After the World Cup, Thomas Tuchel was asked whether he had seen his vision of England realised during the tournament. The answer was hesitant and unsure. Over the summer the Three Lions had found ways to win, but they often leaned on scrappy moments of individual brilliance rather than any methodical dominance. Tuchel, though, had a clear picture of the type of team, the tactics and the patterns he wanted.
He and his assistant coach Anthony Barry have often spoken about borrowing ideas from the Premier League, and England tried to execute several of them at the World Cup: building up short, enticing pressure, and playing quickly across the middle of the pitch — whether through powerful carrying or long balls — to find runners in attack against fewer defenders. Those attempts met with varying levels of success.
During the recent international break, much of what was seen at the World Cup persisted. But there were also deliberate changes in both tactics and personnel, with the 53-year-old Tuchel looking to refine his blueprint rather than rewrite it from scratch. The most obvious shift is in the build-up. Rather than leaving that work to two central defenders and a holding midfielder, as England did at the World Cup, Tuchel has committed an extra player to the central unit. Two central midfielders and two central defenders now look to solve problems against pressing attackers, with the shape fluctuating between a 2-2 and a 3-1.
From that base, with Marc Guehi and Ezri Konsa sitting behind Myles Lewis-Skelly and Elliott Anderson, Lewis Hall advanced into a higher position on the left. Seconds later Anderson pulled wide into the space a wide centre-back would normally occupy in a back three, creating the 3-1 look, and Lewis-Skelly, on the ball in the middle, found him in space.
Tuchel has praised Alex Scott, who took turns with Lewis-Skelly to partner Anderson in the heart of midfield during Declan Rice’s absence. Either player filled the role of busy partner for Anderson, bringing technical quality and the ability to take turns as a lone holding midfielder, and both proved successful. Anderson, who sat at the base of midfield for much of the World Cup, has been deployed in a more varied role as a result. With Scott or Lewis-Skelly collecting the ball from the centre-backs, he drops to form part of the back three alongside Guehi and Konsa, giving him time and space to face forward and use his forward passing to find attackers quickly. He has also pushed higher up the pitch on occasion, with the protection of his midfield partner behind him, allowing him to show his attacking quality.
That ambition is part of a wider improvement. “We’ve always played with high energy and a very aggressive style off the ball, to press high,” Tuchel said. “Now we have added another layer. [Now, our] intensity was very high on the ball. We did a lot of high intensity runs, a lot of counter movements, and invested a lot in counter pressing. It’s the next step.”
The shape itself has evolved. At the World Cup it looked like a 4-3-3 on paper: two centre-backs and a holding midfielder formed a triangle, and on each flank a central midfielder, full-back and winger formed another, with Harry Kane roaming. Those wide triangles were the main method of chance creation, reliant on constant movement to make England hard to track. It often got England’s winger one-against-one, but teams could match them man for man out wide, especially as they tired and the off-ball runs that shed markers became rarer.
The recent 3-1-3-3 shape in possession has given England an extra player at the back while apparently improving their attacking dynamics. The wide centre-back now contributes out wide, and the full-back, winger and number ten work together, often joined by one of the strikers or a holding midfielder. Those five players create a numerical advantage on the flank, seen most often down England’s left. Defensively it puts more players around the ball to counter-press with greater intensity and win it back quickly; offensively it leaves an unmarked player or two, and by overloading one side England pull opponents across, opening a switch to the opposite side — often two against two.
Against the Czech Republic, Kane dropped into a left-back position to overload the left, dragging the Czech team across. With the pitch congested on that side, Anderson looked to switch play, and three quick passes later England found a spare man in Trent Alexander-Arnold in space on the right.
Hall has stood out in this system, showing fine chemistry with former club team-mate Anthony Gordon. Hall holds a wide position, which lets his winger move infield closer to the striker — often becoming the free man. Tuchel has highlighted England’s counter-movements, and the swapping and replacing of zones between Hall and Gordon is a good example. The best example, though, has probably been Kane and Gordon. Gordon hugged the touchline for much of the World Cup, released in behind before crossing rather than finding space in the box. England’s wide overloads and Hall’s role have drawn him more central for longer spells, letting him work more closely with Kane. With Kane dropping deep and pulling defenders out of position, Gordon uses that trigger to run the opposite way into the vacated space. The idea is not new — Jude Bellingham and Morgan Rogers have previously found joy exploiting it — but Gordon has been the latest beneficiary while starting out wide. His narrow runs from a wider starting position have been mirrored by Saka and Rogers on the other side.
On the right, Trent Alexander-Arnold started against the Czech Republic and took a wider position for large parts of the game, pushing Saka almost permanently into an inside-right role. From there Saka looked dangerous and provided a goal threat, while Alexander-Arnold assisted Gordon with a cross from out wide. Even so, the Real Madrid defender was benched for Jarrell Quansah against Croatia, the pair having started together against the Czech Republic.
Against Croatia, Saka similarly found himself in central areas when Quansah held the width but played as a winger when Quansah moved centrally. In both cases, Quansah was sure to make repeated runs beyond his winger.
If asked to summarise Tuchel’s England in one idea, runs off the ball would be a good answer, and that may be why Alexander-Arnold has found it difficult to nail down a place. “Trent is a unique player,” Tuchel said. “He is not a runner. He is not someone who runs through the last line, who does overlaps [and] underlaps. [Saka and Trent] need to find a way to not be too static. On the right side, [we need] movement through the last line – to play with dynamic movement.”
Irrespective of his running, Alexander-Arnold’s work on the ball across both games caught the eye, and he has shown promising signs when it comes to off-ball movement. For other coaches that alone might have guaranteed him a starting spot, but what is evident is that for Tuchel there are underlying principles that take precedence. In the past England were accused of being a team of world-class individuals without a system. Tuchel, more than ever, is looking to land on a world-class system — and it is up to the players to convince him of their role in it, even as it evolves.