On the occasion of his first match in charge of the England national team, Thomas Tuchel approached his task with the manner of a doctor treating a patient who has been in torment for quite some time.
Tuchel has taken his time to share his diagnosis but when it eventually came, on the eve of the World Cup qualifier against Albania, he did not shirk from laying out the collection of neuroses that have faithfully followed our footballers around for almost 60 years.
When Tuchel was asked what was missing, the list was long: identity, clarity, rhythm, freedom, expression, hunger. It was all there. ‘They were more afraid to drop out of the tournament last summer…than having the excitement to win it,’ Tuchel said.
He identified things we told ourselves we had banished in the era of Gareth Southgate. He identified fear as the barrier to ending the 60 years of hurt at the 2026 World Cup. He scoffed at that phrase about ‘the weight of the shirt’.
If we yearned to discover in this tie at Wembley whether Tuchel is going to be Terry Venables or Steve McClaren, Bobby Robson or Graham Taylor, Fabio Capello or Gareth Southgate, we did not get the answers.
Identity? Clarity? Freedom? Not really. Not yet. If Southgate were the manager, he might have been castigated for the caution of the performance but for Tuchel, it is still enough for many fans that he is not Southgate.
Thomas Tuchel enjoyed a winning start to life with England as his team beat Latvia 2-0
Myles Lewis-Skelly scored on his England debut, becoming the youngest person to do so
The 18-year-old Arsenal star covered his face after giving England a 1-0 lead in the first half
And anyway, the only question that really matters, the only comparison that counts, is will Tuchel be Alf Ramsey? Can he do what Sir Alf did? Will he lift that World Cup trophy in the USA next year? It is way too early to get a sense of that, especially as Albania were not accomplished enough to pose much of a test.
It was still an encouraging first game for the new man, though. Jude Bellingham was as excellent as he always is, Myles Lewis-Skelly, one of England’s two debutants, scored England’s opening goal and looked so comfortable and so classy that it would be a surprise if he were not a fixture of the national team for the next ten years. He is that good.
And when Albania began to scent England nerves midway through the second half, when the domination of the other England debutant, Dan Burn, began to fray slightly, Harry Kane, England’s old reliable, scored his 70th goal for England in the 77th minute and made the win secure.
The preamble to the game, of course, was all about Tuchel. A banner was passed along the fans behind one of the goals before kick-off that read: ‘Welcome to the Home of Football, Thomas’. Tuchel may think of Dortmund or Munich as the home football but that must remain a moot point.
The front cover of the programme, too, featured the new England coach, staring out intently from beneath a peaked cap. He looked like a pioneer who has glimpsed the vastness of the Great Plains for the first time, or alternatively, the football wilderness of 60 years of loss. It was time to get started.
After a first 20 minutes when England dominated possession but the game was stultifyingly dull, that gaze of Tuchel’s was starting to look like a thousand-yard stare but then everything changed in an instant.
Bellingham, who had already shown a level of football intelligence that made him stand out from the rest, span away from his marker in a tight circle in the middle of the pitch and bought himself some time.
He took a couple of paces forward and picked out the run of Lewis-Skelly with a brilliant pass inside Jasir Asani that was perfectly weighted and perfectly directed. Lewis-Skelly shrugged off Asani and slipped the ball first-time through the legs of Thomas Strakosha.
Harry Kane produced a lovely finish in the second half to make the victory more comfortable
But did this team have the identity, clarity, and freedom Tuchel wants? Not really, to be honest
Carabao Cup winner Dan Burn made a mostly assured debut but faded as the game went on
Marcus Rashford caused problems on the left flank as he came back into the England fold
Jude Bellingham put in an authoritative display and set up Lewis-Skelly for his goal
Ezri Konsa spared England’s blushes as he snuffed out a second-half attack, but this was solid for the most part
On the touchline, Tuchel turned away in delight and pumped his fists with delight. If the shirt had been feeling heavy again, now it felt lighter. A few minutes later, Kane unleashed a superb, raking 40-yard pass that played Marcus Rashford in behind the defence but he could not control it.
Conceding a goal forced Albania to show a little more ambition and make the occasion foray into England’s half. From the first of these, Burn stretched to intercept a cross from the right and the ball ballooned into the air and fell in a lazy arc on top of the crossbar. Burn and Jordan Pickford both tried to clear it and got in each other’s way before Burn headed it out for a corner. It was England’s only moment of uncertainty in the opening 45 minutes.
Tuchel’s side might have doubled their lead ten minutes before half-time when some fine interplay between Bellingham and Rashford put Bellingham clean through on the goalkeeper. Bellingham tried to toe-poke it past Strakosha but he kept it out with his legs.
Six minutes before half-time, Bellingham came close again. His sheer force of will and reading of the game propelled him in front of Berat Djimsiti to get on the end of a cross from Kyle Walker.
The goalkeeper made a fine reaction save to keep Bellingham’s header out and when Kane tried to drill home the loose ball, Arlind Ajeti’s flying lunge deflected it over the bar. England pressed forward again and Burn crashed a towering header off the face of the bar.
England did not carry their dominance forward at the start of the second half. They still had the upper hand but Albania began to grow in confidence and that confidence improved when Armando Broja came off the bench and began to ask the first questions of the England defence.
Burn did not look as comfortable when Albania tested him on the floor and England needed an impressive intervention from Ezri Konsa to snuff out an Albania counter-attack midway through the half.
At the end of that spell of uncertainty, England put the game out of reach. Rice chipped a ball into the box 13 minutes from the end, Kane took it down expertly and, using an Albania defender as a screen, curled his shot into the bottom corner. Some things change, some things remain the same.
