'Not happy with the performance' - so why do England keep winning?

Image source, Getty ImagesImage caption, Bellingham was England's hero again on Saturday, scoring twice in the quarter-final win over NorwayByUmir IrfanFootball tactics correspondentPublished8 minutes agoEngland fought hard to beat Norway in the World Cup quarter-final on Saturday, but manager Thomas Tuchel is clearly concerned."We made life very difficult for ourselves," Tuchel said. "The result is fantastic but I'm not happy with the performance."

He did follow these quotes up by commending the players for their heart: "I'm impressed with the effort, team spirit and belief to overcome adversity."But I am also a football coach and I think we can play better. We had a lot of momentum swings for both teams.

We made life difficult in the way we played, sloppy, a lot of technical mistakes, not fast enough, not repetitive enough."So, what did he want to see? And more importantly, if the side aren't playing as they should be, why do they keep on winning?

Tuchel angry at 'lucky' England - but Bellingham defends playersPublished9 hours agoBellingham inspires England to beat Norway and reach World Cup semi-finalsHow does Tuchel want England to play?When Tuchel selected his World Cup squad, it was clear that he had a specific style of play in mind.Players were selected based on how well they could perform in predefined roles – think Jude Bellingham and Morgan Rogers competing for the number 10 shirt pre-tournament.

These fixed roles are underpinned by a number of key principles, some of which are:Dominate possessionPress aggressivelyPlay deliberate passes to entice opposition pressureAfter enticing pressure, accelerate play, looking to find forwards in spaceAgainst defensive blocks, attack down the flanks, using wide triangles and rotations to create chancesThrougout the World Cup we have seen these in glimpses, but Tuchel is unsatisfied.What did Tuchel want to see against Norway?Almost all of the issues Tuchel mentioned after the game were about how his side played on the ball, so for context, we need to look at England's attacking and Norway's defensive set-up.

Stale Solbakken's men defended in a 4-5-1 shape, blocking space, with England attacking in a 3-2-5 shape on the ball.Marc Guehi, John Stones and Ezri Konsa made up the first line. Declan Rice and Elliot Anderson formed the two in midfield.

Left-back Nico O'Reilly joined the front four, giving them an extra player against Norway's back line.Image caption, England's 3-2-5 attacking shape against Norway's 4-5-1In his post-match critique Tuchel said England were "not repetitive enough", an uncommon phrase.What he was most likely referring to was that he did not see his side have longer spells of possession consisting of lots of short passing, aimed at drawing Norway out.

This is something the German manager wants because it opens up space to find attackers in, either out wide or with long balls over the top.In the group stage against Ghana, who also defended in a 4-5-1 block, Tuchel was heard telling his players to play "short, short, short" before looking for a "long switch", something we actually saw from England in the first quarter against Norway.Image caption, In the 10th minute, England have six players on the left side of the pitch.

With Norway drawn in that direction, Kane then switches play to find Madueke free, ready to dribble at his full-back one against oneBy playing numerous short passes on one flank, England drew the Norwegians towards the ball before quickly playing to the far-side winger in space, often Anderson playing long to Noni Madueke.The wingers didn't capitalise on these moments but England showed glimpses of Tuchel's ideal attacking principles.As the game went on, this repetitive baiting of pressure was seen less.

England struggled to hold the ball, with their first-half possession of 68% dropping to 44% in the second half.The untapped potential of England's wide triangles Positional rotations in the wide triangles for Tuchel were supposed to be the key attacking tactic England were to lean on throughout the tournament.Much of Tuchel's post-match frustrations likely will have come from the fact that Norway's 4-5-1 gave the Three Lions the perfect conditions to use them, but England were "not fast enough".

Image caption, In the second half, an animated Tuchel urges the player on the ball forward to commit Norway's midfield, with the potential of an overload on the flank easy to manufacture here. Saka and Eze are both in space. Instead a safe pass is played to full-back KonsaThe wide midfielders of Norway did not drop into the defensive line, instead holding their position in line with the central midfielders.

Behind them, Norway kept a narrow back four. This gave England multiple possible solutions through their wide triangles.Using Anthony Gordon, Anderson and O'Reilly as an example below, we see the England winger move from a left-wing position into a more narrow position inside the Norweigan right-back, Julian Ryerson.

Norway's right midfi