On the occasion of his first game that was in charge of the National Team of England, Thomas Tuchel approached his task with the way a doctor treated a patient who has been in torment for some time.
Tuchel has taken the time to share his diagnosis, but when it finally came, on the eve of the world cup qualification against Albania, he was not missing from explaining the collection of neuroses that our football players have been faithful for almost 60 years.
When Tuchel was asked what was missing, the list was long: identity, clarity, rhythm, freedom, expression, hunger. It was all there. “They were more afraid of leaving the tournament last summer … Then to have the excitement to win,” Tuchel said.
He identified things that we told ourselves that we had banned in the era of Gareth Southgate. He identified fear as the barrier for ending the 60 years of pain during the World Cup 2026. He spotted with that sentence about 'the weight of the shirt'.
If we long to discover in this draw at Wembley, whether Tuchel is now Terry Venables or Steve McClaren, Bobby Robson or Graham Taylor, Fabio Capello or Gareth Southgate, we have not received the answers.
Identity? Brightness? Freedom? Not really. Not yet. If Southgate was the manager, he may have been castigated for the caution of the performance, but for Tuchel it is still enough for many fans that he is not Southgate.
And anyway, the only question that really matters, is Tuchel Alf Ramsey? Can he do what Sir Alf did? Will he lift that world cup trophy in the US next year? It is much too early to get an idea of it, especially since Albania was not achieved enough to form a large part of a test.
However, it was still an encouraging first game for the new man. Jude Bellingham was just as excellent as he is always, Mylles Lewis-Skelly, one of the two debutants of England, scored the opening goal of England and looked so comfortable and stylish that it would be a surprise if he was not a fixed value of the national team for the next ten years. He's so good.
And when Albania began to throw the nerves of England halfway through the second half, when the domination of the other debutant in England, then Burn, started to fray, Harry Kane, the old reliable English, scored his 70th goal for England in the 77th minute and made the victory safe.
The preamble of the game was of course completely about Tuchel. A banner was passed on by the fans behind one of the goals before the kick -off with the text: 'Welcome to the House of Football, Thomas'. Tuchel may think of Dortmund or Munich like home football, but that must remain a disputed point.
The front of the program was also the coach of New England, which is carefully to protruding from under a peak cap. He looked like a pioneer who for the first time has seen the vastness of the Great Plains, or alternative, the 60 -year -old football whispering. It was time to get started.
After a first 20 minutes when England dominated the property, but the game was stultifying boring, the look of Tuchel started to look like a stare of a thousand meters, but then everything turned into an instant.
Bellingham, who had already shown a level of football information that distinguishes himself from the rest, falls apart from his marker in a tight circle in the middle of the field and bought some time.
He took a few steps forward and took the Run of Lewis-Skelly with a brilliant pass in Jasir Asani that was perfectly weighed and perfectly focused. Lewis-Skelly picked up Asani and slid the ball for the first time through the legs of Thomas Strakosha.
On the touchline, Tuchel turned away from delight and pumped his fists with pleasure. If the shirt felt heavy again, it now felt lighter. A few minutes later, Kane unleashed an excellent, hard pass of 40 meters that Marcus Rashford played behind the defense, but he couldn't control it.
Admitting a goal forced Albania to show a little more ambition and to make the opportunity in half of England. From the first of these, Burn stretched out to intercept a cross from the right and the ball was blocked in the air and fell in a lazy bow on top of the bar. Burn and Jordan Pickford tried to erase both and came in each other's way before Burn it led it out for a corner. It was the only moment of uncertainty of England in the first 45 minutes.
Tuchel's side would have doubled their lead ten minutes before the break when a good interplay between Bellingham and Rashford Bellingham spent on the goalkeeper. Bellingham tried to make it past tight, but he kept it outside with his legs.
Bellingham came again six minutes before half -time. His pure willpower and reading the game pushed him in front of Berat Djimsiti to come to the end of a cross of Kyle Walker.
The keeper made a good reaction except to keep Bellingham's header out and then Kane tried to drill the loose ball home, Arlind Ajeti's Flying Lunge brought him over the bar. England pushed forward again and Burns crashed a towering header from the bar's face.
England did not carry their dominance forward at the start of the second half. They still prevailed, but Albania started to grow in confidence and that trust improved when Armando Broja came from the bank and started asking the first questions of the defense of England.
Burn did not look so comfortable when Albania tested him on the floor and England needed an impressive intervention from Ezri Konsa to sniff a counterattack in Albania halfway through halfway.
At the end of that spell of uncertainty, England put the game out of reach. Rice broke a ball at 13 minutes from the end in the box, Kane skilfully brought him down and, with an Albania defender like a screen, he curled his shot in the bottom corner. Some things change, some things remain the same.
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