Tuchel: England have levelled up by taking 'calculated risks'
Thomas Tuchel believes England have unlocked a new level by embracing attacking football and taking more “calculated risks” in their opening Nations League fixtures.
After losing 3-2 to world champions Spain in a thrilling Group A3 opener at Wembley, England responded with three straight victories to all but secure a quarter-final place.
The standout result came in Rijeka, where the Three Lions beat Croatia 7-0 between a pair of wins over Czechia. It was England’s biggest-ever margin of victory against a team ranked in FIFA’s top 50.
That performance was a far cry from England’s subdued World Cup semi-final exit against Argentina, when a 2-1 defeat brought widespread criticism of Tuchel.
Between Anthony Gordon putting England 1-0 ahead and Enzo Fernandez equalising in the 85th minute, England had just 11.9% possession. Since records began in 1966, that was the lowest share recorded by a team leading a World Cup match over a period of at least 10 minutes. Their leading passer during that spell was centre-back Marc Guehi, with six passes.
Tuchel believes the response to that disappointment offers encouragement, with a high-energy approach and greater pressure in the opposition half pointing the way forward.
“I have never done a big tournament or a big camp after a tournament,” Tuchel said, as quoted by The Guardian.
“It was new for me and brilliant to see how everyone bought in to the idea of the next steps and the details we needed to adjust, to maybe unlock the next level.”
“It was football at a very high level, football that suits us, attacking football.”
“It was a lot of high-ball wins, and we took some calculated risks in the man-to-man approach in the opponents’ half,” he continued.
“We did it in all four games and we had four good performances, but unfortunately, not four wins.
“We didn’t beat Spain, but it was always about the reaction and that was on a high level.”
Quansah: “Relentless and ruthless”
Defender Jarell Quansah echoed Tuchel’s assessment, stressing the importance of maintaining pressure after taking the lead.
“It’s about being relentless and ruthless,” he said. “As soon as we score a goal, it’s not easing off, it’s going again, going again, trying to get the next goal, trying to put the next player under pressure.
“Everyone’s working for each other. If someone gets outplayed, the next person is into a tackle.”
Quansah also reflected on his dismissal against Mexico at the Estadio Azteca in this summer’s World Cup round of 16. He became only the fourth England player sent off in a World Cup match, following Ray Wilkins against Morocco in 1986, David Beckham against Argentina in 1998 and Wayne Rooney against Portugal in 2006.
His team-mates held on for a memorable 3-2 victory, but the Bayer Leverkusen defender admitted the experience still hurt.
“It was horrible,” Quansah said. “I went into the tackle quite fast so it was a bit unlucky to end up the way it did. Being inside and watching the team pull through was gut-wrenching but an unbelievable moment as well.”
