England lose 3-2 to Spain in Nations League as Tuchel admits defensive frailties

Thomas Tuchel talked about England having to "embrace the chaos" as they embarked on recovery from the crushing disappointment of World Cup semi-final defeat by Argentina.

As England took those first steps on the road to rehabilitation against reigning world and European champions Spain in the Nations League at Wembley, head coach Tuchel learned the brutal lesson that chaos without control is a loser's strategy at elite level.

Spain do control, not chaos. And this is why they are serial winners and England remain a nearly team without a major men's success since the 1966 World Cup.

England delivered moments to admire in the 3-2 defeat, even embracing those chaotic spells in an enthralling encounter, but ultimately they came up short once more against this summer's World Cup winners, who are now unbeaten in 39 games.

Once Tuchel's England stopped playing themselves into trouble by mimicking Spain's passing style without having anywhere near the quality of their opponents and followed their own "DNA", to use the buzz-phrase of the moment, they actually threatened with power and pace.

Quite how England reached the 36th minute only one goal down was a mystery to everyone inside Wembley, Marc Guehi's inexplicable turn into trouble gifting Lamine Yamal an opener inside two minutes.

Ferran Torres saw a goal ruled out for offside, was denied by a fine stop by England goalkeeper James Trafford, then rolled an effort wide of the post when clean through.

England took advantage of those reprieves to somehow be ahead by the break, through star performer Anthony Gordon's composed finish and Harry Kane's deflected header.

Kane's penalty miss just after the break was a turning point, hitting the bar after slipping and touching the ball twice, before England once again paid the price for errors.

Nico O'Reilly coughed up possession in the build-up to Alex Baena's equaliser before another substitute in Mikel Oyarzabal, who scored the winner in the Euro 2024 final against England in Berlin, settled matters after 74 minutes.

If it was a bad night for Manchester City defensive duo Guehi and O'Reilly, it was not much better for Jarell Quansah, who was given the nod ahead of the recalled Trent Alexander-Arnold. He was uncertain throughout and does not look a natural right-back - perhaps because he is not a natural right-back.

Of course, it could have been different had Kane scored his penalty. He did not and it was not.

Kane said: "On another day we could have won." This was not another day and England did not win.

England's bolder approach after a shaky opening 25 minutes offered up the prospect of a landmark victory, but shambolic defending saw Guehi and O'Reilly present gifts Spain were happy to accept.

As against Argentina in the World Cup semi-final in Atlanta, England led by a Gordon goal and lost, but at least here they went down swinging and not by going into cowering retreat.

It was a small mercy appreciated by the home support, but the gulf in class when it mattered was still evident as Spain's smooth, unhurried style cut a sharp contrast to England's often frantic efforts.

Tuchel's defence looked horribly vulnerable and easy to slice through, although keeper Trafford – given two games before first-choice Jordan Pickford returns – was blameless and will have created a good impression as he tries to create greater competition in that department.

They have now shipped 13 goals in their last six matches in all competitions, after conceding only seven in their first 17 games under Tuchel.

Ironically, it was two players now plying their trade in Spain, Gordon at Barcelona and Jude Bellingham at Real Madrid, who were England's standout performers.

Gordon was in electrifying form, while Bellingham was relentless in driving England forward, even in a losing cause.

As for the chaos, Tuchel begged to differ.

He told BBC Radio 5 Live: "I'm not sure there was a lot of chaos. We had an incredible amount of high-ball recoveries in the opponent's half. I think 15 more than Spain. Overall, I think 15 in total in the first half. That only goes against a team like Spain if we play man to man, so we were very brave."

Tuchel added: "The defending and the deep block were excellent, except for the third goal where we got cut open through the middle. This normally should not happen.

"Offensively, I think we played in a clear structure. We tried to switch sides a lot. We tried to put the full-backs up to make the difference and they did. A lot of good stuff but unfortunately not the result."

On the gap between the sides, Tuchel said: "We saw no gap except for the technical execution. In the last 20 metres, they were superior than us."

Tuchel's comments are questionable here, ignoring the fact that if Spain's own technical execution was better they could easily have been four goals up before England scored, but he was correct to point out the improvement after Gordon drew them level.

England captain Kane said: "I spoke before that we reached good levels at the World Cup but didn't quite put a full 90 minutes together. It was probably similar again here. We had a couple of good moments though, that period was as good as we've played in a long, long time and that's the standard we know we can reach.

"We're playing against the world champions, the European champions, and we went toe-to-toe. On another day for sure we'd have won that game."

England certainly embrace the chaos, as Tuchel suggested, but chaos alone does not claim big prizes and never has.

At least this is a lesson Tuchel did not have to wait too long to learn after the World Cup.