England

They are like Arsenal of international football right now

Not some beautiful football but they keep winning and are very solid defensively

Oh yeah and they have a long history of bottling it in this competition

So we'll see

Fati_Future_BallonDor said:

England is the dark horse in this WC, they just cant stop winning under Tuchel. Think they will reach at least semi final, probably final

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We can't win it without Kane. The squad is stronger than I can remember but we dont have a number 9 to replace him even for a few games. Watkins isn't what he was a couple of years ago and Delap is extremely raw. An ancient Danny Welbeck is a bettee option than both right now.

Should Kane get injured before or at the WC I think the most sensible option would be to play Bellingham as a false 9. He did really well there for Real Madrid in his first season.

MonteCuler said:

They are like Arsenal of international football right now

Not some beautiful football but they keep winning and are very solid defensively

Oh yeah and they have a long history of bottling it in this competition

So we'll see

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I think we were Southgated in the recent finals more than bottling it. Tuchel is on a different planet in a far away galaxy to Southgate tactically. With Tuchel, there's not a chance we would have lost to Italy at Wembley in 2021.

Tyler said:

We can't win it without Kane. The squad is stronger than I can remember but we dont have a number 9 to replace him even for a few games. Watkins isn't what he was a couple of years ago and Delap is extremely raw. An ancient Danny Welbeck is a bettee option than both right now.

Should Kane get injured before or at the WC I think the most sensible option would be to play Bellingham as a false 9. He did really well there for Real Madrid in his first season.

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It will be Foden as a false #9 I think, not Bellingham. City have won the league with him playing that role in the past.

Jenks said:

It will be Foden as a false #9 I think, not Bellingham. City have won the league with him playing that role in the past.

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Foden is a second striker, not a false 9.

Jenks said:

It will be Foden as a false #9 I think, not Bellingham. City have won the league with him playing that role in the past.

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I think both are capable of being stop gap options. Plus there's Rashford who can also play there, albeit he is obviously much better playing out wide cutting in. I do expect Tuchel to take Watkins as backup though just as long as he finds a bit of form at Villa by the end of the season. Even if he's not having the best of times in front of goal he is still quick and presses extremely well.

Tyler said:

I think we were Southgated in the recent finals more than bottling it. Tuchel is on a different planet in a far away galaxy to Southgate tactically. With Tuchel, there's not a chance we would have lost to Italy at Wembley in 2021.

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They lost in pk shootout. Not sure if Tuchel could do anything about that.

People loves to criticize Southgate but he managed to lead England to two Euro finals in a row, a World Cup semi final. Other coaches before him, with even golden generation could not.

Let's see if Tuchel can do better. So far they haven't yet faced any top nation. And in major tournament it will be much more different.

vegitot said:

They lost in pk shootout. Not sure if Tuchel could do anything about that.

People loves to criticize Southgate but he managed to lead England to two Euro finals in a row, a World Cup semi final. Other coaches before him, with even golden generation could not.

Let's see if Tuchel can do better. So far they haven't yet faced any top nation. And in major tournament it will be much more different.

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But he wouldn't have got the team to try and hold on to a 1-0 lead after 10 minutes. Italy couldn't cope with our pace and energy, which we stopped doing as soon as we scored. Tuchel also wouldn't stand twidling his thumbs wondering what to do when Mancini made some tactical tweaks at half-time.

I liked Southgate. He's a good bloke and did really well to create an almost club like spirit within the camp. But tactically he was a rookie and got completely owned by the likes of Mancini. While Tuchel doesn't obviously guarantee success, I think he does give us a 20% better chance when we play a Spain, Portugal or France. Instead of losing by a single goal or on penalties in these games, hopefully he can help us be on the right side of the result.

vegitot said:

Foden is a second striker, not a false 9.

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He came on for Kane in that position against Serbia.