England v Spain: Trust the prize as Thomas Tuchel fights to claw back some reputation

The Three Lions had, technically speaking, their most successful World Cup since 1966 in North America, it just did not feel that way.

The tournament followed familiar patterns of highs and lows, a brilliant last-16 win in Mexico raising unrealistic expectations in some quarters which only made the crash back to earth more painful.

Beating the World and European champions is an ideal way to start the healing. Lose, though, and the narrative they ended the summer with will continue rolling. Against a team of their quality, England could easily play well and lose.

If anything, beating France 6-4 in the third-place play-off only made defeat to Argentina harder to take.

Manager Thomas Tuchel did not have a bad tournament, despite picking a pretty flawed squad. Some of his team selections were not the best, but his substitutions to recover situations were very good.

His psychological arm wrestle with Jude Bellingham saw the Real Madrid man somewhere near his best at the tournament. Whoever takes the credit for it, England had a much better Harry Kane in 2026 than 2024.

But the misstep was a huge one.

Seeing his Midas touch with in-game changes disappear and the negative mindset which saw England throw away a 1-0 lead to lose 2-1 to Argentina in the closing stages of the semi-final were scarring for Tuchel and his reputation. That it was Argentina they lost to only made it harder to take.

The trouble with managing England is so few matches carry weight in the eyes of your judges. Brilliant qualifying? Well nowadays, England always qualify, especially for tournaments so big even Scotland get in. Getting out of your group at a major tournament? So what? Beating Congo and Mexico in the knockout stages? To be expected.

So few games really matter as an England manager that when one passes you by, it is a long time until the chance for redemption. These were the matches Tuchel was brought in to win. Gareth Southgate had the rest covered.

But when England lost to late goals from Enzo Fernandez and Lautaro Martinez it all felt a bit Southgate-esque, failing to grasp the nettle like when 1-0 up against Italy at Wembley in the 2021 European Championship final, as timid as when they lost to Spain in the 2024 game.

Tuchel is an abrasive character. An abrasive winner can be a good thing, an abrasive loser is not, especially following as good a people person as Southgate.

The perception in the Argentina fall-out was that Tuchel threw players under the bus to save himself.

Mexico in particular seemed to show he had built a team spirit. Players questioning his approach after the Argentina match made that look like an illusion.

Five withdrawals from the squad for this international break did not reflect well.

If key players are not entirely sold on their manager, they are not alone.

Tuchel's assertion that "99.9 per cent of the fans don't talk about substitutions, tactical tweaks or tactical details" is deluded. They might not talk about it with him, but his choice of Dan Burn and Nico O'Reilly over Bukayo Saka, Marcus Rashford or Kobbie Mainoo were much discussed, and few were on his side.So if England lose to a brilliant Spanish side they at least have to do it in the right way. That is difficult because opening up against a team so good with the ball at their feet is a risk.

Tuchel's lukewarm attitude towards Trent Alexander-Arnold is hard to row back from. Tuchel put all his chips on Reece James, a player he knew well from Chelsea. James was not a difference-maker at the World Cup, and now he is playing as a midfielder for Chelsea and injured for England. Again.

Having Real Madrid's very talented but defensively-flawed Alexander-Arnold around makes less sense if he is a bit-part player but he is another whose club are working out how best to use him.

It makes less sense still, if Alexander-Arnold is not fully won over by his manager.

Likewise Cole Palmer, brought back into the fold for the next three weeks, only to pull out with injury.

Dominic Calvert-Lewin was cast aside after a bad miss against Uruguay in March, now he is back too.

Morgan Gibbs-White was overlooked for the World Cup and even this squad until Palmer's injury.

These are not young players, like Alex Scott and Rio Ngumoha, he can legitimately claim were not ready for a World Cup back then but are ready for a Nations League group game then.

Injuries exaggerated things, but nine changes from the World Cup squad three months ago painted a picture either of a manager humble enough to admit his mistakes or one who does not have a clear idea what he is doing.

Which side public opinion falls on will probably ride on Saturday’s result. The next three will probably harshly be thrown in the “so what?” bin.

His CV shows Tuchel is a very good manager. But this is all about perception. Players and fans urgently need to start feeling it for themselves.