I’ve left it 24 hours before writing this summation. Not to let the emotion die down, but to contextualise the situation fully.

A two hour drive there and back at the end of the day, wasn’t a problem. I was visiting a new iconic stadium (for me) in Nottingham, and catching up with two of my oldest friends. 

Expectations were not high within the group, but we expected a victory. We have watched England too long to expect miracles from a new manager. 

The team selection raised some eyebrows, and the first 10 minutes suggested a passive approach. I’m all for experimenting in friendlies, but with England there are no auditions. The nation expects progress to come, and to come quickly. 

When I look at progress in other nations, what I see is consistency. The same pool of players feature in most games, and there is an identity there, a rhythm and a purpose. 

Now TT, might not know his pool yet. It is after all game three, but his two camps to date have featured 28 players, and based on the Senegal match, he is not close to knowing his core 11-15.

Is this a problem? Yes and no. He has used 4 formations and is known to be tactically versatile, which should be a strength. But not being sure on a style of play is concerning.

England camps are brief, so knowing how you will play and who you will play with is crucial for confidence and performance. The weight of the shirt is already a privileged load for the players. 

I watched a game on Tuesday that had zero positives. Had TT, come out after the game and said it was experimental and whilst it wasn’t good to watch there were lots of learnings, I would have been happy. Alarmingly, he thought that we would good in phases, could have won the game and showed energy off the bench. Myself and 26k other fans didn’t see this. 

TT needs to get an identity and a rhythm asap. He knows how to win tournaments, and he knows how to setup a team to blunt the sharp edges of an opponent. 

His success at Chelsea came from possession based football with a counter attack, with compact pressing at times. Whilst they were defensively sound, they did at times lack goals. We have some top tier attacking talent, so the counter attack is a real option. The press is a challenge with Kane, so perhaps that is why we haven’t seen this yet. Defence is not our strength, so if we can’t press with Kane maybe it is time for a change.

As the song goes “I’m England till I die” just don’t kill me early with another pedestrian performance.