Do England's tactics limit their potential? 

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Bring back the tifo football podcast

I miss the old tifo podcast. Hands down it was the best football podcast. Anyone remember the post game World Cup streams? Please bring it back.

We gather here once again to remember what they took from us. Rest in peace tifo.

Great podcast and the chemistry of the trio. They should try making this a weekly or more frequent podcast and call it tifo

JJ consistently ignoring Joe’s jokes is hilarious

I missed this format a lot, great to have you guys back together, even if only for the Euros

Every time the video cuts to the wide shot of all three of them I immediately look at JJ’s laptop hanging over the edge of the table.

More of this please

The juxtaposition of jokes and lightheartedness against the smart and detailed analysis just works and is a good format. Glad to see you guys back at it.

Why can’t we have this weekly? Or even twice a week? Best football show/podcast out there

I had to rewatch at least half of this video as I kept getting distracted watching the Atheltic logo cycle through flags.

"i'm smiling because I'm sad" - I felt that in my soul 🤣

I said this months ago. Theyve always had Rashford or Sterling to run beyond Kane, Gordon is the only profile who does this. If Shaw isn't going to be fit, Saka has to play on the left. He can be a wingback rather than fullback. You can negate this with either Rice dropping in or Walker tucking in(or play Gomez). You could then play Trent who can move to his favourite right handside. He'll have options if you have Gordon stretching defences. This will also make opposition presses more wary.

"He's a terrible troll- that's what we call him in the office..." 😂

The rotating flag in the top right hurts my eyes.

i have missed joe's chaos in any given football chat

Gareth’s problem is this - the effort he’s made to unite the players and create a harmonious environment, understandable, leave him hamstrung when he needs to make a controversial decision like dropping Foden - he thinks it could affect team morale Gareth needs to grow some cajones and make a tough tactical decision and OWN it with his players

The version of England that has a proper left back, a proper left sided forward, and which uses Mainoo.

Lol Joe Devine actually had the best answer I think with dropping Saka left back and Gomez for Guehi as Gomez is more comfortable defending that left hand space. Then either a back 5 with Trent on the right or Palmer on the right or Gordon on the left and move Foden right. Not taking the option of dropping Bellingham next to Rice into account.

No one ran in behind on the left during Southgate’s tenure better than Sterling and Rashford. They both have been better on the left for England than Foden ever has been. Gordon should be given a shot on 60mins against Switzerland, if Foden still isn’t firing on the left.

5 at the back. Trent and saka at wingbacks to offer width and crossing ability. Gallagher to hound Xhaka. Walker, stones and Konsa as the back three.

Glad to see some Euros coverage again! I've liked the transfer talk, but during those videos, I can't help but feel they seem out of place in this remarkable tournament.

Beyond this tournament, England need to clarify their football 'culture'. By that I mean what is their footballing Identity. It is quite clear that the biggest problem for the national team has been this. For a series of tournaments now, it has been very easy to clarify the way in which the best teams will play. Spain, Brazil, Germany, France, I could go on. It is because they have a very clear playing culture. It's so easy for their players who play for various leagues to come back in to the national set up because they know what the system is. If anything, these teams have less rigid tactical profiles because their players were so well cultivated fundamentally at the lower levels. I'm surprised as to how England struggles with this when a majority of their players are in the same league. It's concerning. This leads on to my next point. the players that come in to England are no doubt technically proficient. But they seem to lack confidence and soundness technically when playing. There is to much of the CBs holding on to the ball and passing negatively and wing players and midfielders don't feel confident enough to link up with 1 - 2s to break down defences efficiently to score. It's worse when you have a striker who despite their strong technical ability does not want to stay up and lacks wingers who like to get in to space to cause damage from playing off him. I feel that they thrive with rigid tactics and not when playing off each other in a free flowing manner that you recognise amongst the competitive teams. England don't have to play tika taka to play interesting, damaging and engaging football. They do however need to be sharper and smarter on the ball and that comes with confidence with how to play with each other, knowing your compatriots abilities. This tournament has been so negative because they hold the ball poorly. Physically, I believe England is fine. Mentally, Southgate has made them stronger than ever. Furthermore, we know England can press. It has been a key reason as to why they have made it this far in spite of their inconsistency in pressing. But if the FA seriously want England to stop seeming delusional on the International stage, they need to look at the technical quality of players so that there is less profile clashing and more cohesiveness when on the ball.

Only one of Foden and Bellingham can play together in the current formation. Does Southgate have the balls to drop one of them? If he drops one of them for Gordan, the team becomes balanced and actually pose a threat to the tournament.

Good stream guys. Many hearty chuckles

What a fantastic video, thank you, I really enjoyed it.

Joe JJ and John on a podcast is so entertaining class chemistry

Man I love the shots when it pans out to all of them and Joe has a funny reaction

You could sum up Englands problems in 6 words "No one is making any runs". It really doesn't matter who's in the team or what the structure/tactical setup is. Until the players start to show some off the ball goalscoring/creative ambition we will continue to be reliant on moments of individual brilliance and the odds are that won't see us beat Switzerland.

You guys are great!

love this format! keep it up boys

I have honestly missed you guys during this tournament. Points are Bad is so Tifo and I love it. Have you guys ever considered doing a podcast? I think you’d all be really good.

What an absolute flipping treat!

..meanwhile, in another corner of The Athletic offices, there's a group of men doing a podcast while having no fun whatsoever!

The version without a starstruck deer-caught-in-the-headlights for a manager.

Who thinks GS is going to play the same team, less MG due to suspension

Joe's "he's playing 120" absolutely made my day, lovely work

tbh if this was a podcast it would be the only podcast EVER that I would watch

I’m sure all of you already knew this, but I’m saying it anyway. Joe is the most important part of this podcast.

i love joes humor and delivery. ahh such a lovable lot these three

Great analysis guys, ive been saying all along we need to play a 1212121 I call it the Chuckle brother formation and starts with Stones at CB, triangle formations all the way up the pitch, and you play 1,2's all the way up the pitch, it does require tall striking focused players, so ideally we would have 10 Peter Crouch's. But think this formation really has some legs, let me know what you think! ✌️

would love fowler's celebration next to cantona behind john!

I agree with the 3-4-3 formation, but it makes it harder to bring on Palmer etc. Swiss will also adjust in game if we play 3-4-3. They will as JJ says overload TAA, and we will STILL have problems on the Left. If Luke Shaw was fit then a lot of Southgates problems are fixed. We would still be tactically deficient and probably lose against Spain / Germany etc, however at least the FEEL of the team would be better. Southgate just keeps making it so complicated. He needs to reduce the mental load on his players and stop playing them out of positions. Be Chilllwell would have been fine at Left-Back! Why the obsession with Trippier?! Hopefully we keep it simple. Going to be a tough day Saturday.

As a neutral non-European watching the euros I see a clear distinction between three categories of teams; a shared understanding of football with lots of talented players but no clear superstars in Spain and Germany, no shared understanding of football great number of talented players with a number of superstars in England, France and Portugal and finally teams with no shared understanding of football and a few talented players and no superstars but with a clear tactical set up that has come from managers that were able to utilize their teams to more than the sum of their parts in Switzerland, Austria, Turkey and the Netherlands. It’s also telling that the best managers right now come from Spain and Germany now while France and England hardly produce any top level coaches with Portugal producing tacticians that aren’t a product of a specific school of thought but are mavericks with their very own ideas. The Spanish and German national team are likely to sustain success as long as their approach to coaching remains the same and are unlikely to rely on golden generations to win trophies while France, England and Portugal will always need to have a golden generation with clear superstars and even that is no guarantee of success.

John you’re so in love with tactics. Real Madrid has broken your heart 😂😂

JJ bull should definitely make a song collab with Jon Mackenzie and brink Tacticos around the world into existence

this was fantastic

Best quote of the entire video: “Are you saying Trippier doesn’t have a gravitational pull? 🥴”

“Oh yeah we’re live” JJ smelled a long Lord of the Rings tangent coming and he cut it out like Declan Rice hoovering up a loose ball

How about actually taking a fit left back? Like Ben Chilwell, or Tyrick Mitchell, or both? That might help. Just a thought.

Finally you guys came back on my recommended. I was wondering what happened to Tifo.

Feel like Maddison would have made a huge difference in this team, even though at the time I felt alright about him not being in the squad. Our biggest issue is a failure to get the ball through the midfield towards the attackers, something he would have helped a lot with

"I see everyone being happy with how England played when they were winning games" I'm sorry what? I have only ever seen complete full disdain for the way Southgate has played the entire time at England. Not sure where you have seen that JJ.

The podcast we needed.

Bring this trio back!!!

2:04 - 2:11 is my favourite bit

The Bellingham-Foden situation is the Gerad-Lampard of this generation. When you have so many good players you have to make the tough decision to bench some for the sake of balance.

Biggest problem is players without the ball not running into empty space to give options...

Which software do you guys use for showing the tactical stuff on that screen ?

I hate this notion of teams getting ‘found out’. What does that even mean?

Anyone else bothered by how off-center the rotating flags are behind the Athletic logo? Also, bring back the tifo football podcast!

It limits their attack. But it makes them more solid defensively. Attack wins you games. Defence wins you tournaments.

JJ almost concealed his Scottish contempt for the English side

England could be saved with a formation change. I will not be elaborating further

It's not about winning it's about having fun which England are last place in

Didi Hamann says there are too many individuals on the team and not enough "journeymen" any truth to that interpretation?

bring back the podcast boys it was so good

Best podcast on here

This was fantastic. I miss the old Tifo podcast

Another striker, exactly, Toney or Watkins. Play either Foden or Bellingham and then you have balance. It is difficult to drop one of the 2 best players in the world but for balance it is necessary.

Are you not allowed to use clips of the games? I feel like not having actual examples of what you're talking about hurts your analysis. Fourfourtwo does this much better.

Wharton is the answer

The rest of Scotland and I look forward to England changing tactics against a team who have about half a dozen players at the same club side

I love this

JJs golden gen solution benches that David Beckham fella. Just like his current gen solution benches Saka

What footy software is that on those tablets?

Missed the podcast so much

In my humble opinion we have a lack of penetration. Put simply either Foden or Kane comes off for the likes of Gordon or Ollie Watkins. Frankly both should come on but that’s just my opinion.

HELLOOOOOOOOOOOOOO AND WELCOME TO THE TIFO FOOTBALL PODCAST

God i miss this style of podcast. So much better.

'Diooogo Costa darling' 😅

U think mainoo is less press resistant than Wharton? Perhaps, bt I suspect it’s marginal. Issue in the last game was the defence would not pass out to him! And when they did it was after endless dithering/ touches.

Bring it back, Sing it back to me!!

The chemistry in the studio is much better than the one we're seeing from those footballing lads. God forgive me, I'm so sorry

JJ can never hide his bias man 😂

Scottish, uncapped. Had an English grandad. Can finish in under 30 seconds. Need more finishers? Give me a shout. GL!

The tournament will nearly be over on the 11th so don't see how they'll increase in frequency

I love the way Jon talks about England and Southgate he’s clearly just so fed up with it it’s making me laugh in a depressing way Like every solution he gives he’s like Southgate will never do that so let’s just pray for some luck😂

It's coming home (not this year) 😭

The version that fires Southgate

I wouldn't be entirely sure Mainoo will start against Switzerland because he played too many forward passes for Southgates liking against Slovakia...

Was jj trying to tell the folks at home what points are bad is?

Could you make this but make it 8 hours long and also do 3 of them every single day until I die

28:23 Joe possessed by a sad Owl

i see yall not putting the swiss flag in the logo rotation top right. that's gotta change when we defeat you

use gordon, use palmer, if you're playing walker and trippier try swapping them, drop foden and use subs earlier

You guys should do a podcast together... I have a funny feeling it would be brilliant...

Yeah bring back Scholes.

Yes, next question.