So, What Did we Learn in the International Break?

England played a mammoth four games in the extended break and look set to qualify for the semi-finals of the Nations League.

A narrow defeat to World Champions Spain was followed by two wins over the Czech Republic and an annihilation over Croatia.

England performed well in all these games, even in defeat to Spain. It was a positive performance, and any England fan would rather lose in that manner than the way we whimpered to defeat against Argentina.

So, did we actually learn anything in these ‘meaningless’ fixtures?

A few points spring to my mind, although it is unsure how reliable they can be until we have to execute it in a major tournament.

Anthony Gordon has emerged as an absolute undroppable alongside Kane and Bellingham. His form was sensational and it now looks even more absurd that Tuchel chose to take him off against Argentina.

These games also showed that Tuchel got his full back selection drastically wrong for the World Cup. The jury is still out on Trent for me but at least taking him would have given us an option from the bench at the very least and a right back that would have been fit.

Lewis Hall showed that he should have been the starting left back at the World Cup, yet he didn’t even make the plane. He is head and shoulders above O’Reilly as a full back. O’Reilly is an excellent but an out and out full back he is not and difference between him and Hall is night and day.

It seemed Tuchel has realised that the best form of defence for this England team is to attack and he seemed to unleash that in this break. It made for a much better spectacle and the defeat against Spain could have easily been a victory had Kane converted the penalty to make it 3 – 1.

I hope that Tuchel has realised that this is the way to play and that he doesn’t revert to type when it comes to a major tournament. If he has truly learned from Argentina and continues to play this way then I will do what I never imagined possible and forgive him for Argentina and stop my TUCEHL OUT campaign. The first sign of any Argentina tactics and he has to go.

The defence is a worry. Stones is still our best defender, and he is unlikely to feature at the next tournament so that is a big problem. At Centre half only Guehi looks close to being international level and I am not fully convinced by him.

Pickford has certainly begun to decline but for me he is still number one. Trafford did little to show he is ready to oust him yet, but I believe he will be in the future.

The midfield has options and I even like Rogers on the right as an option. He seems to create a goal when he plays there. Who would have thought having a right footer on the right would do that? As for a backup for Kane, I think it will be Bellingham so he might as well not pick any other strikers in his squad if he isn’t willing to play them.

The Best 26 man as it stands now:

GK: Pickford, Trafford, Henderson.

DF: Trent, Quansah, Stones, Guehi, Konsa, Maguire, Burn, Spence, Hall.

MF: Anderson, Rice, Scott, Lewis-Skelley.

AT: Saka, Bellingham, Gordon, Kane, Rogers, Rashford, Eze, Palmer, Grealish, Gibbs-White.

Agree or disagree? Have your say below.

COME ON ENGLAND