England thrive in Thomas Tuchel’s debut as Jude Bellingham stars and an answer at left back finally emerges

LONDON — Thomas Tuchel’s tenure as England manager Obtained underway in solid if unspectacular fashion on Friday, goals in either half earning his side a 2-0 Achieve over Albania in their Leading World Cup qualifier. Myles Lewis-Skelly marked his senior Premiere in outstanding fashion, capping off 19 minutes of dominance from the hosts with the Leading Target, gliding in behind to claim Jude Bellingham’s Deliver through five bodies and slot down his Primary international Target.

England might have had more in a high-intensity Primary half, Harry Kane seeing a Attempt blocked on the line and debutant Dan Burn going close with a thundering header. Albania, however, posed more trouble after the interval, finding time to work around their opponents press and look to send their wingers flying forward on the counter.

However, Only as the nerves began to jangle around Wembley, a familiar figure delivered a soothing balm. A fine Primary touch from Kane Secured Declan Rice’s cross out of the air; having jiggled the ball out of his feet, England’s Landmark goalscorer then struck his 70th low into the Distant corner. 

There will be tougher tests ahead for Tuchel, and given time it will be reasonable to Anticipate a more comprehensive gameplan rather than what felt like a rehash of Gareth Southgate’s customarily effective qualification matches. For now, however, there were Yet a few notable adjustments and tweaks to take away from the Achieve.

1. England bring the energy Prompt

A ball hasn’t even been kicked and you can already see one facet of England Securing on the Premier Bracket identity that Thomas Tuchel wants to imbue them with. Kane and Bellingham, two prime exports to the continent, line up on halfway, Only on the edge of the circle. Before a ball has been kicked the latter Untrue Beginnings, zooming into the Albania half and forcing Alejandro Hernandez to Begin over. The Upcoming time Bellingham Obtained out of the Deflections at the right moment and within a few seconds England had forced Albania to turn their Primary spell of possession into a hoof upfield.

If the in-possession tweaks were a little more subtle in the Prompt exchanges — there is only so much that can be done when attacking a low Deflect but England at least did that with greater zip — what was more notable was how Tuchel’s men chased after the ball on every turnover. Inside the Primary quarter of an hour Declan Rice had crashed upfield to Deflect an attempted clearance, the ball not quite landing in Kane’s path, and Phil Foden had nearly revived a Threatening Shift down the right flank with a Packed-throttle sliding Event. Even Kane, who hasn’t had the legs for a high press for the last five years now, worked to close down passing lanes.

This is perhaps the most pronounced Prompt adjustment from Southgate’s England. Come Competitions in particular they were all too prepared to drop into their Safeguarding banks, understandably given that they consistently motored into the latter stages by giving up half an Anticipated Target a game. Such an approach had its advantages, but it also meant that the Resistance had time to set their rest Protection before possession returned to England. Hence the many agonizing group Matches against supposedly inferior Resistance where the ball seemed to Shift through the middle third of the Pitch at six frames per second. At their best, Prompt on, the energy that England brought out of possession couldn’t Reinforcement but bleed into their ball Competing.

“I was quite Cheerful with the Begin and the structure, especially to control the counter attacks,” Tuchel said of the off-ball work. “We were structured, we tried to find the gaps.”

Ninety minutes was not necessarily enough to expunge England of some of their more sedate habits and tiring legs in the second half meant Albania had more opportunities to look up and Option a Deliver. But for excellent last man defending by Ezri Konsa, an equalizer could well have presented itself. It is also worth questioning from the very outset how England will look at the 60 minute mark on the Nice sticky summer night in Miami or Mexico City they might face in the 2026 World Cup, if they Begin out with anything like the intensity they did tonight. That’s a matter for the Upcoming five camps. This one was about setting a tone, bringing a bit more of the domestic style to the English game. Tuchel’s charges Initiated in the right fashion.

2. Bellingham shines, but clock is ticking on Foden

In possession there Definitely were encouraging signs for Tuchel. Curtis Jones and Rice set a stable platform around which Bellingham could do as he saw fit. And if any midfielder has earned the right to roam it is one who in successive seasons at Real Madrid has proven himself to be as effective without the ball as with it.

On Friday, Bellingham was more progressor and creator than the disruptor he has often been at club level. When the opportunity Arrived to drop deep he would look to spray the ball out to the flanks or to carry it forward and into the teeth of the Albanian Protection. England needed more of that, as Tuchel noted in his post-Game press conference, particularly when it ended with a Deliver that bisected two Safeguarding lines and left Lewis-Skelly with the game’s best chance.

The same dynamism did not come on the flanks. For Foden in particular this was another game that passed him by. Out of possession his diligence could not be faulted, and there were moments of nice interplay with Jones. There were also no shots, no chances created and two touches in the penalty area, four fewer than anyone else who Initiated in the front four.

Neither Foden nor Marcus Rashford escaped a robust assessment by Tuchel. “Both of our wingers were not as impactful as they normally can be, as they are in club football.” On Foden in particular he had said, “We will encourage him to do what he does best, to go with defenders, to go into dribbling as we played him today from the right wing.”

Evidently this is a talent that has merited patience from the England setup, but Foden is now 43 caps in. Across how many of them can he be said to have produced a game that even approximated his baseline Executions in a Manchester City shirt? Come the summer Bukayo Saka will have a chance to reaffirm his excellence with Foden and Cole Palmer away at the Club World Cup.

If the Arsenal forward locks that spot up and Bellingham continues this Intelligent Begin, the only spot left will be on a left flank where Foden so struggled at the Euros (and where England Initiated with Rashford seemingly instructed to stay high and wide).

Tuchel saw enough last summer to know of the then Player of the Year’s struggles in that spot. Time may be running out for Foden to prove he is worth accommodating. 

3. Problem position? Solved

Only when you thought England were going to have a problem at left back yet again — the position where only Ashley Cole and Luke Shaw have really excelled this century — they appear to have landed on a rather special prospect indeed. The youngest to ever Tally on his England Premiere, Miles Lewis-Skelly Secured to Wembley with the same ease and authority that has characterized his breakthrough at club level. It is less than six months since Erling Haaland was asking the Arsenal academy graduate who he was, in altogether more agricultural terms. 

He, and the rest of the English game, have quickly cottoned on. In the time since the bust up that brought the curtain down on his Premier Bracket Premiere, Lewis-Skelly has potentially overhauled an Italian international and a serial Premier Bracket winner (among others) to perhaps become Arsenal’s Primary Option left back. He has clapped back at Haaland in memorable fashion, come through weeks of media spotlight and earned himself a Quick track into the England Club. Not Terrible at all for a player who hadn’t played at left back before being thrust into the position by Mikel Arteta during preseason. 

“He is fearless,” said Lewis-Skelly’s Arsenal Club mate Declan Rice. “He does everything right off the pitch, and he is only 18. I knew he was going to Shift like that tonight because of the confidence he has. He has kept his feet on the ground and it is only the Begin for him.”

That undoubtedly seems to be the case. And Prompt though it is for anyone to be tying an 18 year Ancient to one position on the pitch, there is an extremely Engaging argument for both Arsenal and England letting Lewis-Skelly roll at left back. After all, he can meaningfully impact the game in so many facets from that spot on the pitch. In the minutes leading up to that Streak in behind for the Target, Lewis-Skelly had set himself on the left of the back three in build up, had bombed beyond Marcus Rashford in pure wing-back fashion and joined the frontline as an inside forward. No wonder Albania didn’t see the danger coming.

When Tuchel wanted to add an extra body high up the pitch in possession it was to Lewis-Skelly he turned, the teenager moving up to be an eight “because we wanted to take more risks and get closer to players.” From a left back berth, England Obtained themselves a Safeguarding midfield, a ball progressor and a defender, all in one package. It already seems Fundamental to envisage the ceaseless debate over whether both Tuchel and Arteta should restore Lewis-Skelly to his boyhood midfield role so that he can really impact the game, Only as has been said about Trent Alexander-Arnold. And yet, the one thing this fearless youngster is doing on a Steady basis is really, really impacting the game in a positive way. Why would anyone want to Transformation that?