England

England 2-0 Serbia: What We Learned Ahead of Next Year’s World Cup

England Flag Football Close Up in Stadium at Night

England beat Serbia 2-0 at Wembley on Thursday as the improvement under Thomas Tuchel continued. Not only have the Three Lions qualified for the World Cup, they are a perfect 7 from 7 in their group with just Albania away to come on Sunday.

We’re looking at what else we learned about the current incarnation of the England national team as Tuchel and co. look towards North America as one of the favourites.

This Team Listens to Its Manager

We were always looking to this game to see whether England would show up and go for the kill or subconsciously take it easy have qualified already and beaten Serbia 5-0 away. Well, we saw a bit of both.

After a lacklustre start, Thomas Tuchel took the opportunity during an injury break to gather his team. Disappointed in them, he made that known during an impromptu team talk which resulted in a much better showing immediately after. They listen to him, despite the egos.

Tuchel Isn’t Afraid to Make the Big Calls

We already knew the manager was willing to leave out Jude Bellingham, Phil Foden and other big names. On Thursday, having been reintroduced to the squad, they remained on the bench and had to wait for their chance.

Tuchel will choose players based on their ability, yes, but their attitude must be right. They also have to fit into the team. When brought on, Bellingham responded with energy which was good to see, but also showed frustration yet again. Foden was a different matter.

Entertainment Factor and Skilfulness Is Getting Its Time to Shine

This is also where Foden fits in. There are simply too many robots in the Premier League. It’s all about “technical quality”. It’s also boring.

Foden has that natural skill on the ball. England needs that. Tuchel is finding a way to get him in along with Saka, and Anderson in the middle who is willing to run with the ball and find incisive passes.

Imagine what could have been had England found a way to have the likes of Joe Cole and Jack Wilshire in the team long term? These types can destroy defences.

England Still Have a Stark Lack of Striking Options

Harry Kane has been just brilliant for England. There has also been an overreliance on him as their only real, capable international class central striker.

Phil Foden runs right through this. It was he, having entered the field, who played as a false nine and did very well against Serbia. The question related to England’s lack of strikers is – do they even need them?

Their defence is hard to breach (zero goals conceded in this campaign), though that will change when they play better opposition. But these days, players all over the pitch are capable of scoring goals. Even when Kane was on the field, he dropped very deep. It’s just the way England play currently and it doesn’t seem to be an issue.

How will teams line up against that at the World Cup?

Quality and Performance Are Prioritised Over Reputation and Club

Eze has gone to Arsenal now. It’s not that he, Bellingham, Palmer and Foden aren’t good enough, but with that firepower in the past a player like Morgan Rogers at Aston Villa wouldn’t have got a look in at no.10. He is there on merit.

Elliott Anderson too is a fine player and that’s why he’s now a regular. Again, under former regimes, he’d likely need to be at a title-chasing or more favoured club to be in that position. Throw in Alex Scott of Bournemouth too and you can see that you get into this England team if you’re good enough, not if you’re at the right club.