Thomas Tuchel reveals old-school England solution to new tactical trend

Thomas Tuchel is preparing England to get physical, as he said more aerial play like long throws will be a part of their armoury as they try to get ready for the World Cup. Tuesday brings a difficult trip away to Serbia, with the German’s side having beaten Andorra 2-0 at Villa Park through two vintage crosses.

Tuchel has spoken a lot of late about how old-fashioned qualities are coming back, and said such an approach was part of it. It may be just as suited to Serbia, since the manager said he expects to “face the same formation, the defensive block of 5-4-1, with individual quality up front with tall, physical strikers”.

“All these patterns are back, and crosses are back as well,” Tuchel said. “The long throw-in is back, as well, but we have not a lot of time.

“But once we arrive at the World Cup, all these things matter, so we will also talk about long throw-ins, we will talk about long kicks from the goalkeeper and not only playing short.

“But we cannot put everything into four days of training. But these things will matter, and let’s see. I need to reflect now with my assistant coaches.”

Such an approach is dependent on England having physical strikers of their own. Harry Kane has obvious prowess in the air, and surprisingly played the full game against Andorra. Tuchel said he initially planned for Ollie Watkins to come in, given it was at his home club of Aston Villa, but had to rearrange once Marc Guehi said he “felt his groin” at half-time.

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“For sure his family was there, I was a bit unhappy with that.”

Tuchel did insist he has “a lot of options” in the position.

“We have Ollie, we have Harry, Marcus [Rashford] can play there, Jarrod Bowen can play there, Anthony Gordon played there for Newcastle [United]. I think so. Phil Foden can play in the nine, Morgan Rogers can play in the nine. Let’s see who catches form and catches fire in the Premier League, or wherever, and starts scoring. But yes we have enough firepower there.”

Tuchel said he didn’t actually speak to the squad about the Serbia match before Andorra, but all focus will switch now.

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“We feel that we are ready to step up to the atmosphere, the physicality and it will be an emotional, very important game in the group. We will be prepared for that.

“It will be an emotional crowd I guess. We will have to adapt to the adversity and overcome adversity and let’s see what the pitch is like, how the game plays out. You never know, you can have red cards, yellow cards, whatever. We need to be ready for everything.

“But the main thing is that I trust them. Because I felt them very strong this week, had an excellent camp, I felt the energy right, I felt the attitude right, and that’s why I have full trust that we will have a good game in Serbia. We will prove ourselves to be ready to win there.”