England finally let Bellingham off the leash

Bellingham has never lacked ambition in a game, he's just occasionally lacked the licence. Under previous setups he'd drift into pockets and find them already occupied, or get dragged back into shape just as the ball opened up ahead of him. Anthony Barry's comments after the 7-0 win over Croatia suggest Tuchel has rebuilt the structure around that exact problem.

What Barry actually said

Barry's point wasn't about a formation on paper, it was about freedom within it. His description of players being 'caged in' by rigid positioning is a pretty pointed admission that England's old shape was working against its best attacker rather than for him. The new structure, by his account, gives Bellingham room to roam rather than a job description to stick to.

Why Bellingham is the test case

This matters more for Bellingham than almost anyone else in the squad because his game has always been about arriving late, not holding a lane. At Real Madrid this season he's played 38 matches with 8 goals and 5 assists in the seasons we have on record, a drop from the 23 goals and 12 assists he managed in 2023/24. A looser England setup that lets him attack space rather than occupy a zone plays directly to the version of him that terrorised the Bundesliga and then La Liga.

The Croatia scoreline as evidence

Seven goals against anyone is a statement, but the context Barry gave turns it into something closer to proof of concept. If Tuchel's structural tweak is what unlocked that kind of attacking freedom for Bellingham specifically, England have found something worth repeating against better opposition than a Croatia side on the wrong end of a rout.

What it means going forward

Tuchel inherited a squad stacked with attacking talent that had, at times, looked strangely short of control in the final third. If a more fluid structure is genuinely the fix, and not just a one-off against a side that collapsed, it gives England a template heading into their next assignments: stop asking Bellingham to stay in his box, and let him decide where the box is.