The England Diaries #12: Two Wins for Truthful Tuchel
The Tuchel era is underway.
After all the build-up, Thomas Tuchel got his managerial tenure with England off to the perfect start with two wins from two in 2026 World Cup qualifying.
Routine 2-0 and 3-0 wins over Albania and Latvia respectively over this past weekend have left a weird feeling amongst the fanbase and media. While there was a lot of excitement about seeing a high intensity England, the two performances felt similar to the Gareth Southgate era.
There are a combination of reasons. First, the obvious one, there is a new man in charge of the Three Lions who has only spent a week with the players, there will be teething problems when it comes to implementing a new system.
There is also the quality of opposition. No disrespect to Albania and Latvia, they are not two teams which will pose a significant threat to England. It is unfortunate that Tuchel may not be able to test his team against top level opponents until next year or the World Cup itself (as long as England qualify).
Player fitness will no doubt have contributed to what felt like at times a slow England team. Centre back Dan Burn for instance will have been on a massive comedown after what has been the week of his life after getting his first international call up and scoring in the Carabao Cup final against Liverpool to end Newcastle United’s trophy drought. Therefore, a game against Albania this past Friday is not exactly one that gets the juices flowing.
However, for this look back on England’s latest set of matches, it will not be a tactical breakdown of what transpired on the Wembley Stadium, it will instead be a look at Tuchel and his honest assessments of the lay of the land at the FA.
As mentioned ahead of the Albania game, Tuchel’s goal is to be lifting the biggest prize in football in New York come next summer, therefore, he has no time to be messing about, he needs to set the tone for what will be an interesting 18 months.
Ahead of the match against Albania in an interview with ITV, Tuchel was asked about England’s Euro 2024 campaign, and what he said resonated with the majority of England fans, including myself.
“The identity, the clarity, the rhythm, the repetition of patterns,” Tuchel said when asked about what was missing from a talented England side.
“The freedom of players, the expression of players, the hunger. They were more afraid to drop out of the tournament than having the excitement and hunger to win it.”
When hearing Tuchel say the second half of the above response for the first time, I could have cheered in celebration. It was plain for everyone to see. While it was great to see England reach another European Championship final, the road to Berlin was one with very little enjoyment with games mostly watched behind the sofa.
Hearing an England manager be so honest about what he saw on the pitch was a welcome change after a number of previous England coaches were often too scared to call players out in fear of disrupting the dressing room.
Tuchel’s honesty was on show after both of the wins against Albania and Latvia. Following the Albania win, Tuchel called out the wingers Phil Foden and Marcus Rashford for not being making a big enough impact, while against Latvia, the German was critical towards England’s slow start to the second half.
The England football team is a volatile beast, it only takes one slight issue to send everything into a chaotic tailspin with some fearing that Tuchel’s blunt analysis on the performances of certain players may cause ruptures in the squad.
However, Tuchel’s willingness to single out where there could be improvements is likely to serve as a reality check to those who want to be at the World Cup next summer.
The German does not have time to be putting in ‘big name’ players for the sake of it, instead he needs to find the right squad to suit his system and if that means calling out players to pick up the slack, then so be it.
While there may not have been a clear glimpse of what to expect from Tuchel on the pitch, it was clear what England fans can expect off it and it’s Tuchel bringing ruthlessness to the Three Lions who have lacked a roar when it comes to the big games in major tournaments.
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