James Allen

🚨 Let me take you inside the mind of Thomas Tuchel… 💭 Tuchel prioritises profiles over names. Gareth Southgate tried to fit all of the best names into the team to start the Euro's last time around and that resulted in England playing poorly in every game in the entire tournament. Alright, they got to the final, but they were seconds away from being KO'd by nations like Slovakia and Switzerland which would have been a natural disgrace. The media said 'you have to play Foden, Trent, etc'. Tuchel doesn't buy into that primitive way of thinking, and rightly so. He has a tactical system and the players must fit into that. It's a 4-3-3 base with a #6, #8, #10 balance in midfield. Rice has freedom to 'feel the spaces' and play slightly lower than the #10 who must stay high and between the lines. However, the balance in each wide triangle is the priority. On each side, when England have the ball in open play, there must be 1 player high and wide, 1 player high and between the lines in the half space, and 1 player low in a central position at the base of that triangle. This gives England the best possible balance to interchange, combine, rotate, occupy the 5 lanes across the final third, AND maintain compactness in defensive transition in the initial line of counter-pressing and in the second line of managing the defensive transition. Within those triangles, each player must be comfortable in each area (high and wide, in the half space between the lines, and at the base of the triangle) whilst each collective trio offer a balance of showing to feet and running in behind. Take the left triangle, for example. O'Reilly can play in each of the three areas but also run in behind. So can Gordon and so can Rice. On the right, the same is true for James, Saka, and Rogers. With Kane as the #9, England will need players who penetrate the space in behind the defensive line as he drops deep to link play (this might explain why Palmer, for example, missed out). But football is not just a 'with the ball' game. You need to excel defensively, too. Tuchel's England press in a diamond shape from the goal kick. To press zonally, you need reliable defensive players, especially alongside someone like Kane. Saka, Gordon, Rice, and Rogers are some of the most reliable defenders in the game. The same is also true for Bellingham. Gibbs-White would have been closer to selection than Foden and Palmer for these reasons. Not only does he run in behind more, but he is also a much better defender. Similar can be said for Mainoo in midfield over Wharton. Mainoo has played that exact pressing role at the tip of Carrick's diamond at Manchester United, so he is an apt alternative to Declan Rice should he or Elliott Anderson get injured/suspended (Rice could then play in the #6 with Mainoo as the #8, for example). England also try to transition into a man-to-man press at times or they defend low in a 4-4-2, and they do this via a central rotation (centre back jumps to the #10, #6 jumps to the #6, and the #10 jumps to the centre back – think Guehi, Rice, and Rogers). Tactical discipline and collective balance relative to Tuchel's system is why he has made some eyebrow raising selections. He likes Spence at fullback because he can play in the 3 lanes in the left triangle and provide cover at right back if James/Livramento get injured. Burn can also provide cover at left back in that context. Someone like Henderson in midfield is unlikely to get many minutes (if any), especially because Rice is versatile to play in the #6 and #8, but his presence is crucial in the camp because of his leadership qualities. Similar can be said for Dan Burn. Levi Colwill is a better player than him, but Burn is #1) heavily underrated and #2) an incredible standard setter and character. Harry Maguire will feel unfortunate to have been left out because he profiles similarly to Burn whilst being a better player, but he is not as versatile to cover at left back in case of an injury crisis. Quansah is also positionally versatile. It could even see Reece James play in midfield at some point because of the presence of lots of right back profiles in the squad (Konsa included). An argument can certainly be made for a guy like Harry Maguire to be in the squad over John Stones, for example, and I can see that, but the reality is Stones also happens to be a special player who has incredible experience at the highest possible level. Tuchel has had the luxury to leave out Maguire, Shaw, Foden, Bowen, Gibbs-White, Trent, Wharton, Palmer, Colwill, Hall, and others I'm sure that I'm forgetting like Welbeck and Calvert-Lewin… there was always going to be uproar or unhappiness at certain choices with that level of depth at his disposal. However, from Tuchel's perspective, he strives for balance relative to his system and style of play. I think it's a risk to not bring another left-footed fullback over someone like Spence, for example, as that can negatively impact build-up dynamics as he gets trapped on his right foot (especially with Guehi being right footed on the left too), but outside of that the squad makes a lot more sense to me than it seems to to the average person… Tuchel will give England balance at the World Cup and they are one of the favourites to win it because of that. They have always had the talent, but now they have guaranteed tactical balance on top of that. Something Southgate failed to provide at crucial moments in previous tournaments (despite doing a good job overall).