How England have avoided yellow cards at the World Cup

Yellow cards are more important than most people think in tournament football.

England’s last-16 opponents Senegal were eliminated at the group stage of the previous World Cup four years ago because they had a worse disciplinary record over the three games than Japan. Yellow cards also came close to deciding the Group C runners-up in Qatar between Mexico and Poland, but for a late Saudi Arabia goal that made goal difference the tiebreaker.

Senegal were without key midfielder Idrissa Gueye in that 3-0 defeat on Sunday — suspended after being booked twice in the group stage.

England, however, are yet to receive a booking in their four matches in the tournament so far, although Kyle Walker was particularly lucky to avoid one having hauled down Ismaila Sarr against Senegal.

This piece will break down why, tactically, England have avoided punishment. Many will now justifiably argue that they should have accepted one and had Harry Kane wear the One Love armband.

England’s possession game helps

“With the players, we’ve talked about setting the right tone and the right intent in our performance,” said manager Gareth Southgate after England began their World Cup with that 6-2 win over Iran. “That came through the way that we counter-pressed the ball.”

In all four games, England have had the majority of possession —and it’s been more than 60 per cent on three occasions (against the United States it was 55.4 per cent).

Controlling the game with the ball means England can largely play in the opposition’s half and not have to defend or foul in the first place. Only Spain (75.7 per cent) and Argentina (65.0 per cent) have a higher average possession share than England’s 64.3 per cent.

And when they do lose it, they have bodies upfield to help regain it quickly.

An example from early in the Iran game exemplifies England’s counter-press. Kieran Trippier’s pass gets blocked but he and Bukayo Saka immediately press Majid Hosseini from either side…

…without fouling; Saka forces the Iranian wide, England’s midfielders — see Mason Mount in this next image — close off the passing lanes infield…

…and within 10 seconds of losing the ball they have Iran pinned four-versus-four on the byline, forcing Hosseini to clear out of play.

Across the first 10 days of play in Qatar, only Brazil and South Korea counter-pressed more successfully than England.

Through having an effective counter-press, England concede fewer counter-attacks and thus have to make fewer tactical fouls, which are typically the type of tackle that leads to a yellow card.

Looking at England’s foul map below, the volume made in the half of the pitch they are attacking is clear, but also out on the wings, where fouls are typically less harshly punished than those closer to a team’s goal.

Good tackling and rotational fouls

It will sound obvious, but tackling successfully will never get you booked.

England successfully completed 59.6 per cent of their tackles across the first four games — the highest of any team in the tournament.

“The ruthlessness of our execution, the way the team worked off the ball and without the ball,” Southgate said after they saw off African champions Senegal.

Jude Bellingham was involved in the most duels (18) and won the joint-most tackles (four) of any England player in Sunday’s game.

The teenager tops both metrics for England at the tournament (11 tackles, 45 duels) and uses his long legs, combined with his game intelligence, to defend with control and restraint and time tackles to avoid fouling opponents.

Against Senegal, Bellingham’s ball-winning was equally important as an attacking tool as it was as a defensive one.

“Our best opportunities came from winning the ball from them and I thought Jude and Hendo (Jordan Henderson), in particular, were outstanding in that aspect,” said Southgate post-match.

This was evident in England’s second goal, where Bellingham made the regain that started the move.

Rotational fouling is where players take it in turns to commit fouls in order to avoid one of them being booked.

In this World Cup, 16 of the 19 England outfielders to feature have committed at least one foul — Raheem Sterling, Jack Grealish and Callum Wilson are yet to be penalised. Mount is England’s top fouler, with six of their 43 fouls.

The team’s 16 fouls against Senegal were spread among 11 players, a ratio that significantly reduces the chances of someone collecting a yellow card as a result of foul accumulation.

A 2011 paper studying the Bundesliga found that yellow and red cards negatively impact a team’s likelihood of winning a game but fouls increased the chances — England look to have found the sweet spot.

Strong defensive structure

When they are without possession, Southgate’s side are compact and difficult to break down, mixing well between a more passive mid or low block and high pressing out of this shape.

The table below shows the FIFA-collected data regarding the proportion of time out-of-possession England spend in each defensive phase (the numbers will not add up to 100 per cent as ‘recovery’ and ‘defensive transition’ were not included).

The counter-press against Iran was analysed above, though there are clear subtle defensive tweaks dependent on the opposition.

England defended in a 4-1-4-1 mid-block against Wales in the final group match, trying to encourage risk-taking and expansiveness from a team who like to defend and sit deep. In the grab below, all 10 England outfield players, striker to back line, are within a space about 30 yards long.

Against Senegal, they deployed a low block more than in the group stage, which is visible below in how much closer the wingers are to the full-backs.

Even though the approach changes, there is still the same level of passive defending.

England set their traps in wide areas and were more aggressive there, baiting Senegal into passes Luke Shaw and Walker could intercept.

Note Henderson’s initial positioning here on Nampalys Mendy. Once Declan Rice takes over screening duties, Henderson breaks from shape to press and force the wide passes, rather than allowing Senegal to play into infield areas where England’s central midfielders would be forced to tackle more.

There is a key focus on tracking runners, blocking passes up to the forwards and pressing when teams play backwards rather than looking to duel in midfield.

When splitting the pitch into horizontal thirds, as per FBref.com, England rank joint-second for tackles in their attacking third (10) but 12th for them in the midfield third (20) and 27th in their defensive third (19) — there are clear areas where they are more prepared to be aggressive.

England are a case study for tournament-wide trends

A less combative approach from England is reflective of a wider trend compared with previous tournaments.

There was an average of 15.6 fouls committed per game in the 2010 World Cup. This is now down to 11.9 per game.

Fewer fouls are largely representative of a slightly more passive pressing intensity across the board. While there are bound to be differences, case-by-case, the average PPDA (passes per defensive action) of 15 is as high as it has been in recent tournaments — less out-of-possession aggression means fewer challenges are made, so there are fewer fouls.

There is the argument that referees are allowing more to flow.

Just two red cards have been shown, the first — following a VAR intervention — to Wales goalkeeper Wayne Hennessey when rushing out of his goal, missing the ball and clattering an Iran forward, and the other a second yellow Cameroon’s Vincent Aboubakar got for taking his shirt off after scoring the late winner against Brazil. No outfield player has yet been shown a straight red card.

The Athletic’s Michael Cox wrote about how Argentina’s aggressive tackles went unpunished against Mexico. Argentina have only received two yellow cards in their four matches, the same number as France.

There have been booking-level fouls which England seem to have got away with.

Walker stopping Sarr here on a Senegal breakaway in a still-goalless match — with only two England defenders behind the ball — was probably worth a yellow…

…as was this cynical challenge by Mount late in the game. There are lots of covering defenders but this is clearly an effort to prevent a counter-attack.

Next up, it’s France in the quarter-finals on Saturday.

Avoiding yellow cards against Kylian Mbappe and Ousmane Dembele will be as tough as ending the reign of the world champions…

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