The players of England may have resulted in a victory for Thomas Tuchel in his first game that was in charge, but they did not all earned his approval. Tuchel is on a clock, the clock ticks, the World Cup final in New Jersey is less than 16 months away. He does not take prisoners and he certainly does not take passengers.
And so in the aftermath of a 2-0 win over Albania that fed us the encouragement of a good debut by Myles Lewis-Skelly, but that shortage of inspiration, Tuchel acknowledged the excellence of the Arsenal Teenager and the class of Jude Bellingham but saved the most of his energy.
One of the shortcomings that he had identified in the game of England under Gareth Southgate was a lack of freedom, and in the emaliated performance of his broad players in Wembley on Friday evening, he saw that they were still unable to free themselves from the caution he abhors.
Especially Phil Foden saw the safe option take the safe option time and time again to hire a player and then check, cut back and play the ball back to his entire back or to Curtis Jones or Declan Rice. Marcus Rashford was more direct and brave, but not brave enough for Tuchel.
“We hope for more impact in these positions,” Tuchel said after the game. 'More dribbling and more aggressively runs to the box. In general, that was missing. The opportunities come from the small runs behind the line. They were not as decisive as they can be. It was a bit too much passing, not enough dribbling, not aggressively enough in the direction of goal. '
For some, Tuchel seemed to be a summary of a golden age of broad play when Wingers such as John Barnes, Chris Waddle, Peter Barnes, Steve Coppell and Gordon Hill turned off the flanks of England and cut their crosses back from the goal line for old -fashioned center to run and drive.
We may not go that far back to the future, but Tuchel essentially spoke about the end product. He was talking about broad play with aggression and goal that goes beyond just possession. He was talking about a little more than the opposite Wingers floating in. He was talking about a larger goal and bad intentions.
Tuchel's Snap -rating is not very good news for Foden, who is a great player, but starts to exhaust his chances in an English shirt. Many will say that he will be played from position, but his favorite position is now occupied by Bellingham and Bellingham is too beautiful to move.
Part of the solution for where Tuchel Craves should soon be available for him. Together with Mohamed Salah in Liverpool, Bukayo Saka is the best broad player in the Premier League and even if he will not be involved in the Wembley meeting on Monday with Latvia, he should be available for the summer luminaires of England.
It contains a lot of what Tuchel wants. Of course, he is devastating effective in the right to punish opponents with his left foot, but he is also a beautiful, brave and ruthless dribbler that is able to torment the best full backs.
Just like Bellingham and Lewis-Skelly, he fits into the player who is indeed happiness to have the luck to be at his disposal. Saka is completely over the end product. He delivers time and time again. Arsenal clearly missed him in his long absence due to injury and England also missed him against Albania. He would have had a field day against their defense. He can unlock opponents in a way that others cannot.
And when Tuchel is tackling more direct broad players, Anthony Gordon is the obvious choice on the other flank. Tuchel left Gordon on the couch for a large part of Friday and he seemed to run an injury late in the game, but he is the type of player who can open the flanks with his pace and run his direct run.
Callum Hudson-Odoi from Nottingham Forest, who was unlucky not to let Tuchel's Squadron come out this time, is another who carries the attacking flair what the coach is looking for.
There was also a time when Jack Grealisk may have been a candidate to provide Tuchel with what he is missing, but perhaps that time has passed now.
Perhaps the days of Touchline-Hugging-Vleugel players have also passed, but Tuchel has already made it clear that he is not patient with the safety-first broad game he saw, and that he was relieved, in the end days of Southgate's regime.
Tuchel sees that caution, that inhibition, as part of the problem that England has thrown and prevented from fulfilling their potential and he does not waste time to convey that message loud and clear to his broad players.
It is about more than just those who are available to him. It is about more than just waiting for Saka to return from an injury. It's about a change in mentality. The point is to throw the buoys that Tuchel believes that England players are being locked up.
To draw out of an expression associated with the World Cup side of Sir Alf Ramsey of 1966, England became 'Wingless Wonders'. Some can argue with the 'miracles' part of that description for a team that has not won a trophy for almost 60 years, but the point remains.
On Friday, their broad players rarely looked completely as broad players. Foden looked afraid of the touchline. He looked like he wanted to get away from it as quickly as possible, as quickly as possible.
Tuchel wants that to change and he wants it to change quickly. The clock ticks.
Comments