Sport
England’s future remains bright but under Tuchel the focus is now
Thomas Tuchel needs to do everything quickly as England manger. The German’s reign began with a 2-0 win over Albania at Wembley on Friday night and the countdown to the 2026 World Cup is well and truly on. Tuchel’s 18 month contract suggests it’ll be win or bust for him in North America.
That is quite jarring for English football on the whole, given that for the last 15 years, their thinking has been around long-term development, whether that be players, coaches or facilities. Yet, with so many young players emerging and the conveyor belt of talent well and truly up and running at their state-of-the-art St George’s Park base, attention has turned to the present and marking the Football Association’s success in those areas with silverware.
But Tuchel’s appointment showed how far they’d fallen behind in their targets for world class English coaches and managers. Only two are currently working in the Premier League, but both Eddie Howe and Graham Potter distanced themselves from replacing Gareth Southgate.
Hiring Tuchel has proven controversial with a lot of people who believe only an Englishman should manage England. While that makes sense in principle, the best man for the job should be appointed, and Tuchel’s record of winning trophies in a short time makes him exactly that. If anything, hiring him has exposed the lack of depth in English coaching which runs deep, with relevant courses accused of being too difficult to get on; perhaps this could be the catalyst for lasting positive change.
But for now, Tuchel is simply focussed on winning. It is going to be difficult to gain a true understanding of his impact because the majority of opposition he will face will be well below England’s level. It is important, though, that he understands the assignment; England have reached and lost the last two European Championship finals, yet in Germany last summer, they did so without a real sense of identity and plan. For all the work in building one of the best talent pools in the world, Southgate struggled to get the most out of it when it mattered, something Tuchel was frank and honest about last week, claiming he saw a team that feared losing more than it hoped to win.
“Watching the Euros, I felt tension and pressure on the shoulders of the players,” Tuchel said, “It felt they were playing not to lose and have any more pressure added [rather] than [with] the excitement to make something special happen. We need to turn this around.
“I want us to play with the excitement and hunger and joy to win,” he added. “Acceptance of failure is a part of it in football. You want to implement this togetherness and the joy that everyone feels safe to express themselves and give their very best.
“Play with the joy to win and not the fear to lose.”
Those words should settle everybody down. They prove Tuchel is the man for the job; with all the respect Southgate deserves for helping shift expectations, he didn’t do what he needed to last summer. England have a wealth of attacking options who should be allowed to play with freedom; instead, they were more concerned by covering up perceived defensive weaknesses.
Beating Albania was never going to give a true indication of what Tuchel’s impact will be, and neither will the Latvia game next week. As usual, whether he succeeds will hinge on crucial knockout games against the best team in the world. There were some old issues on display at Wembley, such as Phil Foden once again looking uncomfortable in his role, but also some huge reasons to be positive going forward.
Jude Bellingham and Harry Kane stepped up to help secure the win with big moments, Marcus Rashford played with the sort of exuberance that suggests he is free of the shackles having left Manchester United for Aston Villa in January, and for all of the talk of instant gratification under Tuchel, Arsenal defender Myles Lewis-Skelly became England’s youngest goalscoring debutant aged 18.
The future remains bright for England but under Tuchel the focus is now. After years of near misses, the expectation is they will get over the line. While that is far from guaranteed, his blend of introverted, sharp honesty off the pitch and attacking freedom on the pitch is already showing signs of working ahead of 2026 in the United States, Canada and Mexico.
