BfB

Beating Andorra 2-0 at Villa Park underlined a problem with The England National team which manager Thomas Tuchel has not the ability to solve, although is charged with doing so.

England’s win was inevitable. The two goals – one in each half – punctuated long periods of England failing to penetrate a defence that rarely broke from its dug in position. Andorra claim a moral success of sorts. Well done to them, they can win the Moral World Cup if they keep that up.

England and Tuchel move on to Serbia away – a far more difficult and different challenge – and the pains of a Saturday in September in Birmingham are largely forgotten. Perhaps, though, they should not be.

Alternative

Tuchel’s ideas on how to see England perform better against a deep set defence have largely failed. Adding Declan Rice as an Advanced Six to break up defensive possession deeper in the visitor’s half had limited returns.

Watching Eberechi Eze not even break into a fast jog in the number ten position so much was the field tilted to England seemed to suggest a solution, that Eze be allowed to play deeper and charge forward, but that feels more like tactics on the back of a fag packet than a way of playing.

Breaking down a deep defence is hard, England do not do it well, and Tuchel has not improved that. Faster passing in tighter, more dangerous, spaces is how that problem is solved, but that has risk that is intolerable when the alternative a routine 2-0 victory anyway. Tuchel, with a contract until the summer of 2026, may never play a game like this again.

Solution

The problem will remain for England, though, and it is a problem of perception. The idea that there is a solution to deep-seated defences – which there is – and that that solution is worth pursuing – which it is not – is prevalent. It is not that England must be exciting, it is that they must be a part of exciting matches, and Tuchel has no control over that.

There is much to be said, as an approach to playing a team who are more able than you are, in making sure that the contest remains in the balance as long as possible. When managers talk about “being in the game” they mean that a single goal would change the result, and when teams are doing well it is noticeable how rarely are they two or more goals behind. This is how you handle a disparity.

The disparity in teams creates this problem, and the solution is not found in passing the problem around whomever could be given the role of England manager. Indeed, Tuchel did not explicitly say when following Gareth Southgate that he would solve this apparent problem.

This did not stop him being assumed to be able to do that, and no one was prepared to say he could not.