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Tuchel wants England to embrace long throw-ins, long balls in World Cup bid

rugby08 September 2025 05:14| © Reuters
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England manager Thomas Tuchel has outlined plans to incorporate more long throw-ins and long balls into his side's approach ahead of next year's World Cup.

England made it four wins from four in Group K on Saturday with a 2-0 win over Andorra, but they struggled to break down the world's 174th ranked team at Villa Park in a far-from fluent performance.

They took the lead in the first half through an own goal and had to wait until the 67th minute to make it 2-0 through Declan Rice's header.

Tuchel flagged the return of old-school methods when he named his squad last week.

"I told you: the long throw-in is back," Tuchel, who took over from Gareth Southgate last October, told reporters. "But we do not have a lot of time.

"But once we arrive at the World Cup, all these things matter, so we will also talk about long throw-ins, we will talk about long kicks from the goalkeeper and not only playing short.

"But we cannot put everything into four days of training. But these things will matter."

England next face Serbia in Belgrade on Tuesday.

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