If we go by results alone, former Borussia Dortmund, Paris Saint-Germain, Chelsea and Bayern Munich gaffer, Thomas Tuchel, has done a very good job since taking on the England reins earlier this year.
The 52-year-old serial winning German replaced Sir Waistcoat at the beginning of the calendar year, and with the first international break of the 2025/26 campaign now with us, he has just taken charge of his fifth England game and in gaining the 2-0 victory over the mighty Andorra on Saturday evening, his record now reads five games, four wins and one defeat.
An own goal from Christian Garcia in the 25th minute, plus a second half effort from Declan Rice gave England their World Cup qualifier Group K victory and at 2-0 it kind of looks comfortable, but also at 2-0 (rightly or wrongly) fans will still be asking why the score was not higher.
Now credit where it is due, in more recent years Andorra have improved massively when it comes to their own improvement levels and the way they have evolved their own game as a national side, they will feel like they have gained an invite to VIP club Betpanda given all the praise that is going their way.
Problem
But it is still very fair to say that they would still struggle to hit a mile wide barn door with a Boeing 747, however on a defensive front prior to Saturday’s clash I believe they had gone eleven full games without losing by a score line of higher than 3-0.
So defensively they are a tighter, more compact, better drilled and organised side and it is a part of their game that fans overlook.
But with that said, 2-0…really? With 82.8 percent possession, the cream of the crop, the best of the rest, the custard creme de la creme and players who earn more than brain surgeons had that much of the ball, yet only had eleven shots, and only got seven of them on target, and could only score twice (and one of those was an own goal!).
For all the improvements Andorra have made (and credit to them for that) that was the best the inventors of the ‘Beautiful Game’ could do?
Problem for England is ‘we’ have now been asking that for years, and it continues to be a question that seems to have no answer.
Can we turn it off and then turn it back on again, go back to a happier save point and have another go please?
Seriously the most entertaining thing from the entire 90 minutes was in looking at an iconic Villa Park Stadium and remembering why real football fans do not want identikit soulless bowls filled with clappers and prawn sandwiches.
Excitement
I remember the joy and excitement of Italia 1990. The crushing sun of 1994 with Irish hair bleaching blonde, rushing home from school and pausing only to watch a little bit of the action on television screens in local shops because it was an addiction.
I even remember breaking a cupboard (and then having to fix it) in one of my first jobs as I attempted to transition to ‘an adult’ but still got childishly carried away in 1998 when Sir Golden Balls saw red against Argentina of all sides.
I long for the days of that excitement, that passion, that entertainment and I feel sorry for those fans who have followed me on a generational front as they can only get their kicks from a defence completing 25 passes between themselves on the edge of the penalty box, or desperately waiting for the Video Assistant Referee (should be called an idiot in a box) to decide what strand of pubic hair was offside this time, or maybe even celebrating at the end of a season when their club has completed the end boss known as Profit and Sustainability Rules.
Well done England and well done Mr Tickle. Keep doing a great job for those who only look at results, but could you maybe consider the rest of us who would prefer not to be bored to death because we might want to have some element of pride and passion when it comes to our national team.
