Nigel Winterburn has named England’s biggest weakness under Thomas Tuchel ahead of World Cup qualifiers against Andorra and Serbia.
The Three Lions host Andorra at Villa Park on Saturday, with the match being played in Birmingham due to Coldplay’s concerts at Wembley.
Tuchel’s side then lock horns with Serbia at the Rajko Mitic Stadium on Tuesday before the international break reaches a conclusion.
Speaking before England’s next two qualifying matches for the 2026 World Cup, Winterburn has told Metro that the Three Lions’ biggest problem is that they’re too ‘predictable’ and ‘slow on the ball’ in their attacking play.
‘Tuchel’s style of football is similar to Southgate’
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‘I find England a little frustrating,’ Winterburn told Metro via FIFA World Cup Qualifiers Expert Picks and Predictions.
‘We’ve got some brilliant attacking players but we’re a little slow on the ball, we’re a little predictable.
‘I’d like to see more pace, power and variety in our game. It’s very early for Tuchel – but I don’t see too much difference from Gareth Southgate at this moment in time.
‘What I want to see is how we can move the ball from the back to the front in good time without looking too predictable.
‘At the moment we look very predictable. We’ve got a great set of players but compared to the top nations, are we there yet? No, I don’t think we are, despite going close a couple of times [in major tournaments]. We have good individual players – which makes it frustrating.’
Real Quick Tho: Has Thomas Tuchel Already Lost the England Fans?
The return of international football feels an appropriate time to hold my hands up and confess it looks like I got it wrong with Thomas Tuchel.
At the time of his controversial appointment as Gareth Southgate’s successor I saw no issue with hiring seasoned winner to replace England’s ultimate nearly-man.
It was obvious, even to his staunchest supporters, that his nationality would prove the easiest and most convenient stick with which to beat him at the first sign of trouble, and so it has proved.
Really, however, Tuchel’s critics would garner far more credit by focusing on the mounting dossier of evidence on the pitch, as well as his increasingly bizarre squad selections, rather than using his birth certificate as some sort of smoking gun.
Thus far, Tuchel has presided over three hugely uninspiring victories, including a pure 1-0 stodgefest away from home against Saturday’s opponents Andorra, as well as a chaotic 3-1 defeat against a rampant Senegal back in June.
The hope must be that once England have navigated the road to the World Cup, as they surely will regardless of any teething troubles, that Tuchel’s big game experience will come into its own.
We’ll likely learn little over the course of the next week about the direction this England side are headed given the level of opposition.
The sight of Jordan Henderson and Ruben Loftus-Cheek, two players who surely should have served their purpose as England players four years ago, teaming up in midfield will do little to inspire confidence and subdue the growing anti-Tuchel sentiment.
‘England should target semi-finals at World Cup’
Quizzed if a semi-final run at the 2026 World Cup should be considered as a success for England, Winterburn added: ‘For me, yes.
‘I think if you’re getting to a semi-final, you’re deep into a competition and looking at an opportunity to win it.
‘I think that (reaching the World Cup semi-finals) should be the goal. But there’s many countries who will be thinking the exact same.
‘Anything less than a semi-final, we might be a little more critical, depending on who we’re playing.
‘Anything less than a quarter-final would be a real shock.’
At the last World Cup in 2022, England lost 2-1 in the quarter-finals to eventual runners-up France under the management of Gareth Southgate.
The Three Lions were runners-up themselves at Euro 2024 and Euro 2020, with the men’s team still waiting for their first major trophy since 1966.