Tuchel’s preference was unsurprisingly to focus on the positives, his perspective that his team’s relentlessness had been rightly rewarded in the end. “The message was always the same: Keep pounding the rock. Keep on knocking, knocking, knocking. Keep believing, keep on doing what we do. Don’t give in,” the manager said post-match. And sure, he can take some heart from that. )
England never truly gave up in Atalanta; they just resorted to doing the same thing over and over. And yes, DR Congo’s keeper made some quite incredible stops, but England never truly threatened for extended spells. At no point did it feel like a goal was coming. If anything, there was pent-up anxiety about things going wrong the other way.
The question, then, becomes, who is to blame? Perhaps the answer is a bit of both. Managers have systems, and Tuchel was appointed because he has a clear philosophy. He likes wide players who will swing the ball in. He likes strikers. He likes creative attacking players. He is also pretty risk-averse, and terrified of conceding on the counter (he has consistently mentioned the fact that England did not give up much on the break in a 0-0 against Ghana).
He has picked a squad that backs that very philosophy. Phil Foden, Cole Palmer, Adam Wharton and Trent Alexander-Arnold have been left at home for that reason. They are position-less. They don’t fit. They do a bit too much. They can offer a spark, but that one clinical moment, Tuchel has effectively said, is not worth the risk that comes over the course of a full game.
