
Robinson believes Tuchel is realistic and practical enough to recognise, based on the evidence he has witnessed in the Premier League, the power set-pieces can offer England.
“Tuchel watches a lot of Premier League football,” he said. “He will be well aware of trends and how things are going.
“He is ruthless. He will do things his way. He won’t care who he upsets along the way. Any criticism will not affect him in any way, shape or form if he believes it will win him games.
“Arsenal are the arch exponents at set-pieces. They are top of the Premier League, chasing the Champions League and are statistically the best team in the country.”
Robinson believes “football snobbery” is behind some of the reluctance to embrace set-pieces as a potential game-changer.
He said: “I think there has been this snobbery about set-pieces and teams that use them, but I think this year that’s all being pushed aside because we are talking about those fine margins again.
“This can especially apply at a major tournament. Everyone’s looking for that edge and, if set-pieces give you that edge – if you’ve got somebody who can put a corner under the crossbar or send a brilliant delivery into dangerous areas – why not do that?
“It’s been proved this season England have the players to do it. This could be that fine margin, the moment that wins a game.
“There was this football snobbery because a team didn’t put 64 passes together before scoring a goal.
“All of a sudden Arsenal and other teams are doing it and you’ve got managers like Sam Allardyce and Tony Pulis, who were labelled long-ball merchants or dinosaurs, seeing teams use the tactics they employed.
“A manager once said to me and the group of players when he came to the club, ‘if you want to score a goal in the 93rd minute, where are you going to put the ball?’ Somebody said ‘in the box, boss’, and he said ‘well, we’ll do it in the first minute if we get the chance’.
“I firmly believe Tuchel will see what sort of a danger he can use from set-pieces and will use it.”
One question will be asked – will foreign referees at a World Cup be as tolerant of the physical exchanges in the penalty area that often go unpunished in the Premier League?
Robinson explains: “English referees are having a lot of problems with the movement before the ball is delivered. They will stop the game and talk to the players but, if there is no infringement once the ball is kicked, they won’t have a problem.
“Some foreign referees may look at things differently, possibly, but you will then get others who let it go.
“I just think, looking at the players they have and how good they are at set-pieces, England have an advantage they can’t pass up.
“And from what we have seen from Thomas Tuchel, he is the sort of ruthless operator at this level who will apply every advantage he can if it means England winning games and winning the World Cup.”






