So far there has been something astringent and quietly refreshing about the pared-back stylings of Thomas Tuchel’s new England. There are natural caveats to this, not least the built-in obsolescence of the entire Tuchel project (cautious tactics; he’s a German m8; not picking that player I like, etc, etc). But, for now, the lead-in to the reassuringly generic England double-header against Albania and Latvia has been closer to a soft launch than any other head coach era.
There will be no roaring, no medieval morris dancing tactical revivalism, also no agonising over the meaning of Albion, no old maids cycling to mass, no West End stage play about a gangly German pragmatist and his efforts to impose the 3-4-1-2 formation. Instead this feels like what it is: an 18-month deal, less the blooming of a new romance, more workmanlike middle-aged dating app. We’re all grownups here. We have needs. Let’s just see where it goes. And in the meantime make it feel good, quickly, with minimum waste.
Best of all, hidden in the smiles and the measured chit-chat, was a key moment in Tuchel’s opening round of press that spoke to the big one, the tactical challenge that will define how far he can take that one-shot World Cup run. “Pfft. It’s Harry,” Tuchel shrugged when asked about the captaincy. And Harry Kane is also key to pretty much everything else in these early days.
In part this is baked into the brief nature of the project. With more time, a longer horizon, an England without Kane as their central peg could be sketched out. For now, defibrillating Kane is central not just to whether England can succeed but to all the ways they’re going to try, reinserting fluidity and devil into the attack, balancing other star players, making the entire unit function after the migraine football of the Euros.
Kane is both a gift for Tuchel and a problem to be solved. It is still the case that no English attacker comes close on numbers and all-round game. Some will struggle to accept this fact. There is always a hunger for change. Kane has also had his worst year with England. He was traumatically bad at the Euros, sluggish and blunt, always somehow in the wrong place, to the extent he would surely have been dropped but for the desperate hope he might just click back into shape. The real question is: why was he so bad? Of all the things around England that have been deemed to be Gareth’s Fault, it is surprising that misuse of Kane is so far down the list.
It is a system that demands speed. This is surely one reason why Marcus Rashford has been recalled. Bukayo Saka would be ideal on the right. Bellingham also suits the system if he can replicate what he does at Real Madrid, making runs from deep, acting as the de facto centre-forward in possession.
This is surely how England will attack now. Why would Tuchel try to pull something else out of the air when Kane is doing this in the late stages of the Champions League, when there are no other obvious bolt-on attacks knocking about the place, when the Football Association has given him six training camps to make it work. We are Thomas Tuchel’s England, and we will be playing four-two-three-Kane (and similar).
It will surely work better than it did at the Euros. Kane is not that ambling bystander. Southgate was hugely loyal to his captain. But it is just as possible to misunderstand a favoured player. There may also be an issue of managing ego and personality in this, the need to restate team disciplines, to explain to Jude and Phil that this is the way we play. Perhaps Kane himself would be better served as a more vocal alpha-dog leader.
All the more so because this is a vital aspect of making the whole team work, a fudging of the attack that disoriented every other part. Tuchel has performed high-speed repairs before, has propelled Chelsea to a Champions League win with his suitcase still packed by the door. The same but better: this will surely be Tuchel’s first fix with England. And also his best hope.
