England Vs Croatia [2-1] UEFA Nations League 2026/2027: A Historic Night For Harry Kane Doesn't Hide Thomas Tuchel Tactical Problems - Tactical Analysis

England and Croatia faced off on what was a record night for Harry Kane.

The Bayern Munich man won the Ballon d'Or less than a month ago, the first English player to win the award since Michael Owen in 2001.

It was his first game at Wembley Stadium since doing so.

It was also the night that he broke the appearance record for the Three Lions, surpassing Peter Shilton's 125 caps with his 126th appearance.

In typical Kane fashion, he also scored the winning goal in this game, from the penalty spot.

England needed to win this game to have any chance of winning the group in the final game (this coming Sunday away to Spain).

Croatia, on the other hand, could avoid the chance that Czechia leap them in the table in their final game showdown with a win or draw.

The game ended up being closer than anticipated, given that England won the reverse fixture in Rijeka last month with seven unanswered goals.

That was, in large part, down to the Croatia tactics.

They came to London to limit the space England could attack.

This tactical analysis looks at how each team set up, how the game was won, and whether either coach learned anything going forward ahead of two big games on Sunday.

England Vs Croatia Lineups & Formations

England Lineup Vs Croatia

This was the last fixture for both teams in the October international break, and Tuchel made four changes from the side that had won 7-0, with some enforced.

The German manager stayed with his 4-2-3-1.

Jordan Pickford kept his place in goal.

Jarell Quansah moved inside to central defence, partnering Dan Burn.

Trent Alexander-Arnold and Lewis Hall were right and left back.

Declan Rice came back into the midfield after missing out on the last fixtures, replacing Alex Scott.

Elliot Anderson started alongside him.

There was one change in the attacking unit.

Bukayo Saka was not in the squad due to injury so was replaced by Morgan Rogers on the right wing.

Anthony Gordon played on the other side, with Jude Bellingham just behind Kane.

Tuchel made three changes in the game, all coming in the 78th minute, as Ben White, James Garner and Rio Ngumoha replaced Alexander-Arnold, Rice and Gordon.

Croatia Lineup Vs England

Slaven Bilić went with a 3-5-1-1, shifting from the 4-1-4-1 he played in the last fixture.

Dominik Livaković started again in goal, behind a back three of Joško Gvardiol, Luka Vušković and Josip Stanišić.

There was then a midfield three of Josip Mišić, who was brought in as the only true 'defensive midfielder' in the squad, Mateo Kovačić and Petar Sučić.

Nikola Vlašić was on the right-hand side of the midfield five, with Ivan Smolčić on the other.

Como's rising star Martin Baturina played just behind Igor Matanović in attack.

Bilić made all five available changes as he looked to get something out of the game.

Mario Pašalić and Ante Budimir came on with 20 minutes to go, with Luka Modrić and Marco Pašalić joining them six minutes later.

Lovro Majer came on as they chased an equaliser in added time.

England Vs Croatia First Half Tactics

The first half went as many would expect.

England were the aggressors, looking to establish their control and dominance in the game.

They edged possession, but were definitely the more adventurous of the two sides.

England had 16 touches in the opposition box to Croatia's seven; they accumulated an expected goals of 1.09 from eight shots, to Croatia's 0.23 (from five shots).

England Average Position Map Vs Croatia (Via SofaScore)

As we can see from England's average position map, the team had a clear structure.

They were pushed high, with everyone bar Quansah averaging a position at the centre circle or above.

Alexander-Arnold and Hall were pushed into positions that matched up with the wide players ahead of them; the midfield and attacking unit of Kane and Bellingham were close to each other as they looked to combine in deeper areas, allowing Rogers and Gordon to make runs in behind.

Croatia Average Position Map (Via SofaScore)

We can see how much deeper Croatia were.

They had a clear defensive unit, with five players dropped back into deeper positions.

There is then a flat midfield three near the halfway line.

This was a tactic Bilić used to first exploit the space Kane had when receiving the ball in midfield and, second, to stop the other attackers from getting in behind his defence.

This actually worked for the most part.

Without the Rogers goal, England created just 0.28 expected goals.

Unfortunately for Croatia, that goal did come.

Hall picks up the ball deep in Croatia's half, as they've set up in their deep block (you can see the seven-man line of defenders near the edge of their own box).

Kane has, as he does, dropped back to influence the game from deep.

Bellingham (the closest player to the linesman on the far side) has drifted out wide unnoticed.