Tactical Theory: Coaching England U21s build-up play – tactical analysis

England U21s had a very successful tournament at the UEFA European Under-21 Championship this summer. Not only did they win the championship, but England also did so without conceding a goal in the entire finals. This record was kept intact when the tournament concluded in the most dramatic fashion. Ex-Manchester City youth team player, James Trafford saved a 98th-minute penalty to both secure both the clean sheet record and win Englands third UEFA U21 Euros title.

England qualified for Euro 2023, their ninth straight finals, with victories over Czechia, Kosovo, Albania and Andorra. Their only real blemishes in the whole tournament, in qualifying and in the finals, came against Slovenia. Slovenia drew 2-2 at home with the young Lions before beating them in Huddersfield 2-1. Although this defeat came after securing qualification, it would have hurt being the match that broke their 54-game unbeaten run in qualifying. This record stretched back to November 2011.

This tactical analysis will focus on how England, managed by ex-Premier League and Everton star Lee Carsley, build-up from the back. This tactical theory and analysis includes a section providing examples of how to implement these tactics on the training field.

Goal Kicks

This section is going to analyse goal-kicks that are taken short and after the opposition has been able to organise their defensive setup. Throughout the tournament, goalkeeper Trafford would play out quickly before either team was in a well-defined setup. When the team were prepared, the favoured option appeared to be to play short, but England also often went long.

The above image shows Englands 4-2-4 structure, which sometimes became a 4-2-2-2, against Germany. Englands left centre-back took the goal-kicks from the corner of the 6-yard box, passing to the centrally positioned Trafford. When playing against two high-pressing forwards, as in this example, it means if one of the two forwards presses the ball, one centre-back becomes free.

In this build-