Tuchel’s latest England experiment worked – but the real test is up next ...Middle East

VILLA PARK — It was a stonking slide tackle from Elliot Anderson. A monster. A beauty.

One for the defensive midfield highlights reel, the 22-year-old putting in a commanding performance on his England debut, dominating the midfield, stamping his mark on Thomas Tuchel’s troublesome defensive midfield position.

It was, really, only a shame that the performance was against Andorra, the huge sliding tackle, midway through the first half, on Pau Babot – a 22-year-old who plays his club football for Hanauer SC 1960, a team in the Hessenliga.

I’ll admit, I had to look that one up. Turns out it’s the top league in the state of Hesse, one of German football’s Oberligas – the fifth tier of German football, making it, by my estimation, around National League level.

Tuchel is in desperate need of a defensive midfielder.

Declan Rice is his best player in that position, but Tuchel wants Rice to play further forwards – Rice, after all, now does so for Arsenal and is one of the world’s most gifted central midfielders, so it makes sense – and Anderson, who has impressed since moving to Nottingham Forest in summer 2024, has been given the chance to see if he can be the key to unlock Rice in attack.

The experiment worked – to a point. Rice responded to his more advanced position by scoring the second – a nicely timed late run into the box to score a header, netting England’s second to secure an awkward, underwhelming win in the 67th minute.

And Anderson was brilliant. A standout player.

He tackled well, tracked well, passed well. He was positionally astute. He won big headers in the middle. He was composed, confident, he demanded the ball from Jordan Pickford, the England goalkeeper, and the England defenders in pressurised situations. He was unafraid to direct older, far more experienced team-mates.

He was brilliant at winning the ball back.

Elliot Anderson v Andorra 127 Touches114 Passes94% Passing accuracy34 Passes into the final third7 Duels won pic.twitter.com/U0kVDT5TjN

But how brilliant the performance was, coming against the 174th best team in world having only 17 percent possession in the entire match, is hard to tell.

How much can one measure a player from dictating a midfield against Andorra’s central midfielders Pau Babot and Marc Vales, a 35-year-old who plays for Atletic Lleida, in the Segunda Federacion, Spain’s fourth tier (more googling reveals). And while Vales can play in central midfield, he usually plays at centre-back.

Anderson arrived at St George’s Park and his first England camp feeling nervous. Understandable, of course, yet still not something many footballers arriving at their first England camp will concede to the England manager and his staff.

“It was nice to see,” Tuchel said. “Some of the guys being a bit nervous and not afraid to admit.”

And Tuchel saw enough last week in training to throw one of the starring players in England Under 21s’ summer European Championship victory into the first team.

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“The team around him made it as easy as possible and he had a very strong performance,” Tuchel said.

“He’s a very good football player. He has the physicality; a very mobile Six. He has the [physique], he loves to defend, he loves to put his body on the line in the duel, he loves passing. It was a pleasure to see.

“Today was more how he adapts to the situation. How he adapts to his nerves.

“Is he nervous? Does he show what he shows in training? Does he show what he shows for Nottingham Forest and the England Under 21s?

“He showed it. He played with freedom.”

Anderson’s England team-mate Reece James was equally as effusive. “He is a phenomenal player,” the Chelsea right-back said. “He fully deserves to be here, and he showed that with his performance.”

And even Roy Keane, the god of defensive midfield who can be hard to please, offered praise.

“Anderson did very well,” Keane said. “Obviously it was an easy game for him because he was always going to have a lot of possession.

“I think Bill Shankly said years ago that a time to judge a player is when he has time on the ball regarding decision making and the pace of a pass, the type of pass and he definitely had an impact.”

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Still, how does Anderson fare against France’s Aurelien Tchouameni and Manu Kone? Against Spain’s Mikel Merino, Martin Zubimendi and Pedri?

Does he get passed out of the game in a World Cup knockout? Is he beaten off the ball? Does his confidence plummet? Does he make mistakes?

For now, Tuchel has seen enough – particularly the way he dealt with those early nerves – to keep testing the player to see if he can be the answer the England manager seeks to a difficult question.

“He has the physicality and the mindset to play in the more difficult games,” Tuchel said. “And after this performance he’s clearly in the mix to play against Serbia.”

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