The last time England looked like a fully coherent team from back to front, Kalvin Phillips started in midfield. It was over a year ago as they dispatched Italy 3-1 in Euro qualifying. Since then, we’ve seen right-backs failing to look at home at left-wing-back, No.10s shoved out wide because they can’t fit anywhere else, holding midfielders who cannot comfortably receive a pass from the centre-backs, and a striker who struggles to press for 30 minutes. England have been incoherent. 

The nation and new manager Thomas Tuchel may look back on the autumn of 2024 feeling indebted to Lee Carsley for key decisions he made. His innate trust in youth was always going to give England’s squad a slightly new look. It has done. 

More importantly, however, he’s instilled a holy blend in this England generation that all tournament-winning sides have: The ability to establish control in matches, without encouraging indolence. His aim has been to fuse control with directness, and it’s giving England multiple dimensions. 

The Three Lions managed to play forward from the back quicker than usual, because they found ways of both playing through the centre and progressing through wide areas. Multifaceted is not something England have appeared so far in 2024… but last night they had many routes through which to play, and many ways of making a robust Greek team appear brittle and disjointed. 

Having technicians like Curtis Jones — who can wriggle out of tight spaces like a ballerina — offering themselves in deep positions sped England’s possession up significantly. Rico Lewis started at left-back, and Greece were never sure if he would wander into central midfield or remain wide to receive the ball. 

England’s front three on the night were all direct forward players, who want to run at the defence and make things happen. They posed so much athletic threat to Greece’s backline that the home side were simply forced deeper and deeper into their own half. 

The primary benefit of this is rather clear. England attacked their backline more often, and managed to create more chances as a result of 1v1 situations. The hidden genius to this tactic, however, is that with every yard Greece’s defence had to retreat, England’s midfielders gained more space in which to operate. The home side’s press had proved ineffectual after only 20 minutes — too disjointed to be at all worthwhile. One-touch passing triangles between Jones, Lewis, Jude Bellingham, and Conor Gallagher had England at their best. 

On a night when Gallagher massively impressed, England’s desire to sworm the opposition and win the ball back quickly was central in establishing control. His individual performance paid great tribute to this new obsession over balance. With the players Carsley selected, his team had a threat in behind, possession-based midfielders, energetic terriers who contributed to an improved team press, and width in possession. In fact, the balance of England’s play last night closely resembled that of a certain Spanish outfit from the summer. 

If Tuchel is prepared to prioritise balance and coherence like Carsley has done, England will find themselves able to pick their opponents apart irrespective of who’s on pitch at any time. It feels as though England’s depth has almost doubled since the Euros with players like Morgan Gibbs-White, Levi Colwill, Angel Gomes and others from his U21 squad stepping up seamlessly. Now for the hard part: Continue similar work under a totally new manager.