The current English boss Thomas Tuchel delivered a nut-and-bolt deposit of the nation’s performance at Euro 2024, which was monitored by Sir Gareth Southgate.
The three Lions reached the final of the European Championship for the second time in a row and lost 2-1 against Spain in Berlin last summer. However, performances have not proven to be as popular as their results suggest.
England worked through the group stage and struck Serbia in the opening game before moving with Denmark and Slovenia. They needed an overhead kick from Jude Bellingham to avoid a last outcome against Slovakia, pushed over to Switzerland and hit the Netherlands with a 90th-minute winner of Ollie Watkins from the semi-finals.
Southgate resigned at the end of a tournament, in which some English fans frustrate empty beer mugs. On Friday, Tuchel offered his own verbal barrage in front of his eagerly awaited debut against Albania.
When asked by ITV Sport Tuchel bluntly said whether England had a clear style of play in the euro: “Not last summer, no.” The German trainer claimed “the identity, clarity, the rhythm, the repetition of patterns, the freedom of players, the expression of players, the hunger was missing”.
“They were more afraid to get out of the tournament in my observation than the excitement and hunger to win it,” he continued. “That people have the feeling that it is the team you can beat ‘ [was missing]. That we arrive with a group that we can beat, which we know when we arrive after qualifying, everyone knows that this is the team that we should beat.
“We want to be open to adapt, and that will start tomorrow. That was my feeling to watch TV long before I knew that I would be responsible. It was a pretty clear statement and I want us to play with a hunger to win, and we want to implement the togetherness and joy to win instead of losing fear.”
During his press conference, Tuchel spoke against the same problems: “Observing the euro, I felt tension and pressure on the shoulders of the players and they did not play so as not to lose.
The direct manager of England England came to the conclusion: “I think we have to turn it over because we have so many experienced players, so many players who won the trophies with their clubs, and I think we have the right to be confident.”