Thomas Tuchel did not hide his frustration after England beat Norway in the World Cup quarter-final on Saturday. "The result is fantastic but I'm not happy with the performance," the England manager said. "We made life very difficult for ourselves — sloppy, a lot of technical mistakes, not fast enough, not repetitive enough."

And yet England won. They are in the semi-finals. So the obvious question is: how?

What Tuchel actually wants to see

When Tuchel selected his World Cup squad he had a defined system in mind, built around a small set of repeatable principles. According to BBC Sport's tactics correspondent Umir Irfan, those principles include: dominating possession, pressing aggressively, playing deliberate short passes to invite the opposition to press, and then accelerating play once space opens up. Against defensive blocks specifically, the plan is to attack down the flanks using wide triangles and positional rotations to manufacture chances.

Players were chosen with those roles in mind — the pre-tournament competition between Jude Bellingham and Morgan Rogers for the number ten shirt is the clearest example of how role-first selection shaped the squad.

What went wrong against Norway

Norway defended in a 4-5-1 block, sitting narrow and deep. England attacked in a 3-2-5 shape — Marc Guehi, John Stones and Ezri Konsa at the back, Declan Rice and Elliot Anderson in the double pivot, with left-back Nico O'Reilly pushing into the front line to give them an extra body against Norway's four defenders.

On paper, those were near-ideal conditions to execute Tuchel's system. Norway's wide midfielders did not tuck into the back line, instead holding their position level with the central midfielders — precisely the scenario that should open up the wide overloads Tuchel wants England to exploit.

In the opening quarter they showed glimpses of it. England patiently moved the ball on the left, drawing Norway across, before switching to Noni Madueke on the far side in one-on-one situations. Tuchel was heard telling players during the Ghana group game to play "short, short, short" before looking for the "long switch" — and that was visible early on.

But it did not last. England's possession dropped from 68% in the first half to 44% in the second. The short-passing sequences designed to bait Norway's press became less frequent, the wide triangles went largely unused, and England resorted to more direct, less structured play. Bellingham, as he has done repeatedly at this tournament, rescued them.

So why do they keep winning?

The honest answer is a combination of individual quality and resilience rather than system execution. Bellingham's ability to produce moments of genuine brilliance — he scored twice on Saturday — covers a multitude of structural problems. The market has consistently made England one of the favourites, and the underlying individual talent in the squad justifies that, even if the collective shape has been inconsistent.

Tuchel's concern is not that England cannot win playing this way. Clearly they can. His concern is that they are leaving significant margin on the table. Against a semi-final opponent likely to be more organised and more clinical than Norway in transition, errors born from "sloppy" possession and unfulfilled wide overloads will be punished more severely.

England have reached the semi-finals. Whether they go further may depend on whether the system Tuchel has been building since he took charge finally clicks for a full 90 minutes — rather than a promising first quarter followed by progressive entropy.

As Harry Kane put it after the game: England have another level they can reach. Tuchel is waiting to see it.

Frequently asked

How did England set up against Norway in the World Cup quarter-final?
England used a 3-2-5 attacking shape, with three centre-backs, Declan Rice and Elliot Anderson as the double pivot, and left-back Nico O'Reilly pushing into the front line to give them a numerical advantage against Norway's back four.
What does Thomas Tuchel mean by England not being 'repetitive enough'?
Tuchel wants his side to string together long sequences of short passes on one flank to draw the opposition towards the ball, then quickly switch play to find a winger in space on the far side. England did this early against Norway but struggled to sustain it for the full match.
When is England's World Cup semi-final?
England's World Cup semi-final date and opponent had not been confirmed at the time of writing. Check the official FIFA website or BBC Sport for the latest fixture information and UK kick-off times.