JUST when it seemed that England were about to embark on an exciting new era, Thomas Tuchel announced his first squad and firmly affixed the national side to their recent past.
To the astonishment of all, Jordan Henderson was recalled after 17 games out of the reckoning. Kyle Walker, meanwhile, keeps his place despite seeing his form and reputation fall off a cliff this past year.
Then there’s Marcus Rashford, brought back into the international fold after playing like he used to play for a mere handful of games, mostly from the bench.
This was a repackaging rather than a rebrand. This had the feel of warmed-through soup.
Yet if disappointment in Tuchel’s regressive choices is warranted, criticism of his 26-man selection predictably went over-the-top.
England may be furnished with a plethora of brilliant, young attacking talent, but in the centre, pulling the strings and protecting the backline, they have precisely one man, he being Declan Rice.
Isn’t it understandable, therefore, that Tuchel has initially decided to play things safe, such is the importance of getting his tenure off to a winning start against two winnable sides this coming week? With that in mind, he has opted for experienced back-up instead of rolling the dice on the high potential of Adam Wharton.
It should be noted, by the way, that Wharton has been training with the England set-up this week. His time will come.
As for Rashford, his inclusion may be divisive, but he is a proven threat at this level, furthermore, has linked up extremely well with Harry Kane in the past.
For twelve months and more we’ve had a national debate about how to get Kane back to his impactful best on the international scene after a string of underwhelming displays. Isn’t the inclusion of Rashford worth exploring then in this regard?
Or should we simply jettison a striker who has scored a third of his team’s goals since the start of Euro 2020 – and who furthermore boasts 43 goal involvements in 37 this season for Bayern – just because he doesn’t press with intensity?
Incidentally, the pair have started together against teams ranked beyond the top 20 on ten occasions. England have won nine and drawn one, to an aggregate scoreline of 37-4.
There is lastly another consideration, which is that in a short while none of this will matter. England will head to the 2026 World Cup with an average squad age of 23-something, and the new era will be underway.
It will likely be worth waiting for.
And so to England’s first game of an international double-header this week, hosting Albania at Wembley on Friday evening.
Their opponent impressed at last summer’s Euros, giving Italy and Spain all manner of problems and in doing so, detaching from a ‘minnow’ status that has accompanied them forever, but they are a weaker proposition now, than then.
Just two Nations League wins in six has seen the Red and Blacks relegated to League C and though they remain well-organised at the back they are too often toothless up front. Just 0.6 goals per 90 since the summer is testament to that.
Moreover, Thomas Tuchel is not alone in unveiling a contentious squad this week, as once again Sylvinho has overlooked Bristol City’s Anis Mehmeti. The versatile attacker has been instrumental in the Robin’s charge up the Championship this season.
In nets, meanwhile, Thomas Strakosha has been picked despite being nowhere near fit. Granted, there is a notable drop-off in quality when turning to his understudies, but the former Brentford stopper has barely featured for AEK Athens this past month. Playing him is a gamble.
The same goes for Ardian Ismajli in defence and Armando Broja up top, the latter a cert not to start yet still bafflingly selected.
Elsewhere, Lazio’s Elseid Hysaj is definitely out, a big loss for the visitors.
This then is a weakened collective heading to the capital, one that at their strongest would still be significant underdogs, and with Tuchel being a long-term advocate of possession-based fare, combined with front-foot pressing, we can expect to see the hosts dominate throughout.
The question is though, which of his 26-man squad will be doing the dominating?
Kane and Rashford have already been covered, but alongside them, as part of an attacking trident, don’t rule out Jarrod Bowen gaining a 15th cap.
With two goals and an assist to his name in recent weeks, the Hammer has precisely the attributes Tuchel loves in a forward, always foraging and full of kinetic energy while being intelligent enough to know when to duck inside, creating vast space for an overlapping wing-back.
He’s been doing the latter to good effect all season, with Win-Bissaka the beneficiary.
If Bowen does start, as widely tipped, his 2.6 shots per 90 tally in 2024/25 is of interest, with Albania expected to sit deep.
Looking beyond the front line, a midfield made up of Rice, Foden and Bellingham entices, but there is also a wait-and-see element to the trio, for all of their individual excellence. Can Tuchel get the balance right and make them a productive unit? Arguably Southgate could not.
Perhaps though, that is a discussion for another time, because it feels like England will prevail on Friday regardless. And on that note, it’s worth highlighting that 12 of the Three Lions’ last 14 goals have been converted after the break.
We might have to wait for the deadlock to be broken. We might have to wait for Tuchel’s new era to take full effect. But that’s okay, just so long as the good stuff arrives in due course.
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