Diagnosing the England National Team problems and what to watch for

England has once again been handed a fairly straight forward World Cup qualifying group. The notable fellow members of group F are Scotland, Slovakia, and Slovenia. For all the hand-wringing regarding the selection, lack of selection, or poor play of Wayne Rooney, England will absolutely not have trouble topping the table in this group.

This has been a familiar refrain for every qualification for a major tournament in memory. The well-documented problem for England hasn’t been getting there, it is what actually happens at the tournament. With this tormented big stage tournament history in mind, what clues can we gather from the qualifying process to begin to answer for the poor performance? Well quite a lot, but here are three:

1.) Slow transition

A hallmark of the good German teams that have dominated in the recent tournaments, is that they are so crisp on the ball that they can set up a threat immediately after winning the ball. For Premier League fans, think the type of countering that Leicester City did a year ago, only with much, much more ability.

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Today the English were forced to use multiple touches before the ball was settled after they won it, or even in simple possession. Against the likes of Slovenia that isn’t a problem as the talent is enough to mostly overcome the extra second or two on the ball.

The problem arises against the elite nations in the world. Italy, for example, is so organized defensively that even a second could lead to passing lanes shut down. Against high pressing teams, like a Chile, possession could be lost immediately after it is won.

The point is, in qualifying these issues just aren’t highlighted. In the next international break see how quickly Jordan Henderson, Eric Dier and the back line are able to move the ball to the creative talent when they win the ball. Increasing the speed of this movement will be a huge factor in the success or failure of World Cup 2018.

2.) Bush league turnovers

Again, against the lower level opposition, England rarely gets punished. This was the case against Slovenia as Dier, Jon Stones, and Danny Rose all had gaffes that would have led to multiple goals had they been playing quality strikers. Neymar or Messi would have finished at least two out of the three turnovers. It seems in every big tournament these types of plays consistently happen to England. A key to watch is if this continues to happen in qualifying despite not a great deal of pressure being applied defensively by weaker opposition.

Stones has been particularly susceptible to errors like these as with both club and country you can count on him giving the ball away either from over-dribbling or poor passing.

3.) Clinical in front of goal

In the match today Daniel Sturridge, who has many mixed opinions amongst fans had his touch let him down time and again in front of goal. This, of course, relates to the second point as the matches in knockout rounds of tournaments often are decided by elite strikers either taking their chances or not.

That is the major problem for Arsenal, as they create bucket loads of chances for Olivier Giroud, but he just misses the level of quality that the top strikers separate themselves from the very good.