In yesterday’s press conferences we asked Harry Kane and Thomas Tuchel about the former’s isolated role against Andorra (Hamzah Khalique-Loonat writes). The striker had just 12 touches.
“A different opposition will always determine that [the amount of touches],” Kane said. “When you’re playing against 11 behind the ball, there’s no point in me coming behind the ball when we’ve got enough players who can have those touches and create space.
“The manager each game will change a little bit [of my role] and tomorrow night might be a little bit different.”
Tuchel added: “I don’t worry about Harry. Harry is ready to score in every game. It will always happen, and it happens in the modern game, not only to Harry, that the No9 who plays in and around the box and is in the middle of a low block has not a lot of touches.
“I’m happy that he resists the temptation to go into deep midfield because I want him in and around the box. This is his outstanding quality. We will feed him, we will score, that’s what he does and will not stop.”
EDDIE KEOGH /THE FA VIA GETTY IMAGES
Serbia: Petrovic; Erakovic, Milenkovic, Pavlovic; Nedeljkovic, Maksimovic, Lukic, Birmancevic; Zivkovic, Ilic; Vlahovic.
England: Pickford; James, Guéhi, Konsa, Livramento; Anderson, Rice; Madueke, Rogers, Gordon — Kane (C).
Aleksandar Mitrovic is only fit enough to start from the bench for Serbia.
While Tuchel and Kane were, understandably, keen to publicly play down any worries about potential discrimination incidents, it is worth recapping both some of the litany of incidents involving Serbia, and the abuse levelled at England players, including to youth players earlier this week (Hamzah Khalique-Loonat writes). These incidents are, regrettably, still far too common.
• England squad discuss how to act if they face racist abuse in Serbia
“How intimidating can a stadium really be?” I was asked not too long ago (Hamzah Khalique-Loonat writes). I think they generally had a point. Home advantage in club football has been falling for quite some time — in fact, I wrote about it here.
But this ground is quite unique, principally because of this claustrophobic, 73metre long concrete tunnel, which the players will line up in before kick-off before stepping out onto the pitch. Perhaps this is what Mikel Arteta was hoping to achieve when he removed the extendable tarp at the Emirates. Take a look at what it’s like to walk through it.
Importantly, this game tonight will be played with a reduced capacity (Hamzah Khalique-Loonat writes). The Serbia FA was sanctioned by Fifa over racist behaviour by its supporters in the 3-0 win against Andorra in June. The body was fined 50,000 Swiss francs (about £46,355) and must keep at least 15 per cent of its capacity (about 8,100 spectators) behind the goals empty. It is expected that there will be 2,500 England supporters at the game.
England’s players held a meeting to discuss how they will act if players are subjected to racist abuse. However, both Tuchel and Harry Kane were hopeful that such precautions will not be needed. The Serbia FA notified its fans that further incidents could lead to the match against Albania next month being played behind closed doors.
Branko Radujko, the general secretary of the Serbia FA, said in his programme notes today: “In addition to the spectacle we expect on the pitch, let me draw attention to something just as important: the behaviour of all of us in the stands. This match of truth also carries great responsibility.”
And this is the venue where England will be playing tonight (Hamzah Khalique-Loonat writes). The locals call it the Marakana (with a K). The view inside the ground is much more impressive.
Apologies in advance for my camera work, especially to those regular readers of Marc Aspland and Bradley Ormesher’s Sport Unseen. I don’t think my photos will be featuring in it any time soon…
We’re currently walking down to the stadium, which is also the home of Red Star Belgrade (Hamzah Khalique-Loonat writes). About 500-600m away is Partizan Belgrade’s ground. It’s not quite as close as Dens Park and Tannadice, but they’re pretty close. In our taxi from the airport our taxi driver made clear his thoughts on Red Star: “S**t”. This rivalry runs deep.
And to be honest I’m not particularly keen on getting involved in it: there are few stadiums that look as unfriendly as this.
Further food for thought (Hamzah Khalique-Loonat writes). While watching England’s game with Andorra I was sitting between Jonathan Northcroft and Paul Joyce. During the game, when Dan Burn racked up 139 touches, the most of any player on the pitch, Paul posed a particularly interesting question: what would Arne Slot do? As he wrote in this article he would probably have moved Ryan Gravenberch to centre back to have a more creative, attacking player on the ball more often.
Pep Guardiola, while manager of Barcelona, had a similar idea: he put Javier Mascherano at centre back to give his team a high-quality presence with the ball at the back, which allowed them to play with an additional creative midfielder.
Given this season and last year have already been dominated with discussions about risk-taking, it’s interesting to note that Thomas Tuchel seems at ease with how his team have struck the balance between attack and defence.
On The Game football podcast Tom Clarke, Gregor Robertson and Kit Shepard discussed England (Hamzah Khalique-Loonat writes). One particularly interesting point raised was the amount of distance Tuchel wished to put between his team and Gareth Southgate’s.
But more than a year on from Southgate — who reached two major finals — leaving the job, you wonder whether Tuchel may have looked to make small tweaks and build upon Southgate’s work rather than make such sweeping changes. Consider this food for thought…
So, four expected changes for England (Hamzah Khalique-Loonat writes).
It’s easy to see what Tuchel hopes to achieve. Tino Livramento should add physicality and pace, and his height will be particularly important on set pieces. He may stop (or, at least) limit the propensity of Serbian forwards peeling on to the full backs when they play long.
Anthony Gordon, who plays with Livramento at Newcastle, has the advantage of knowing his team-mate well and gives intensity in pressing and tracking back. Ezri Konsa gives the back line more mobility and Morgan Rogers adds directness.
The one question that those changes leave is: how will England play through the middle without Eze’s passing and invention? Rogers is more of a dribbler. Perhaps England will lean on Elliot Anderson and Konsa to pass into Rogers and Harry Kane, or maybe they’ll just focus on attacking via the wings.
Thomas Tuchel has referenced weather conditions and how they can affect game plans several times as England head coach (Hamzah Khalique-Loonat writes). The World Cup in the US, Canada and Mexico next summer is expected to be hot and humid, which has a very real effect on how teams play. Good luck having a pressing game in 30C!
Here in Belgrade the conditions aren’t exactly easy: it’s currently 28C and will be around 25C at kick-off. The humidity is 45 per cent and will climb up to 60 per cent through the evening.
Thomas Tuchel is set to make four changes to his XI for England’s game tonight (Hamzah Khalique-Loonat writes). Ezri Konsa is expected to replace Dan Burn, Tino Livramento is set to play at left back instead of Myles Lewis-Skelly and Morgan Rogers and Anthony Gordon are set to feature in place of Eberechi Eze and Marcus Rashford.
Hello and welcome to our coverage of England’s latest World Cup qualifier in Belgrade.
England have a faultless record of four wins from four so far in group K and have yet to concede a goal. However, those numbers don’t tell the full story of a series of underwhelming performances and Thomas Tuchel’s side will look to take a step up in what is likely to be their toughest match of qualifying.
The game will get under way at 7.45pm.