play forward quicker and earlier. “We stopped doing that (in the first half), we didn’t win enough of the one-on-one situations, we didn’t compete enough… “We were a little bit sluggish after we scored in the first half. We told them they needed to lift it, basically. We needed to play with the structure that we talked about this week. “I think they got the message clearly at half-time and we got the result and the performance that we wanted in the second half.” Northern Ireland could have scored twice before Reid tucked in the rebound from Isaac Price’s saved penalty in the seventh minute, with Ali McCann having the first shot at goal before Reid was denied by Anthony Moris. But having taken the lead Northern Ireland lost control of the game. “(The goal) gave us a great start but I think we maybe thought the game may have been easy then, and that was the problem,” O’Neill said. “Credit to Luxembourg, they came into the game and the equaliser was coming. “I felt we didn’t handle the ball well, we dropped a gear and they were deservedly level. We caused a lot of our own problems.” – The Independent

moments after Seid Korac was shown a second yellow card, Justin Devenny scored a decisive third. “We worked hard this week on our structure and our build-up play,” O’Neill said. “We won’t be a team that will keep the ball and play through the opposition’s press particularly well, we’re better