Tuchel’s tactics: tactical lessons in England that we learned from the first games of Thomas Tuchel
The first thing to note on Tuchel is his open discussion on tactical ideas.
Between the two German matches pondered aloud if a 4-1-4-1 formation would “give enough control” or if modern football was too “fluid” for the only rice at the base, “it would be the right thing in a very traditional 4-4-2 4-4-2”, and if using two 10 years would mean its “real wing” “would suffer”.
Those press conferences gave rise to the nickname “Tommy Tactics”, a moniker that highlights a strong turn from Southgate, often criticized for his lack of tactical acumen.
It is encouraging, even if for all Tuchel’s speeches it has still been surprised by how slow his team was and how rarely they risked cutting the lines.
“We started a little too slowly, slowing down the game and playing too much without movement – which makes no sense,” Tuchel said after playing Latvia. “We didn’t want to do it.”
After Albania: “At the moment I’m not so sure of the reason why we fought to bring the ball faster to (wings), to bring the ball to a more open position.
England has remained a lot to the other of where Tuchel wants them to be, and although it is partly “identity, clarity, rhythm, repetition of the models, the freedom of the player, the expression of the player, the hunger” – the description of Tuchel on what beat the finalists in England was missing from the euro 2024 – it is also discovering the right tactical system.
This week the first provisional passages were made.
