Anthony Gordon believes the England national team shouldn't attempt to replicate Spain's style of football. The Barcelona winger insists Thomas Tuchel's side should leverage their own strengths.
This Saturday, England will face the current world champions in the Nations League. The last encounter between the teams saw Spain clinch victory in the Euro 2024 final, winning 2-1 thanks to a decisive goal from Mikel Oyarzabal.
Ahead of the match, Gordon stated:
We can't keep looking at other countries and trying to become like them because we’re not them. We're English, and we have our own strengths that they don’t have. Perhaps we just need to play the way we know how to.
The forward added:
The Spanish style? It's not in the English DNA. I'm not sure you can teach it at all. Now that I play in Spain, I can speak about it with more authority: the way they control the ball is really different.
Sometimes I look at the decisions they make with the ball and think: I don’t even understand how you saw that.
They are just structured differently. I don't know if it can be accurately explained, but they are definitely different.
England heads into the clash with significant personnel losses. Tino Livramento, Kobbie Mainoo, Cole Palmer, Marcus Rashford, and Declan Rice have all left the national team camp. James Garner and Morgan Gibbs-White have been called up as replacements.
This summer, Tuchel's side finished third at the World Cup - England’s best result in the tournament since their triumph in 1966.
