Tuchel's England dilemma: Emulate Spain or embrace Premier League 'chaos'?

Thomas Tuchel was brought in to answer England's biggest question: How do you win? It is a question both the 53-year-old and his squad are still grappling with as they begin a new UEFA Nations League campaign and build toward co-hosting the 2028 UEFA European Championship.

England secured their best FIFA World Cup finish in 60 years this summer by taking home the bronze medal thanks to a gloriously chaotic 6-4 win over France. But it was only scant consolation after the semifinal defeat to Argentina three days earlier. The Three Lions led 1-0 but collapsed in a heap in front of their own goal as Argentina powered back to win 2-1 through Lautaro Martínez's stoppage-time winner.

The manner of that defeat still rankles. Winger Anthony Gordon admitted on Wednesday he may never get over it.

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"Being totally honest, I think any time you lose anything of value in life, whether it be a person or something like a match or anything you really want to have or win or anything of large value, I think when you lose, you'll never be the same person," he said.

England captain Harry Kane has been there for successive European Championship final defeats, and the World Cup quarterfinal exit four years ago when he missed a penalty late on against France.

"Each one hurts in a different way and this one hurt, for sure, more than any other one," he said on Wednesday. When asked why, he added: "It felt like it wasn't us as a team. It wasn't the team that we wanted to be and said we'd be. When you maybe go against your beliefs and you lose, it feels 10 times worse than just losing in a way where ... if we lose doing it our way you accept it, take it on the chin and move on. It's tough and it will still be tough."

It might be stretching the point to suggest England are in a full-blown identity crisis. But, as their Nations League campaign begins on Saturday, they appear at something of a crossroads.

England have spent years targeting a more sophisticated style. In December 2014, the Football Association unveiled its 'England DNA' philosophy at St George's Park.

"England teams aim to intelligently dominate possession selecting the right moments to progress the play and penetrate the opposition," the document reads. "England teams aim to regain possession intelligently and as early and as efficiently as possible. All aspects of the out-of-possession philosophy will take into consideration the state of the game, the environment and pre-determined game-plan."

The collapse against Argentina betrayed this principle. Between Gordon's 55th-minute goal and Martínez's stoppage-time winner, England had 12% possession. They had five shots in the entire game, their fewest in a World Cup match for 60 years.

Perhaps in this moment -- under the most acute pressure on the biggest stage -- England in fact reverted to type. After all, among the three-man group who unveiled the 'England DNA' 12 years ago was Gareth Southgate, who oversaw undeniable progress during his four-tournament tenure without breaking the cycle.

In 2018, England took the lead in a World Cup semifinal against Croatia but were passed into submission and lost in extra time. Two years later, they led the Euro 2020 final against Italy, but Jorginho and Marco Verrati gradually took control of the game and England lost on penalties. The World Cup quarterfinal defeat against France was an evenly-contested game which could have gone either way as Southgate looked to turn an England team founded initially on a 3-5-2 shape into a more authoritative style closer aligned with the England DNA he helped devise. But at Euro 2024, England badly lacked an identity as they battled to match the composure of their celebrated rivals, aptly enough outclassed by Spain in the final.

One moment lingers. After Cole Palmer had equalised, England had Spain on the backfoot. Kyle Walker has a throw-in 15 minutes from time deep in Spanish territory. After assessing his options, he throws the ball all the way back to John Stones, who goes back to Jordan Pickford, who kicks it straight out for a Spain goal kick. England didn't have control of the ball for another six minutes. And then, six minutes later, Mikel Oyarzabal scores and Spain win the Euros.

All of this points to a pattern, something ingrained in the English psyche that prevents them from seizing the moment. Southgate lifted the weight of the shirt to the extent. Tuchel still claims he never sees it.

Tuchel also claimed after that Argentina defeat that keeping the ball "is maybe not in our DNA like it is in the Spanish DNA or the Argentinian DNA or Brazilian DNA -- to take the ball, control the game and the ball, which is a big problem.

It is, of course, the problem Tuchel was brought in to solve. And nobody can look at the individual midfielders England can now call on -- with Elliot Anderson and Declan Rice leading the way -- and say they lack players sufficiently used to retaining the ball at club level.

Saturday's opponents are especially timely in the context of this conversation. England begin their Nations League campaign at Wembley against the world champions Spain, long held as the exemplar for ball possession and control.

Gordon's prematch input was particularly interesting. Having left Newcastle United for Barcelona, he is well-positioned to examine the cultural differences in addition to being one of England's best performers at the World Cup and a thoughtful, erudite individual not afraid to express an opinion.

"I think, culturally, it's not just that tournament or that game where we couldn't control a game," he said. "England as a nation, we don't have that strength like the Spanish, where we control games like they do. It's not in us. I'm not sure it's something that can be taught because now I think playing in Spain, I can speak with an educated view on the way they keep the ball is different.

"It's much different than I've ever experienced playing in this country. So I'm not sure we can ever get that, but we can definitely get better, or maybe go the other way and really play to our strengths, which is play physical, play direct football, and on the counter-attack.

"We know how to keep possession, but it's the decision-making of certain players in Spain, which it's just not a natural thing. I even look at some of the decisions they take on the ball sometimes and think 'I'm not sure how you've seen that.' It's the way they're built.

"I don't know what it is, something that maybe we can't ever put a name to, but they're definitely built different. But I think it's important for us, where we can't keep looking at other countries and trying to be like them because we're not them. We're English, and we have our own strengths, which they don't have. So maybe we start playing to what we're good at."

England's most dynamic football of the summer came in the second half of their opening game against Croatia and the third-place match against France, both occasions where they looked the most like a Premier League team. But Gordon admitted England could not consistently produce that style. In fact, the win in Mexico with 10 men was characterised by a stunning, defiant rearguard action which they then needlessly volunteered to try and repeat with a full complement against Argentina.

"I felt we weren't performing in the matches like we did in training," Gordon said. "Because if we did, we would have dominated everyone, which wasn't the case. Every match was quite close. Even the Norway game [a 2-1 quarterfinal victory], I didn't feel like they were really at our level.

"We could have dominated that game, but for some reason, we just didn't do it. So it makes a lot of sense to me why the manager would then go more safe and more defensive [against Argentina] and really tune into what got us through the previous two rounds, in that moment. It might not to other people, but it does to me being part of the group."

Tuchel's critics argue he compounded the problem against Argentina with negative substitutions -- including taking Gordon off. Although he admitted his surprise at coming off, Gordon rejects the view that Tuchel was to blame.

"I felt like as players we could have done more to take the initiative, to control the game," he said. "I think if we do that, the manager doesn't make the decision. Everyone likes to blame the manager because that's football. Managers always take responsibility. But in my opinion, one person shouldn't be responsible for a million different decisions that are happening at one time.

"For me, we had the best team, we had the best players on the pitch in that semifinal, and in the last 20 minutes we didn't play the best football. That's something a manager can't really affect from the sidelines."

To some extent, he's right. Tuchel reacted to a problem not of his making. But he is ultimately there to solve those problems.

"Maybe I have to compromise in my wish for control for a little bit more chaos, embrace the chaos, and maybe it brings out the best," the manager said during last week's squad unveiling, adding: "I'm just wrestling with it myself."

It probably doesn't help Tuchel that the Premier League is in the midst of its own evolution with Pep Guardiola departed, nine new managers and a champion in Arsenal whose physicality and set-piece prowess point to a genuine shift.

The recalls of Cole Palmer and Trent Alexander-Arnold -- two intelligent players on the ball -- points to an admission of what may have been missing, however much Tuchel flatly denies that. But creating a clear identity from this fuzzy outline is Tuchel's goal over the next two years as England look at a home Euros where they will be among the favourites.

Upon taking the job, Tuchel claimed England lacked "the identity, the rhythm, the repetition of patterns" under his predecessor at Euro 2024.

There are signs of progress -- with Kane and Jude Bellingham striking up such a devastating partnership at the World Cup -- but the fact that critique could still be levelled at England today is on Tuchel to tackle.