England vs Albania LIVE: Thomas Tuchel takes charge of first game and Morgan Rogers could start – UK Times

Harry Kane will have been happier than most that Tuchel was the man chosen to replace Southgate, given 18 months earlier the German spent over £86m to take him to Bayern Munich from Tottenham.

Tuchel built his team around Kane at Bayern and looks set to do so again, already confirming that the striker will be his captain.

Despite his incredible scoring record, there have been increasing questions over Kane’s place in the national team over the last 12 months, with interim boss Lee Carsley even dropping him for a crunch Nations League clash in Greece.

However, his goalscoring form for Bayern this season, where he has bagged 32 goals in 37 games, means he remains one of Europe’s best strikers.

Morgan Rogers could start again tonight if Jude Bellingham plays alongside Declan Rice in a deeper role in midfield. The Aston Villa player has made two appearances for England, both against the Republic of Ireland, but is yet to start.

Meanwhile, the Guardian report that Ezri Konsa could start ahead of Marc Guehi in defence. Dan Burn is in line to make his debut at centre-back.

Thomas Tuchel has reportedly left three players out of his matchday squad to face Albania.

Morgan Gibbs-White has been told that be will play no part in tonight’s game, along with Southampton goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale and Liverpool centre-back Jarell Quansah.

Gibbs-White, who has impressed with Nottingham Forest this season, was a late call-up to the squad to replace the injured Cole Palmer.

Tuchel has cited his intention of playing the Premier League way, which will see England adopt an attacking, physical and exciting style, which will be music to the ears of fans who were frustrated by Gareth Southgate’s pragmatic approach.

But the German still has the same problem Southgate had in devising a set-up which can utilise his plethora of attacking options.

It remains to be seen where the returning Jordan Henderson will fit into his plans and whether he will have a prominent role on the pitch or whether it will be more a cheerleader role.

Having been named Gareth Southgate’s permanent successor in October and started the role on New Year’s Day, Tuchel is at long last taking charge of his first England game.

Friday’s match against Albania is the first stop on the road to next summer’s World Cup in North America and a sell-out crowd is heading to Wembley for the start of this new era.

England’s previous 10 permanent managers have opened their reigns with victories, with Sir Bobby Robson the last to fail to do so.

Only Sir Alf Ramsey, whose World Cup heroics Tuchel is looking to replicate, lost his first match.

In the days after Fifa president Gianni Infantino returned from Donald Trump’s inauguration, sources who met with him couldn’t help but notice something. They could have sworn Infantino was starting to talk like Trump, as he constantly went on about “the biggest deals”.

This might well have been a trick of the mind but parallels have been drawn with how some wannabe tech moguls start behaving like Elon Musk after two days visiting Tesla.

It doesn’t seem too much of a stretch given how Infantino nodded along and said yes as Trump absurdly spoke of how an unprecedented trade war between World Cup 2026 co-hosts USA, Canada and Mexico is “gonna make it more exciting”.

“Tension is a good thing,” the US president added, as if this was managers exchanging barbs in press conferences.

Albania have never won a competitive match against a nation who are in the top-10 of the World Rankings.

Of the 19 such games they’ve played that have lost 17 and drawn two. England are currently ranked fourth.

Including friendlies, Albania have beaten France (ranked ninth) 1-0 in June 2015 thanks to a goal from Ergys Kaçe.

Following his release from Bayern Munich, Thomas Tuchel did not take up a coaching position until hired by the FA.

He explored what it feels like to be back on the training pitch and setting up plans for the future.

The England boss said: “There’s been many smiles and I think the players feel it, that I missed it [coaching] and them a lot – it’s a unique energy in a football team and a dressing room at training.

“They are very social and it was nice to see that they spend a lot of time together, which is very different to club football so it’s nice to observe and even nicer to be a part of it.”

Nottingham Forest captain Morgan Gibbs-White told Thomas Tuchel he should have been in the England squad before earning a late call-up after Cole Palmer withdrew.

Speaking with BBC Radio 5 Live he told the story of his call-up and how he was upset with Tuchel’s initial decision.

Gibbs-White said: “I was upset, a little bit disappointed. But when he told me, I respected his decision. The standard of players is top level.

“I said back to him ‘I feel like I’ve done enough to get the call-up, considering the form level that we were in, but obviously you’re the manager, you make the decisions, and I respect that totally’.

“But then Sunday I got the call, so I was straight here. It was about 4 or 5 o’clock. He sent me a message to say ‘Are you free to talk?’ and I think I replied within 30 seconds.

“He phoned me up and said ‘Are you still upset with me, or do you want to come and join us and fancy training tomorrow?’

“There’s no question there. I said I’d love to come and join and train with the boys. I was smiling from ear to ear.”

Harry Kane and Jude Bellingham spent Euro 2024 in Germany, in Blankenhain and Berlin, Dusseldorf and Dortmund, Frankfurt and Cologne. Dan Burn spent it in an Airbnb.

It was another indication of the parallel lives of England’s resident superstars and the call-up with the most improbable back story in years, perhaps since Rickie Lambert or Chris Powell.

Thomas Tuchel’s maiden selection was expected to contain men from Bayern Munich and Real Madrid. It also included a player whose CV features Darlington, Yeovil and Asda.