Дэлхийн аварга шалгаруулах тэмцээний хагас шигшээд Аргентинд хожигдож тэмцээнээ өндөрлүүлсэн Английн шигшээ багийн тоглолт болон ерөнхий дасгалжуулагч Томас Тухелийн шийдвэрүүд хөгжөөн дэмжигчдийн дунд багагүй шүүмжлэл дагууллаа. Тэргүүлж явсан тоглолтынхоо хоёрдугаар хагаст тактикийн өөрчлөлт хийсэн нь үр дүнд хүрээгүй бөгөөд Тухель тоглолтын дараа өгсөн ярилцлагадаа Английн хөлбөмбөгчид бөмбөг эзэмшин тоглолтыг удирдах “ДНХ”-гүй гэж мэдэгдсэн нь олны дургүйцлийг төрүүлэв.
Сүүлийн таван жилийн хугацаанд Английн Премьер лигт эрчимтэй прессинг, стандарт байдлаас оноо авах, мөн төвийн хамгаалагчдыг жигүүрт тоглуулах зэрэг шинэ чиг хандлага давамгайлах болсон. Тус лигт гадны тоглогчид дийлэнх хувийг эзэлдэг нь англи хөлбөмбөгийн хэв маягт өөрчлөлт оруулж, хувь тоглогчдын ур чадвараас илүүтэй багийн эрчимтэй, хурдтай тоглолтыг чухалчлах болжээ.
Үүний улмаас Фил Фоден, Коул Палмер, Трент Александр-Арнольд зэрэг чадварлаг тоглогчид шигшээ багтаа өмнөх үеийнх шигээ гялалзаж чадахгүй байна. Түүнчлэн, Деклан Райс болон Эллиот Андерсон нарын дунд шугам Аргентинтай хийсэн тоглолтод тактикийн хувьд тогтворгүй байсан нь Английн шигшээ багт бөмбөг эзэмшилтээр тоглолтыг удирдах туршлагатай төвийн хагас хамгаалагч дутагдаж байгааг харууллаа.
Тухелийн хувьд тоглолтын дараах хурц мэдэгдэл нь хэвлэл мэдээллийн хэрэгслээр шүүмжлэл дагуулсан ч, энэ нь Английн хөлбөмбөгийн өнөөгийн нөхцөл байдалд өгсөн бодитой дүгнэлт байв. Одоогийн байдлаар Английн шигшээ багт Жүүд Беллингхэм, Харри Кэйн нарын довтолгооны хүчирхэг бүрэлдэхүүн байгаа хэдий ч, дунд шугамын бүтээлч байдлыг сайжруулах нь дараагийн томоохон тэмцээнүүдэд амжилт гаргах гол түлхүүр болох юм.
Дэлгэрэнгүй эх сурвалжийг харах
Эх сурвалжийг нээх ↓
Most England supporters have never seen them perform so well at the World Cup, yet most England supporters seem angrier than ever about the manner of their exit from this summer’s World Cup.
A semi-final defeat to Lionel Messi’s Argentina by the odd goal, on paper, is an acceptable outcome for England’s campaign. But head coach Thomas Tuchel’s tactical and personnel changes in the second half of that game were unpopular, and his comments afterwards were even more so.
“You need to get back on the ball — otherwise, you cannot break the pressure, and you cannot get the momentum back,” he said after England failed to hold onto a 1-0 lead, conceding twice late on. “Ball possession plays a crucial role; it’s maybe not in our DNA like it is in Spanish DNA or in Argentinian, Brazilian DNA, to take the ball and control the game with the ball.”
Cue outrage back in England. ‘Does Tuchel think he’s working with a non-League side?’, etc.
But it’s worth pausing to consider what English football has become all about over the past half-decade.
There have been three particularly notable trends.
The first is the surprise shift by Pep Guardiola and Mikel Arteta — two classy deep midfielders in their playing days and managers who broadly want to dominate possession — to often fielding a back four comprised solely of centre-halves.
Guardiola did it often on Manchester City’s run to Champions League glory in 2023, and Arteta has dabbled with it throughout the last couple of seasons as Arsenal have evolved into title winners. It hasn’t necessarily been their default approach, but it indicates an evolution in the style of English football.
The second is the overwhelming focus on set pieces.
Last season’s Premier League, at times, seemed to be about a territorial contest to earn dead-ball situations in dangerous positions. Long throws and inswinging corners were back in fashion.
And third, perhaps above all else, is the overwhelming focus on intensity.
The concept of pressing is, for some managers, the primary focus in terms of both defence and attack. Attackers who can create chances with a moment of magic, and midfielders who can control possession, have become less desirable than they were five to 10 years ago.
This is now the defining feature of the Premier League.
There have been slight rises in sprinting distance in the four other major European domestic leagues, but the English top flight has gone sprints-crazy, and its matches have become increasingly frantic.
None of these has suggested a shift towards possession football.
And all this, strangely, is despite the fact that, 1) around 70 per cent of Premier League players in recent seasons have not been English, and 2) that only one of its 20 clubs were managed for the entirety of the 2025-26 campaign by an Englishman. There is something deep-rooted about playing football in England.
At the same time, followers of the national team have almost become conditioned to think this generation of footballers is on a different technical level to those who came before. And by now, it probably should be.
Three years ago, for example, the expectation was that England would have approached the 2026 World Cup with a plethora of attacking talent that included Phil Foden, Cole Palmer, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Jack Grealish (briefly English football’s golden boy, let’s not forget) and Mason Mount (who, for all his recent injury problems, back in 2021 assisted the winner in the Champions League final under Tuchel and then started the European Championship final less than two months later).
You can certainly make arguments that a couple of the above should have been included in Tuchel’s World Cup squad, of course, but all have looked a shadow of the player they were going into previous tournaments with England. There are individual mitigating circumstances — Mount’s injuries, Alexander-Arnold’s move to Spain last summer — but it’s worth reflecting why so many technically outstanding players have lost their mojo. This wasn’t as good a generation as we all expected it to be.
Could an English coach have achieved what Tuchel has?
Adam Crafton and Adam Leventhal
Besides, England still don’t have a genuinely reliable, experienced central midfield passer. Two years ago, they reached the Euros’ final despite having absolutely no idea who should partner Declan Rice there, and their performances throughout the tournament were extremely scrappy and disjointed. Manager Gareth Southgate tried full-back Alexander-Arnold and Conor Gallagher in that role before settling for teenager Kobbie Mainoo, based on his half a season as a regular for Manchester United at senior level.
The emergence of Elliot Anderson has been a huge positive for successor Tuchel, and the recent Manchester City signing was the natural partner for Rice at this tournament. But Anderson is actually at his best when allowed to maraud forward to the edge of the opponents’ penalty box, as is the case with Rice.
Anderson adjusted well to a deeper position, and maybe that will be his long-term future. But he wasn’t a natural partner for Rice as a sitting midfielder, evidenced by the fact that his role changed three times in the 2-1 win over DR Congo in the round of 32, alternating between a deep-lying No 6 and a central No 8 role as England came from a goal down to win. Against Argentina in that semi-final, Anderson pushed higher while Rice sat a little deeper, the reverse of the previous arrangement.
The English game is continuing to produce midfielders in the box-to-box,all-action, all-rounder style.
The likes of Alex Scott, who excelled in a high-pressing Bournemouth side, and James Garner, who was sometimes used at full-back for Everton last season, are technically talented but also fit that mould. There’s probably no other way to succeed as a modern Premier League midfielder, but England ultimately need more to take the next step at major tournaments.
Some will point to Mainoo — who, for all his talents, seems on about his fourth different era of being in or out of favour for both club and country — or Crystal Palace’s Adam Wharton. It’s worth remembering that these players are 21 and 22 years old respectively, and neither is entirely convincing without possession, in a positional sense, at this early stage.
Adam Wharton (left) and Kobbie Mainoo are two of England’s brightest midfield hopes (Stu Forster/Getty Images)
Deep central midfielders often peak very late, when they are experts at reading the game.
Wharton, in particular, has been completely miscast. He is a player who tries ambitious passes and therefore gives away possession regularly. There’s nothing wrong with that, but his pass completion rate last season was 79 per cent — about three per cent below the average across the Premier League — so the idea Wharton would be a surefire way for England to dominate possession seems a little misplaced.
Ultimately, Tuchel isn’t wrong about the DNA.
You can make the argument that he’s failed to change that DNA, although the impact an international manager can have over such an established playing style, in a short period of time, is questionable. You can also make the argument that he shouldn’t have said it, even if it was true; being England manager has become a PR exercise as much as a tactical challenge, and Tuchel has repeatedly flirted with trouble by being rather too honest.
But it wasn’t really a criticism or a dereliction of responsibility. It was a reasonable analysis.
Unlike England’s two previous foreign coaches, Sven-Goran Eriksson and Fabio Capello, Tuchel had worked in England before taking this job, and likes English football culture and the style of play here,
His side at the World Cup — Jude Bellingham running off centre-forward Harry Kane, quick wingers, two No 8s in midfield — incorporated the best elements of English football in attack.
Did Tuchel Waste Harry Kane’s Last World Cup?
A couple of his surprise picks in defence, Dan Burn and Djed Spence, briefly became cult heroes with vital defensive contributions. Tuchel is clearly a keen admirer of Morgan Rogers, and took a chance on John Stones’ fitness, so you can’t say he doesn’t appreciate gifted players.
Tuchel has essentially embraced a technical interpretation of the English style, and taken England to the World Cup semi-finals.
Maybe by Euro 2028, one or more of Scott, Mainoo and Wharton will have become established top-class midfielders, or Palmer, Foden and Alexander-Arnold will have rediscovered their best form, and England will retain possession better.
Either way, after England found themselves running on empty against Argentina following successive gruelling knockout games at altitude in Mexico City and the heat and humidity of Miami, their DNA is likely better suited to a European Championship that is to be largely played on home soil.
