Vorsprung durch Tuchel
How England's new head coach aims to win
It’s all talk-talk with England at the moment, all conjecture about how the Thomas Tuchel era will be different. We know he’s changed training from morning to afternoon. Jordan Pickford laughed about getting a lie-in. We know he's enjoyed a jokey joust with Big Dan Burn about height (BDB is two inches taller). We know Tuchel has introduced some light-hearted warm-up sessions, holding hands in a circle while playing keepie-uppie, and then juggling the ball into a bin. We know he delivered an inspirational team-talk to the squad about brotherhood. We know England’s head coach emphasised to the players more than once about the clock ticking on World Cup preparation – only 24 training days before England board the flight to USA.
Oops, make that 23 days. Time moves fast. Tuchel’s predecessor Gareth Southgate guided England to two finals but it was the fine margins, the decisions at key moments, the game-management against Italy at Euro 2020 and Spain at Euro 2024 where he just failed. We know the FA hopes Tuchel is the man to finesse the fine details into final glory.
In his first speech to the players at St George’s Park, Tuchel spoke about these fine details separating also-rans from winners. He spoke of the brotherhood fostered by Southgate. Tuchel wants to build upon that by getting the players to show togetherness by helping each other on the pitch and also about challenging each other. “It is more how we interact with each other and push each other, and not being afraid to speak up if we feel that something is not right or something should change,” Burn says.
Are England too nice? Is this what Tuchel is thinking? Is it being more streetwise as Wayne Rooney always said during his England career? Is it a ruthlessness at crunch moments? That last point was certainly a criticism levelled at Southgate.