Thomas Tuchel is occupying a state of grace rarely inhabited by England managers at World Cups. England do not normally do bliss this early in the tournament.
In fact, we don’t normally do bliss at any stage of the tournament. Angst is our default position, usually followed by a pairing of despair and anger. Not this time.
Tuchel shouted ‘wake up’ at Djed Spence in an open training session in Kansas City on Sunday and everybody swooned. Even Djed Spence swooned. Spence said Tuchel was a ‘great manager’ and a ‘great guy’. Tuchel was praised for being forthright and not afraid to yell at his players.
England beat Dad’s Army, otherwise known as Croatia, in Dallas last week and we all swooned then, too. Luka Modric, 40, Ivan Perisic, 37, and their team-mates cut England’s defence to pieces twice and scored twice in the first half but then Tuchel delivered a half-time team talk that steadied nerves. Everything changed. England became irresistible.
Roy Keane wasn’t impressed but everybody else seemed to be. And even if we haven’t gone full USA yet and convinced ourselves we are going to win the World Cup because we beat Australia, it feels strangely liberating to be going into England’s second game in the tournament with a manager at the helm who actually appears to be enjoying himself.
Perhaps Tuchel’s jaunty demeanour and the general carefree attitude emanating from his players is startling because it is such a contrast to the grim visage England presented to the world at the Euros in Germany two years ago. That was the tournament when Gareth Southgate and his side made their journey to the final look like a funeral procession.
Perhaps Thomas Tuchel’s jaunty demeanour is startling because it is such a contrast to the grim visage England presented to the world at the Euros in Germany two years ago
Tuchel made some bold calls when he picked his squad but is giving every impression that he is relishing working with the players he selected
The England boss shouted ‘wake up’ at Djed Spence in an open training session in Kansas City on Sunday and everybody swooned
I was a huge admirer of the transformative effect Southgate wrought on England but the joy had gone out of his tenure by then, the players looked tense and strained and the fans threw plastic bottles at the manager even when they finished top of their group with a 0-0 draw against Slovenia in Cologne.
All that tension, all that division, has gone. Tuchel had the strength and the vision to select the squad that he wanted and he had the courage to make unpopular decisions like leaving Cole Palmer and Phil Foden at home. Now, he is giving every impression of relishing working with the players he picked.
The mood music is good and even if that is not everything, it is not nothing, either. Tuchel looked happy and relaxed when he threw out the first pitch at a Kansas City Royals game last week and the players are following his lead.
Harry Kane and Dan Burn went to a country and western concert. The players have been adopted by the local community.
Tuchel is treating them like adults, which, again, may seem insignificant but is not. Things can go very wrong very early at World Cups. Fabio Capello had England staying in an up-market prison camp in Rustenburg in 2010, way out in the wilderness. England’s tournament was doomed before it began.
Tuchel has avoided that trap. He has avoided self-sabotage. He has got the mix of players and personalities that he wanted and England made the start he wanted. The first half may have been unconvincing but England’s second-half display blew a gale of verve through the beginning of their campaign and they flew on it into a land of optimism.
Tuchel looked happy and relaxed when he threw out the first pitch at a Kansas City Royals game last week
Dan Burn and Harry Kane joined Tuchel at the Royals baseball fixture. The England players appear to be following their manager’s carefree lead
Tuchel’s openness has been refreshing, too. It suggests confidence. It suggests a man who is in control and who has no need to resort to defensiveness or concealment.
The same goes for Tuchel’s deputy, Anthony Barry. When England played poorly in the first half against Croatia, Barry did not pretend otherwise when he spoke to the television cameras.
When the media were allowed into training for a while, as is usual, last week, Tuchel did not just go through the motions with the squad until the reporters had been ushered away.
Others have turned that kind of dissembling into an art-form. Tuchel didn’t bother. He got straight into it. He gave Spence his wake-up call. He cajoled and encouraged the other players. He went to work.
And the players are responding. Southgate transformed the relationship between the players and the media during his eight years in charge and Tuchel has chosen not to dismantle the dynamic his predecessor established. The fear that once came with playing for England has not been allowed to return.
The team looks balanced and settled. That does not mean there is not room for improvement. It would be a surprise if Marc Guehi does not start ahead of Ezri Konsa. Anthony Gordon had a quiet game against Croatia and Marcus Rashford excelled when he came on. Many believe Rashford did enough to force his way into the starting XI against Ghana in Boston on Tuesday evening.
Tuchel’s assistant Anthony Barry (centre) has also been refreshingly candid, having delivered a withering assessment of England’s first-half performance against Croatia
Marcus Rashford was one of several players to shine in the second half, and arguably deserves to start against Ghana tomorrow
But those are positive signs, too. They are signs of competition for places, signs that players have to perform or else someone else will step up to take their place. That applies to everyone. If Jude Bellingham does not excel, he knows Tuchel will not hesitate to start Morgan Rogers. Tuchel has done that before and he will not be afraid to do it again.
It is easy to wear rose-tinted spectacles when your record is played one, won one. And if England lose to Ghana, let’s see how long the good vibes last then.
But it doesn’t feel as though England will lose to Ghana. There is something about Tuchel that is making this feel different. Maybe, just for once in all these years of hurt, we should ditch the angst and look forward to what is coming next.
Can ANYONE explain why Stokes was suspended?
So not only was Ben Stokes not involved in the altercation between a Saracens rugby player and Gus Atkinson in Rex Rooms on the King’s Road after the first Test, he didn’t even see it.
To call it an altercation, actually, is misleading and does Atkinson a disservice. Atkinson, it transpires, was the victim of an unprovoked attack. He refused to retaliate.
Ben Stokes in action for Durham last week – but it’s become increasingly obvious he should have been playing for England at the Oval
Then there’s the curfew that the two players breached. Well, the Test was over when they went out. Whether the curfew should still have been in place appears to be a moot point.
And yet both men were made unavailable for the second Test and Stokes, in particular, was castigated for being in another room when someone threw a punch at a blameless team-mate.
Am I missing something here? Because it looks to me as if a few curtain-twitchers flew into a panic and threw the England captain, who deserved better, under the bus.
Dallas’ AT&T stadium scores an own goal for atmosphere
I have thoroughly enjoyed pretty much everything about the World Cup so far but I wasn’t a fan of the AT&T Stadium outside Dallas where England played Croatia last week. I had heard a lot of good things about it and I was expecting to be awed by it but I was disappointed.
If giant screens are your thing, head to the AT&T Stadium outside Dallas. If it’s atmosphere, try somewhere else
Sure, it’s well appointed. It clearly cost a lot of money. But it’s got all the atmosphere of a multiplex in Milton Keynes.
If giant screens are your thing, then you might have been impressed but the giant screens, which are suspended over the middle of the playing surface, are so giant it takes an effort to watch the action rather than the footage of the action playing simultaneously above it. Not for me, Clive.
