England should stick to strengths instead of imitating Spain style, believes Gordon

[p]Following [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/england/j9N9ZNFA/"]England[/a]'s World Cup semi-final loss to [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/argentina/f9OppQjp/"]‌Argentina[/a] in July, England manager Thomas Tuchel ‌attracted a backlash after saying ball possession was "not ‌in their DNA" like [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/spain/bLyo6mco/"]Spain[/a], where a passing-heavy ‌approach is taught at all levels.[/p][p][a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/gordon-anthony/EFo95m2P/"]Gordon[/a], who moved to Spanish club [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/barcelona/SKbpVP5K/"]Barcelona[/a] from [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/newcastle-utd/p6ahwuwJ/"]Newcastle United[/a] in May, ‌agreed with Tuchel and said ⁠on Wednesday that ‌he was not sure English players could be taught ​in a similar way.[/p][embed guid="e8815be2-932d-49d5-8d71-24d465ac1df4" url="https://x.com/BBCMOTD/status/2102988193717239981" social-type="twitter" /][p]"[b]Culturally, it's not just that tournament (the World Cup) or that game (against ​Argentina) where we couldn't control a game[/b]," the 25-year-old told reporters ahead of England's Nations ⁠League match against ​Spain on Saturday.[/p][p]"[b]As a nation we don't have that strength like the Spanish, where we control games like they do. It's not in ‌us. I'm not sure it's something that can be taught. Playing in Spain I can speak with an educated view on the way they keep the ball[/b].[/p][p]"[b]It's much different than I've ever experienced in this country, so I'm not sure we can ever get that. We can definitely get better – or maybe go ‌the other way and really play to our ​strengths, which is play physical, play direct ‌football and on the counterattack[/b]."[/p][image alt="Win probability" id="7b4fa7c5-02e4-44af-8d58-e6ecde1b89bb" credit-line="Flashscore" hidden-attrs="alt, credit" guid="3c826192-4d06-40f2-9f3d-c632c332c691" original-width="2160" original-height="2700" /][p][a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/game/soccer/england-j9N9ZNFA/spain-bLyo6mco/?mid=C42ySF3j"]After hosting Spain at Wembley[/a], England visit the [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/czech-republic/6LHwBDGU/"]Czech Republic[/a] and [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/croatia/K8aznggo/"]Croatia[/a] before playing the Czechs again at home.[/p][p]The remaining two fixtures of the ⁠Nations League group ⁠will be completed in ‌November.[/p][infobox id="5a8fbd57-e97c-4bdc-9f6b-fb0fb254e893" /]