London (AP) – Long throw in. A long ball from the goalkeeper. It’s crossed over to the box.
All of these old school options are at Thomas Touchel’s table, and the England coach is ready to go back to basics to improve the team’s offensive threat ahead of next year’s World Cup.
England have won their first four matches in World Cup qualifiers, and Tuchel has already planned tournaments ahead of time for US, Mexico and Canada.
If England is eligible, then it is hoped that Tuchel will use tactics that once were the mainstay of the English game, but appearing to have become obsolete.
“I told you – the long throw-in is back,” Tuchel said, speaking ahead of England’s World Cup qualifiers on Tuesday.
“But we don’t have a lot of time. But once we arrive at the World Cup, all of this is important, so we’ll talk about the long throw-in, and we’ll talk about the long kicks from the goalkeeper.
One of England’s goals in Saturday’s overwhelming 2-0 victory over Andorra was from the cross, with Declan Rice heading off Reese James’ delivery.
Like the British soccer tradition of the 1970s and 1980s, this is a preferred approach to defenders, copied to pioneers like Pep Guardiola, rather than lengthening the ball to a major striker, rather than booting the ball to a major striker, as was the case in places like Sweden.
However, the rise of teams pushing the field high gave goalkeepers the option to beat the press by sending the ball longer.
As for long pitching, a study by Athletics at the end of last season has returned to fashion among several teams in the Premier League, with an increase from the previous year since the 2020-21 season.
According to the survey, five teams, Brentford, Ipswich, Nottingham Forest, Crystal Palace and Aston Villa, have chosen to throw more than 30% into the penalty area from all attacking positions. Brentford is notoriously leaning heavily towards analysis as part of his tactics, using a long pitch, 63% from his offensive position.
Tuchel will only have three more England camps in October, November and March before the World Cup.
“We can’t put everything in four days of training,” the German noted about his short time with the English players. “But these things are important, and let’s take a look.”
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