England’s World Cup Campaign: Tuchel's Team Challenges

England’s World Cup campaign has plenty going for it. Momentum. Match-winners. A place at the top of the group.

What it does not have is a settled team.

Three games in, Thomas Tuchel still looks like a coach shuffling pieces on a board he doesn’t quite trust. England have reached the last 32 with their main objective – finishing top – ticked off, but without any real clarity on what their strongest XI actually is.

That might be manageable in the group stage. It becomes dangerous from here.

Tuchel’s full-back puzzle

Tuchel’s biggest headache sits out wide. Full-backs and wingers have been spun around like a carousel: nine different combinations across 270 minutes, eight players involved, and no obvious answer yet.

The reasons are real enough. Reece James and Jarell Quansah missing at right-back has ripped up one side of the plan. Bukayo Saka has not been fully fit. But the net effect is the same: England have rarely looked consistently threatening down either flank, and the constant tinkering at the back has eaten into their defensive stability.

Every time opponents have gone at England, the back line has looked uneasy. That is a problem that does not care about context or excuses.

The spine that holds

The contrast with the core of the side is stark. Through the noise, a spine has emerged.

• Jordan Pickford.
• Declan Rice.
• Jude Bellingham.
• Harry Kane.

Elliot Anderson lit up the game against Panama. Bellingham dominated and rightly took man-of-the-match honours. Kane scored again, as he so often does. Around them, the details keep changing, but those four give England something priceless in tournament football: reliability.

When the structure falters, they still find a way to tilt a game.

Ideally, Tuchel’s system would be carrying the attack, producing wave after wave of chances in open play. Instead, England have leaned on moments. A flash of genius. A set-piece. A single decision in a crowded box. That is how Bellingham broke Panama, turning in Saka’s corner when little else was working.

It was not even a particularly good delivery. Bellingham made it one. He bullied his way to the ball, balanced his body, showed the technique to steer it home. Once he scored, the contest felt settled.

That is the luxury of having genuine stars. But it is also a warning. Rely on them too often, and the margins will eventually catch up with you.

Lessons for DR Congo

Next comes DR Congo in Atlanta, and the pattern is unlikely to surprise anyone. Expect numbers behind the ball. Compact lines. Threat on the counter. Ghana and Panama have already given England a preview of that script.

So the challenge is the same: break them down, without losing control at the back.

Some of that is as basic as how England cross the ball. Against Panama, Marcus Rashford and Saka both spent long spells cutting inside to whip in inswingers – Rashford from the left on his right foot, Saka doing the reverse. Those balls are meat and drink for centre-backs facing play.

England look far more dangerous when the wide players go on the outside and deliver from there, the way Bellingham did for Kane’s goal. That kind of cross gives the striker something to attack, a clear trigger to time his run and explode into space. It turns a hopeful ball into a planned weapon.

There is more to unlock in this England attack. You can feel it. But the bigger worry sits at the other end.

A defence on shifting sand

England have been opened up in every match so far. Croatia exposed them badly in the first half and scored twice. Ghana and Panama both created chances and found gaps, even if they failed to make England pay.

You can get away with that in the early rounds. You do not get away with it for long.

The deeper you go into a World Cup, the sharper the opposition become. The forwards are quicker, the decisions are cleaner, the finishing is ruthless. Keep offering them the same space, and they will not be as forgiving. Recovering from those mistakes becomes harder with every step into the knockout phase.

Previous England sides have had their flaws, but the back four was usually settled. This one feels like a moving target.

Against DR Congo, that instability looks set to continue. Tuchel is likely to roll out yet another different defence: Djed Spence could return at right-back, or Ezri Konsa might be shifted across from centre-back, with John Stones potentially partnering Marc Guehi – if Stones is fit enough to start.

Some of these changes are enforced. Others are gambles. Tuchel knew he was taking risks on players with long injury histories, and the bill is already arriving.

He now has to hope that whatever back four he selects can hold together long enough to carry England through not just Wednesday night, but the rounds beyond.

Mexico or Ecuador could be waiting after DR Congo. The expectation inside the camp will be to reach that stage. The question is whether England can keep riding the brilliance of their stars, or whether Tuchel can finally pin down a defence he trusts before the tournament’s real tests begin.