England v Albania reaction: Tuchel off to a winning start | OneFootball

A new era has begun at England and it’s off to a reasonably good start after the Three Lions comfortably defeated a country whose population is less than a third of London.

Thomas Tuchel is not under that much pressure

England pulled a classic move of temporarily hiring an under qualified manager in Lee Carsley to take charge while figuring out who to bring in as a replacement for Gareth Southgate. Eventually, though, they made the decision to appoint Thomas Tuchel. It makes sense, the former Chelsea manager is a Champions League winner and has a strong track record.

Then again, Tuchel somehow managed to win zero trophies in his second season at Bayern Munich. Overseeing the end of a winning run spanning 11 consecutive Bundesliga titles is a bit of a reputation killer.

However, he’s taking over from Southgate, a man whose greatest footballing achievement is winning the League Cup as a player. It’s too bad you don’t get a trophy for losing cup finals or else the 54-year-old would have quite the cabinet to display.

England have failed to win a trophy since 1966 and yet it took the British media a good six or so years to even dare begin criticising Southgate. Therefore, Tuchel should be able to enjoy a lengthy honeymoon period before any serious expectations kick in. His only real problem is with the old fossils who didn’t want to hire a German because they still think it’s 1939.

Tuchel thinks he can outdo Southgate

Am I being too harsh on Southgate? Well Tuchel won’t mind one bit. The new head coach ripped his predecessor to shreds a few days ago, describing his team at Euro 2024 as lacking identity, excitement and the hunger to win.

He has a point, considering Southgate spent years playing dull, negative soccer, despite the fact he had some of the world’s best attacking players at his disposal.

Clearly Tuchel believes he has the winning mentality England need to finally break their winless run in international competitions. Although in his last job he did the exact opposite, so maybe he should get some wins under his belt before trash talking other managers.

Tuchel has recorded his first England victory

Tuchel has now managed his first England game and there are a few things to be positive about. Miles Lewis-Skelly got himself on the scoresheet, making him the youngest England player to get a goal on his senior debut at just 18 years old.

England may only have won 2-0, but the win never looked in doubt as they dominated every statistic in existence. In fairness, you’d expect them to do so against a country with a population of under three million people.

If you want to be picky, there are some things many supporters won’t have wanted to see. Kyle Walker was included in the starting lineup, despite being nearly 35 years old and getting shipped off to Milan by Manchester City. Marcus Rashford also started, a player who could no longer cut it at a bottom half Premier League team.

Worst of all, Jordan Henderson came off the bench. Seriously Tuchel, why are you bringing back this guy when he couldn’t even hack the Saudi Pro League? He’s 34 for crying out loud! There is surely no chance he’ll get picked at the World Cup in over a year, so why not train up a promising youngster instead?

Tuchel will not be tested anytime soon

For Tuchel, it’s going to be smooth sailing for a while. England have what is essentially the easiest World Cup qualifying group a team could wish for.

It is impossible to judge him until he faces a real test and that won’t be until next summer. There are plenty of reasons to believe he will succeed, but any concerns over his most recent managerial role are valid.

Time will tell if Tuchel will be the man to recreate England’s glory days, or whether he will just be another manager the happy clappers will bestow a knighthood on for almost winning something.