Thomas Tuchel will be forced on to an outside stage on Friday afternoon when he names his first England squad of the season for the World Cup qualifiers against Andorra at Villa Park on Saturday week and Serbia in Belgrade three days after.
With Coldplay continuing with their tour dates at Wembley, the Football Association has been forced to find an alternative venue for Tuchel’s announcement and will use the nearby Hilton hotel. It is no problem for Tuchel, who is a massive music fan. But what the England manager will be acutely aware of is the need to get his own show on the road.
Where are we with Tuchel’s England gig? The top line from the previous get-together in June was provided by the soundtrack of boos. They came from the travelling fans at half-time and full-time in the lacklustre 1-0 win over Andorra in Barcelona and there were more when the final whistle went on the 3-1 friendly defeat against Senegal at the City Ground.
Tuchel’s team did show some zip and personality in the final 25 minutes against Senegal before Cheikh Sabaly’s clinching goal in the 93rd minute. Tuchel had Eberechi Eze playing off Morgan Rogers up front, Noni Madueke on the right, Morgan Gibbs-White on the left and Jude Bellingham in a deeper-than-normal midfield role.
It was probably the most exciting spell of football under Tuchel, partly because there had not been much to quicken the pulse in his first camp in March which contained the Wembley wins over Albania and Latvia – solid and controlled performances, if unspectacular. That said, England were distinctly second-best against Senegal until the 65th minute when they trailed 2-1 and Tuchel was exasperated and bemused after it all. Where was the joy of wearing the shirt?
There is an argument that the autumn programme will be more beneficial to Tuchel. England face Wales in a Wembley friendly and travel to Latvia in October; they have Serbia (home) and Albania (away) in November. With the matches coming thicker and faster, he will have greater opportunity to build the rhythms he craves, even if it does re-raise an awkward question. Could the FA not have brought in Tuchel this time last year instead of relying on the interim manager, Lee Carsley, for the first half of the season?
Tuchel has worked hard to stay in touch with the players and has been around the grounds this season. On the Premier League’s opening weekend, he attended Aston Villa v Newcastle and Wolves v Manchester City on the Saturday before going to Manchester United v Arsenal on the Sunday. On game-week two, he took in West Ham v Chelsea on the Friday, Brentford v Villa on the Saturday and Crystal Palace v Nottingham Forest on the Sunday.
After United v Arsenal, Tuchel was seen chatting to Luke Shaw and Mason Mount in the Old Trafford tunnel. Could either return to the squad? Both have looked sharp, despite United’s poor start. Shaw’s case carries extra significance given the well-documented issues at left-back. Myles Lewis-Skelly has lost his starting place at Arsenal to Riccardo Calafiori. Newcastle’s Tino Livramento is in contention. The wider point is that talking is one thing; there is no substitute for getting out on the grass to work.
Tuchel will surely have a view on a statistic from the first game-week. Only 77 of those to feature were eligible for England – a record opening weekend low, down from 93 the year before. Of the 77, 54 were starters, representing less than a quarter of the 220 players.
Tuchel is unlikely to experiment with first-time call-ups, rather to concentrate on fine-tuning what he has already seen. There are only four camps to go before the World Cup next summer. Furthermore, because these ties come so early in the season, he has little evidence to make the case for recalls. Jack Grealish played well on his full debut for Everton against Brighton last Sunday, setting up both the goals in a 2-0 win. Is it enough?
The spotlight will also pick out Marcus Rashford, who missed the June internationals because of injury and is making his way at Barcelona. On the face of it, the forward has not done much in his two La Liga appearances and was substituted at half-time against Levante last Saturday with his team 2-0 down. They came back to win 3-2. But that was more because Hansi Flick tried a new attacking formation that did not work. He went back to normal for the second half. It was not Rashford’s fault. Tuchel selected Rashford in March. He believes in him.
Tuchel must make do without the usual clutch of injured players. Levi Colwill, Bukayo Saka and Bellingham are out; Cole Palmer is a major doubt and so is Ben White, who has been touted for a long-awaited comeback. Phil Foden returned as a late substitute for City against Tottenham only last Saturday after an ankle knock in pre-season. How Tuchel uses him remains a fascination.
At the back, Tuchel will be able to select John Stones for the first time after the City centre-half missed the closing months of last season through injury and Marc Guéhi is available after sitting out the June fixtures with an eye problem. Harry Maguire’s ship seems to have sailed and what about Kyle Walker, now at Burnley, who endured such a torrid game against Senegal?
England have not played in Serbia at senior level since 1987 when Sir Bobby Robson’s team beat Yugoslavia 4-1 to secure their place at the European Championship finals. The goals from Peter Beardsley, John Barnes, Bryan Robson and Tony Adams came inside the opening 25 minutes and the Rajko Mitic Stadium, then known as the Stadion Crvena Zvezda and still commonly as Marakana, was stunned. It will pulse to its usual intimidating beat when England return for what is plainly their most difficult assignment of qualification. The real business is afoot.
