The narrative before this first post-World Cup international was clear: if England lose, the pressure on Thomas Tuchel could become unbearable. The big name on the big bucks, brought in to win the big games, could not afford to lose to Spain after the tactical disaster of the World Cup semi-final defeat to Argentina. The court of public opinion, and the bile of the English media, would combine to make life very difficult for the England boss.
Well, here we are, in the aftermath of a 3-2 loss to the newly-crowned world champions, where England were outclassed on numerous occasions, where the scoreline should have been much one-sided, where for long periods Spain looked far superior to the Three Lions, where after half an hour the visitors should have been four-nil up. Strangely, despite all of that, Tuchel's critics have been forced to bite their tongues and bide their time. Because England were true to their DNA, they gave it a real good go; there were a lot of positive signs, and ultimately everyone saw again just how incredibly good Spain are.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player It's hard to criticise Tuchel or his players when they were narrowly beaten by a team who have repeatedly proven they are the best by a mile at what they do. The game was decided by two collector's items at either end of the pitch - one a Marc Guehi calamity on the edge of his own box that gifted Spain the lead in the second minute. The other was a Harry Kane missed penalty because of a slippery pitch.
And if England's captain had scored from 12 yards, giving his side a two-goal cushion, who knows what might have been. The match statistics make for comforting reading for Tuchel too. Up against the tika-taka maestros, England had a very respectable 48 per cent possession, made more successful passes in the final third than Spain, had two fewer shots, had over double the amount of touches in the opponent's box and five times as many crosses.
Those stats may not pass the sniff test. They might seem at odds with what most spectators saw with their eyes, but the numbers that perhaps help us understand better show that Spain created twice as many big chances. How do we digest all of that?
In basic terms, Spain may have had the ball less than England in dangerous areas, but when they did, Luis de la Fuente's team had more quality and were more clinical. And the team that has not lost a match in two-and-a-half years didn't make costly individual errors with the ball, because that's not in their DNA. If it is possible, the defeat has improved the national mood.
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