Japan’s goal wasn’t Palmer’s fault and Mainoo couldn’t track back, but Tuchel will now see the scale of what faces him
To see a world in a grain of meaningless friendly. It has become a habit to say you don’t learn anything from these games. This isn’t strictly true. You just don’t learn anything new. But it’s all still there, ready to be decoded like a set of sporting tea leaves.
On a strangely empty night at Wembley Stadium – also known as “a night at Wembley Stadium” – the opening half-hour of this 1-0 England defeat against Japan was fluffy, formless and free from any real edge. But that half-hour was also hugely telling, packed with echoes, ghosts and patterns. Another March friendly: another note in the never-ending story of England footballdom, an epic poem in 1,080 parts.
England did almost nothing of any real merit in that period. But it was valuable time for Thomas Tuchel, who must have hated with a violent water bottle‑hoofing passion the goal that his team conceded; and who will now have three months of duvet-clenching nightmares on his sweat-soaked goose-down divan over transitions, empty spaces and failed counterpresses.
Players came and went in the hour of football that followed. Energy was expended, but with a sense of packing up and putting things to bed. England’s best chances arrived when they decided to stick Dan Burn and Harry Maguire on and load some corners into the box.
