- 5 months ago
Adam Clery breaks down the tactics Thomas Tuchel will use with England at the 2026 World Cup. How they'll use Harry Kane, if Declan Rice or Jude Bellingham can make a difference, and why players like Phil Foden and Cole Palmer were left at home.
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00:00right hello everybody welcome to new york city this is home for acfc for the foreseeable and
00:08what we are foreseeing today is is it coming home that's all the intro you need
00:20all right so i'll do all the housekeeping at the end of the video because as you can see
00:24very new very exciting very uh sweaty i do want to talk about that but what you're actually
00:29here for is this and this is not what started against costa rica i suspect it'll not even be
00:36what starts against croatia but in this 11 here new table also very nice um i think you have the
00:43neatest summation of thomas tuckel's england and what it will ultimately look like at this world
00:49cup so the question here today is what is that what does he want what's the plan i'm going to
00:54give
00:54you the old cheat sheet straight off the bat and we'll break down uh all the individual elements
01:00because this is the most tactically ambitious and elite looking england you might ever see right
01:07for the following reasons number one controlled possession but not like 800 passes uh and a
01:14scented candle possession with purpose like the elite teams are supposed to have number two line
01:21breaking passes from the center backs and crucially elliot anderson so england will look to provoke the
01:28press to manipulate the opposition and then play into the pockets and that's certainly new number three
01:34full backs as swiss army knives playing high playing wide but also playing inside overlapping
01:40underlapping whatever it is england need from game to game and number four and this is the big one
01:47rotational wide triangles it is yep you're right it's not the sexiest thing you've ever heard and i can
01:54already envisage all your friends saying what are you on about you total dork when you pointed out
02:01uh in the pub this summer but it is the quintessential element that thomas tuckel wants to use to take
02:07england from being a load of top players who make a good team to a legitimately top team and to
02:16all of
02:17that we can also add these smaller and more obvious points harry kane being used correctly
02:22pressing but in a sane way and finally uh these boys are tall so set pieces but let us start
02:31from
02:32the back here and show you how all of those points actually work in reality so first we add controlled
02:39possession right specifically with these players here and england have never been better on the ball
02:45than they are right now so at the last euros they averaged 54.9 possession putting them sixth overall
02:52and well behind the teams who are genuinely comfortable on the ball like portugal germany and
02:57spain and under tuckel so far it has been 74.3 possession which is obviously a massive massive jump now
03:06the
03:06caveat here of course yes you're right uh is that they've played a lot of qualifying matches against
03:11teams who are inferior to the sort of ones you would get at a tournament like the euros but still
03:17if you look at the big games they've had japan 70 percent serbia 70 percent uruguay 63 percent
03:24wales 64 percent senegal 61 percent that is clearly no matter who the opposition are a really notable
03:31improvement and the reason they're able to do that is because that second point we made the line
03:37breaking passes from the back like the two center backs the number six and the goalkeeper have always
03:43been very good in possession for england even under gareth southgate but now they're encouraged to be
03:49patient to use that composure and are presented with an ever-changing series of options in front of
03:56them you can see in this sequence here pickford is involved so he's an option anderson has dropped
04:01really deep to take the ball stones has moved up into the next line they're encouraged to explore
04:07different ways to progress the ball forward rather than just holding on to it and in particular elliot
04:13anderson might actually be the most important part of all of this because he offers something england
04:19have never really had he can take the ball even in really crowded areas and look don't get me wrong
04:25it
04:25was only costa rica they played in that last warm-up game but what you saw in that
04:30were all the usual fundamentals of the really really elite teams confidence composure and creativity
04:38when you've got the ball it was very very i'm not getting carried away but encouraging and from there
04:45we move on to point the why how once england have progressed the ball up the pitch do they begin
04:51to play through a press or to unlock a defensive block how do they turn possession into chances
05:00and it all comes down to how tuchel wants to use the two fullbacks nico o'reilly is so perfect for
05:07what this manager wants to do he probably feels like you got him out of a fucking magic lamp he
05:13can
05:13offer you options as a defender like here deep or as a midfielder like here in the block or as
05:20a
05:20forward like here in the final line and you do don't you you see it every single time you place
05:26then you pop up in the back line to give the defense an out ball at the back you'll move
05:30into
05:31the midfield to overload the opposition you'll start box crashing into the final third you can
05:36overlap the winger if he wants to we can underlap the winger and you're starting aren't you to see
05:41it here because this kind of player and this kind of movement gives you these wide triangles and he
05:47allows you to start rotating them like here for example right across the course of this move
05:53all three of the players down the right bellingham madweke and james take up all three of each
05:59other's respective positions they take it in turns to be deep to be wide and to be inside and there's
06:05an argument england might actually be the best team at this entire tournament at doing this specific
06:14thing and if you take nothing else away from this video right let it be this because this is what
06:20you
06:20tend to see from england in the final third elliot anderson will sit with the two center backs
06:25that's your cover that's what breaks up counter attacks and as the fullbacks push up the pitch
06:30they then start linking up with the eights and the wide players and they begin to rotate these
06:38positions around and the reason you do that is because declan rice and jude bellingham are two of the
06:45best players in the entire world if you can use them right or alternatively if declan rice is to drop
06:54out of that area pulling away from his marker that allows nico o'reilly to get out wide maybe you drag
07:01a defender with him and the fullback goes out there that allows marcus rashford or anthony gordon to then
07:06attack the box there's a lot of moving parts it's a lot for a defense to think about and this
07:12might look
07:13or sound pretty obvious but in previous tournaments and i say this even as a card carrying gareth southgate
07:19defender just don't get me started right it was easy for teams to mark england's best players out
07:25of the game by just sticking a man on them and because this was quite rigid like saka couldn't
07:30really come in off the wing neither could foden even though he wasn't really comfortable out there
07:34players like bellingham couldn't really go looking for a lot of space because there was always other
07:39players in it but what tuchel is doing now with these like wide triangles instead theoretically
07:46does address all that and it doesn't like guarantee you anything obviously players still have to go out
07:51there and perform for you but it does theoretically give your better players more opportunities and
07:58better opportunities to go and do their thing and speaking of players going and doing their thing
08:06would we like to play a little game of spot harry kane who has been digitally removed uh from this
08:15still any any guesses where he is yeah no he's uh he's here actually uh in open play and if
08:22that looks
08:22absolutely batshit mental to you i mean it should obviously but that probably says you haven't been
08:29watching uh enough buying munchen and england's biggest problem at the last year was that you had the
08:35best center forward in the whole world at dropping deep and an entire system behind him that required
08:43him instead to constantly try and get him behind to create more pockets of space for everyone else here
08:50but now he's just allowed to go and do stuff like this because you've got bellingham rogers gordon rashford
08:55even nico o'reilly who are all players who feel a genuine tingle in the trouser department at the mere thought
09:03of box crashing a bit of space that a center forward may have left like where does the non penalty
09:09come
09:09from kane drops defenders get confused about what to do gordon attacks the space causes a bit of chaos
09:15wins the penalty for about a minute and even the noni madweke howler where bellingham was rightly getting
09:21all the praise for the pass where is kane what has he left and what is it that madweke is
09:28looking to
09:29attack and it is just so fundamentally what he is good at it's what all of these players are good
09:36at
09:36as well and that is the reason there is no phil foden and there is no cole palmer they are
09:42two
09:42wonderful players but they all want the ball in this exact area of the pitch where harry kane
09:47is on it and they want him instead to be the one making this run and instead this year this
09:55one action
09:55i am doing with my hand that that's thomas tuchel's england and uh as for the smaller points uh we
10:03made yes they will absolutely be pressing very hard off the ball and when they do it'll look a bit
10:09like this jude bellingham will go and join harry kane in the front line deck and rice will jump onto
10:14any player who's in the pocket behind them and then one of the center backs will get up and support
10:18in
10:19the midfield with the other three sort of tucking over it will be very high it will be very aggressive
10:24it
10:24will be very uh fun to watch but thomas tuchel has spoken about the need for their entire game
10:31model even off the ball to be what he calls heat proof which basically means even when they do this
10:38and they will uh do this it can't just be pelting around trying to get the ball back every single
10:45time
10:45you lose it so instead they will use this to get in people's faces but quite often as well you'll
10:51just
10:51see them take the core shape and park it right on the edge uh of their own box and likewise
11:00you look
11:00at the names of some of the players who were not picked by thomas tuchel and instead comparative
11:05players who were picked and the difference between them universally here is their height and that is
11:12because this and again i'm quoting the manager here i'm just pulling this uh out of my ass is going
11:17to be
11:18a premier league style team and they're gonna play premier league style football so in tight games
11:25they will be looking for set pieces to break deadlocks and force teams to come out of deep
11:30blocks which yes very well observed does make them sound an awful lot like arsenal but if you haven't
11:35watched the video we did on how arsenal won the league we spoke about how using set pieces to break
11:43deadlocks is what enabled them to turn last season's draws into this season's wins so what you do is
11:50you take the biggest team you can to help you do that so yeah just in case the point uh
11:56has not been
11:57sufficiently made if england are ever going to look like an elite team at a major tournament it is this
12:05group of players under this manager at this world cup now does that mean that they will
12:16i'd say under the conditions the heat uh it's going to be very difficult for them to do that
12:21for eight games but we mustn't forget it's 35 degrees for both teams tie and if the key players here
12:30so i'm
12:31talking harry kane declan rice elliot anderson maybe even nico o'reilly if they can stay fit and fresh
12:37and firing for the entire tournament they've got they've got a real chance honestly they've got a real
12:45real chance going to my head though which obviously you can do in this country uh i still think it
12:52will
12:52probably be someone mad like brazil or scotland so yes uh that is it and before i depart please take
13:02it all in because this is the acfc nychq try saying that uh in the bath we are here for
13:10the foreseeable
13:10not the whole thing the women of london would have gone uh insane but we have built this studio here
13:16for
13:16our analysis we've built this fun thing uh up on the roof so please do subscribe to us here at
13:22this
13:22channel for tactical analysis of every single england scotland and usa game except for that one day
13:29when there's a clash i don't know which one we're going to do uh yet as well as all the
13:33other major
13:33tactical talking points and another white boy has launched a podcast so that'll be we'll have a lot
13:39of fun with that we're going to invite all the friends we make in new york city to come up
13:43and talk
13:43about whatever it is uh they want to talk about so if you're watching mr mam donnie which i'm
13:50reliably informed you have done at least two or three times genuinely um i am free i am free literally
13:58whenever you are free if you want to come and talk about anything on the roof when you are free
14:03which
14:04is when i will be also free but anyway yes have a lovely world cup subscribe to the channel here
14:10and
14:10also follow me on all the socials uh adam cleary c l e r why i'm away for a shower
14:14now because it is
14:16legitimately about 32 or 34 degrees uh in this apartment and i have sweat clean through everything
14:23so enjoy that enjoy watching that for the next uh for the next month or so goodbye
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