Why Thomas Tuchel must push Harry Kane to the margins, writes CRAIG HOPE

There is now enough evidence to know that, at least in an England shirt, Harry Kane's own body is starting to slow down. Maybe that's because the people around him just want to move that little bit faster.

The blueprint for the England of tomorrow was drawn in Greece on Thursday, and not against a 10-man championship team at Wembley on Sunday.

In Athens, England, without Kane, were fast, fluid and incisive. Back in London, with Kane, the brake lights were on, at least until the Republic of Ireland drove their bus into a ditch and the road opened up.

Yes, an outrageous pass from Kane that led to Ireland's red card was the moment of the match, but isn't it the idea to leave out such 'moments'? Wasn't that the complaint with the euro, that England had become dependent on individual inspiration rather than collective cohesion?

Now, if Kane is there for England in those moments – and for 51 minutes before that pass he was more of a hindrance than a help – then he certainly needs to be brought in at the right time, rather than all the time.

The decision new manager Thomas Tuchel makes in game one will have the biggest impact on whether his last will be on July 19, 2026 at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey. After all, the German is here to win the World Cup, not an English great.

Gareth Southgate started his reign by putting Wayne Rooney in shining boots and what followed were two finals and a semi-final.

If only he had ended his tenure by deposing Kane in Germany this summer, perhaps one of those finals would have culminated with a trophy, rather than witnessing the footballing atrophy of our record goalscorer.

There is a middle ground. It's not as simple as Kane good, Kane bad. Kane is still brilliant, but not at the things this England team needs to evolve. You wouldn't drop Fred Astaire into the dance group Diversity.

Kane no longer moves himself and the ball fast enough. When he tries to do that, it leads to heavy hits, such as the one where he lost control at Wembley in the first half and collided with Ireland's Liam Scales.

The defender – who was later sent off – put the ball in the stands and Kane almost followed suit. It wasn't quite the revelation Kevin Keegan saw when Mark Lawrenson was too fast for him in 1984 that prompted his decision to retire, but it was – quite literally – a kick in the guts.

That it happened midway through the Ireland half was also telling. This international breakthrough has taught us many things, but above all it is that Jude Bellingham is England's best player, if given the space to be so. In Greece it came about because fast forwards walked away from him.

That only happened against Ireland when the opposition was reduced to ten men.

Because in the first half this was the England we came to know and dislike. Kane drops deep in search of the ball and ignores the red rope of Bellingham's domain. If it wasn't Scales who kicked him, Bellingham could have helped his teammate back onto the field.

But what then? As a centre-forward, Kane's presence is like a firewall for fluidity. He will invariably get a chance and score, but his goals for England increasingly feel like he's getting out of prison. This generation has enough good players not to end up behind bars, and it is up to Tuchel to unlock and unleash that potential.

The biggest legacy of Lee Carsley's six-match spell in charge came in Athens, by giving the incoming boss a window into what the next 18 months could look like. Indeed it should look like this.

He dropped Kane and a forward unit of Bellingham, Ollie Watkins, Anthony Gordon and Noni Madueke were freed and led straight on. Average age: 23.5. Average speed: very fast.

They still have to convert that promise into goals, because it was only when Kane came on that England were able to convert a 1-0 lead into a 3-0 win. Therefore, this doesn't have to be a Rooney-esque takedown, a brutal lowering of his colours.

Kane has a big role to play, just not so big that he becomes the immovable object, the statue at whose feet we worship, but a statue nonetheless. The superstar is no longer a shooting star.

Consider also that he turns 33 just nine days after the World Cup final in the US and the need to adopt a longer-term strategy becomes all the more urgent.

There's no point in skipping the cakewalk of qualifying only to bump into top opponents in a knockout match and discover that the boots weigh more than ever.

There will be times when Kane is needed, when the youngsters have gone so fast that the game and the opponents have slowed down. That's when and how he can exert influence.

Reverse what Southgate did in the summer. He started him in all seven games and withdrew him in five games, all but one time when the team did not win and was in a state of toil, most notably in the final.

The captain later said he wasn't quite fit – which was annoying – as it felt like he was offering a reason to stay at the Southgate branch. But as he slowed down as the final progressed, the mitigation for his poor performance was weak.

The dog is not yet chewing the textbook, but there must come a time when we start drawing conclusions from what is constantly in front of us.

Carsley saw it. After Sunday's 5-0 win, he warned Tuchel that there could be some tough decisions down the road.

When he tried to fit all his star names into the team – albeit not Kane, who was injured – they fell over each other and lost to Greece at Wembley, his only defeat in six games.

Sometimes the whole is more important than the parts. “There's competition for places,” Carsley said. “The best chance we have of winning is, if we can, finding (all the big names) a place (in the team). You saw the match against Greece at home, I tried that and we lost. So it is a challenge.

“It needs work. One thing you don't get at the international camps is time. So we just have to find that balance.

'Many international coaches at a UEFA event I went to said: 'You have a lot of good players', as if that is a negative thing.

“If they're all on form at exactly the same time it's a challenge, but players come in and out of form and it's about putting them in the team when they're flying and resting them when they're not flying.”

If that balance is found, Carsley is confident success will follow. “We are in a good position to do that (win the World Cup),” he said. 'We have the talent to do it.

“I've been fortunate now to have been at the last few World Cups and to have the timing of the players, physically and mentally, to be in shape at the right time and to be able to pick the right team – we have all the tools.”

Those who insist that Kane should start will point to hell or old water at his three goals in Germany and a share of the tournament's top scorer prize, and with him there will always be goals.

But if the ultimate goal is to win the World Cup, Tuchel cannot be blinded by golden boots. Carsley has shined a light on the future, and it is one with Kane in the shadows.