The England team just played their last match at Wembley, before all go to the US to participate in 2 more friendly matches and then enter the 2026 World Cup campaign.
Unfortunately, in this final home match, the "Three Lions" lost 0-1 very shamefully to Japan. This is England's first defeat to an Asian team. Last year, they also lost for the first time to a team from Africa, Senegal.
Blue Samurai" is not a weak team, but England playing disjointedly and lifelessly makes their fans extremely uneasy. The 2026 World Cup is a tournament England sets a goal to win the championship but everything is shaking violently after the recent defeat.
Recently, Thomas Tuchel has repeatedly spoken about the poor performance of strikers, except for Harry Kane. In the match against Japan, the Bayern Munich center-forward was given a break to avoid injury and Tuchel's worry reappeared.
There are up to 4 attacking players in the starting lineup: Cole Palmer, Phil Foden, Anthony Gordon and Morgan Rogers. These are all attacking stars of top Premier League teams, but none can fill the role Harry Kane left behind. In two friendly matches with Uruguay and Japan, England only scored 1 goal. Even that only goal was scored by a defender, Ben White.
In the 4-2-3-1 formation, Tuchel is about to put Foden in the highest position in attack, but in fact he wants the Man City star to pair with Palmer. Playing right behind them is Rogers and the wings are Gordon - O'Relly. At first glance, this is an attack line with the overwhelming strength of the England team, but in the end the pressure they put on Japan is too weak.
After witnessing the disjointedness of his players, Tuchel replaced 4 players in a row and still maintained the 4-2-3-1 formation but with a more pure operating style. Dominic Solanke played center forward and right behind Rogers played like a classic "number 10". However, England still had no change and witnessed the first match being goalless, after 21 matches all scoring before that.
The current face of the England team is completely opposite to what they showed in the 2026 World Cup qualifiers. At that time, Tuchel's team played 8 matches, won all 8, scored 22 goals and did not concede any goals. However, against Japan, they conceded in a quick counter-attack. This is what the England team can face continuously at the upcoming 2026 World Cup.
One of the reasons why the England attack is so thin is the incredible decline in form of Palmer. When choosing the person to play behind Kane in the 4-2-3-1 formation, Tuchel has many choices such as Jude Bellingham or Morgan Rogers, followed by Cole Palmer and Phil Foden. Up to this point, all 4 positions are not in good form or cannot play. Palmer has been out for most of this season due to injury, so when the opportunity comes, he is not fit enough to grasp it.
Whether playing as a winger or "number 10", Palmer faced difficulties in Tuchel's operation. After losing the ball leading to Japan's goal, Palmer's confidence seemed to disappear completely, in contrast to the image he once shone in the FIFA Club World Cup 2025 final. Even in the subsequent free kicks, Palmer did not create the usual danger.
In the 60th minute, Palmer was substituted by Tuchel with a face that was not very happy. From now until the 2026 World Cup, there is one more gathering, but it will be a friendly leg in the US. This means that if he is not called up to the squad to participate in this pre-World Cup friendly series, Palmer's chances of appearing will be extremely precarious.
