- England began the Thomas Tuchel era with a 2-0 win over Albania at Wembley
- The German boss has made an impact already with his selection and demeanour
- LISTEN NOW: It’s All Kicking Off! Is England’s squad good enough to win the World Cup?
Anthems done, handshakes with Sylvinho and Pablo Zabaleta in the opposite dugout complete and Thomas Tuchel — straight out of a Marks & Spencer catalogue, in his only nod to Gareth Southgate — was gazing up towards the Royal Box.
His family were around there. He stood for a moment to locate them, blew a kiss in that direction and the German’s England tenure was under way.
‘Welcome to the home of football, Thomas,’ read a banner behind the goal. It’ll be his home with a few decent results.
Team selection
The call provoking the most intrigue was leaving out Marc Guehi, who had started nine of the previous 11 internationals, and handing Dan Burn a debut instead.
That could be the desire for a balance of right and left-footed centre halves but it’s undoubtedly a big decision to leave out somebody so integral to the run to a European final and one to watch in the near future.
Burn had an eventful first half an hour, a mix-up with Jordan Pickford and giving the ball away a couple of times in the opening minutes. The Newcastle defender’s passing through the lines did offer England some incision, though.
Thomas Tuchel was like a jack in the box, constantly jumping up to give instructions to his team
Dan Burn had a mixed night on debut, giving the ball away a few times but was good in the air
Demeanour
Tuchel couldn’t sit still, out beyond the edge of his technical area directing traffic for much of the night. There are clearly major tweaks to England’s style he wants to implement and his own performance was proof that he wasn’t all talk in the week.
Regular thumbs-up as England moved quickly through midfield looked a subconscious tic and Tuchel does generally wear emotion on his face, wincing when his side seemed more ponderous.
Harry Kane was regularly given instructions as he dropped off the front, and there was spontaneous applause from the head coach whenever his plan was carried out properly. In that sense, Tuchel did at times resemble a supporter.
At times, Tuchel looked like a supporter with his frustration over slow play clear on his face
Bellingham-Foden
It has threatened to be the quandary of a generation: how the man leading England can fit both Phil Foden and Jude Bellingham into a starting XI without disrupting the balance.
Somebody had to collar one of them to say they were playing away from No 10 and Tuchel did that as one of his first orders of business, Foden finding himself out on the right.
Tuchel will want to build this team around Bellingham, whose deft work for Myles Lewis-Skelly’s debut goal showed why they want him in this free role.
Jude Bellingham is clearly Thomas Tuchel’s main with the Real Madrid star given a free role
Thomas Tuchel will have to find a way to get the best out of Phil Foden in an England shirt
Style
Sometimes there is just a feel inside a stadium and there was certainly a quicker tempo to England’s attacking.
The formation, generally a 4-2-3-1, was fundamentally no different, but there was more of an initial zip.
Set-pieces
Suggesting that Tuchel’s idea of English identity includes solid set-pieces would be somewhat reductive, yet obviously it’s an area he wants to exploit.
Assistant Anthony Barry has been renowned for his work at dead balls and the way England easily hit Burn with three consecutive corners indicated that a fair amount of work has gone into them already.
