Former England player Nigel Winterburn has brutally reminded Thomas Tuchel that the country has not played any serious national team yet. He recently had his say while speaking to the press, and fans have been reacting.
According to him, despite having such a talented squad, the players are yet to be truly tested against a technical team like Spain ahead of the 2026 World Cup.
Nigel added that anything short of reaching the semi-finals would be a major disappointment for England.
His words, “I don’t think you could look at it like that. Our history of winning major tournaments, as a nation, is not great. I agree that we have a talented squad, we have some great depth, but we still need to prove ourselves against the real top opposition.
The qualifiers that we have just been through – let’s not beat around the bush, we haven’t played anybody. We haven’t been under any pressure. I’d like to see us when we’re against teams like Spain – technically brilliant, keeping the ball, high quality players. How are we going to cope defensively with their movement? How are we then going to break down their structure with our movement of the ball? Will it be quick? Is it too slow?
It won’t be a failure. A lot of people will be saying there are a lot of teams in tournaments that we should beat and when you get to the knockout stages, that’s when it’s going to be crucial. I think a lot of people will think that if we don’t get to the semi-finals, it would be a huge disappointment.”
WOW.
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