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Four important questions ahead of Tuchel’s first game


On Friday, the era of Thomas Tohchel England officially begins. The three lions will be on the field for the first time under the 51-year-old German and will host Albania in Wembley’s 2026 World Cup qualifiers before welcoming Latvia to London three days later.

Controversy has been raging since last year when former Chelsea, PSG and Bayern Munich managers were announced as Gareth Southgate’s replacement.

There has been a lot of talk about player selection, team formation, and whether this is the man who will ultimately lead the men’s team to World Cup glory for the first time in 60 years.

So there are four important questions ahead of Tuchel’s first rep game.

How are the first German England managers fares?

The response was one of the broader digging when the FA appointed Svengolan Eriksson as the first foreign manager of the English men’s team in 2001.

Since then, the response to the outlook of head coaches for non-English national teams has been somewhat soft. Fabio Capello was in charge in 2007, and Salina Wigman was a huge success as manager of the Lioness, and, quite importantly, landed the trophy.

However, some criticism remained when England’s great football rival, Tohschel, was announced as a male boss in October.

While some doubts may not be entirely won until Tuchel offers silverware, or the 2026 World Cup, the 51-year-old has the chance to make a strong first impression against Albania on Friday.

Which system will the team adopt?

After quitting his job at Mainz in 2014, Tuchel reportedly travelled to Munich. There he met Pep Guardiola and then the boss of Bayern Munich, where the two spent hours at the dinner table, running the salt and pepper factory in deep tactical discussions.

Tuchel cites Guardiola as a major influence, and it’s not difficult to see perfectionism, restlessness and perhaps most importantly, success.

Germany won 11 major trophies in 2021, including the Champions League against Chelsea, but it remains to be seen how he will establish three Lions teams.

Earlier in his career, Tuchel took advantage of a 3-4-2-1 formation during his time with the Blues to favor three backing systems. However, recently he chose a more traditional structure built on the back four.

Who nods?

There’s a lot to do from Tuchel’s first team selection. There were first call-ups like Miles Lewis Skelly and Dan Byrne, but the first team of new managers also saw the astonishing returns of Marcus Rashford and Jordan Henderson.

But the remaining question is who will make his starting eleven. Will the new manager choose experience or will he choose younger blood instead? Will he experiment or choose what he thinks is his strongest team from the players available?

In any case, despite his reputation as a disciplinary action, Tuchel is famous for his human management skills and human touch. One Christmas at Chelsea, Chuchel reportedly imported 200 boxes of Lebugchen into Lebugchen (honey sweet cakes) from a German bakery to give gifts for everyone at the club.

Will Dan Byrne’s fairy tale continue?

Some things get better with age, they say. This is a concept that may be appropriately applied to Dan Byrne of Newcastle United.

If the 32-year-old wins his first cap in future equipment, he will be the oldest English boys debutant since Kevin Davis made the international bow and only appearance against Montenegro at the age of 33 in October 2010.

If he gets burned, he will rank 21st among the three lions’ oldest male debutants caught between Jack Smith of Portsmouth (32Y 354D) and Manchester City goalkeeper Frankswift (32Y 276d).

For the Blythe-born player, it marks an astonishing few days for the Blythe-born player who scored the opening goal as the Magpie won a 2-1 winner at Wembley’s Liverpool, lifted the Carabao Cup and ended the drought of the club’s 70-year major national trophy.



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