THOMAS TUCHEL has always been on a mission for England to play like a Premier League team.
It was encouraging to see them finally operate with speed and aggression — with Thursday’s 3-0 friendly win over Wales following up on last month’s 5-0 battering of Serbia.
A trip to Latvia on Tuesday could see England clinch World Cup qualification — if the Serbs fail to beat Albania at home tonight.
Apart from a moan about the Wembley crowd, boss Tuchel was in a jovial and jokey mood late on Thursday and he even decided to give his players and staff a day off yesterday.
Quizzed on his team starting to play like a Prem team, he said: “We are getting there, 100 per cent. In Serbia, it looked like club football and against Wales it looked like club football.”
The former Chelsea manager has wanted that more physical, faster style of play which is what most of the players are used to with their Premier League sides.
In those opening 20 minutes against Wales, as Bukayo Saka and Co dismantled their sloppy opponents, it was indeed like watching a decent Premier League outfit.
Yet Tuchel’s big problem is that the World Cup next summer — being played in the United States, Canada and Mexico — is going to throw up all kinds of heat and logistical issues which will drain the players.
Throwing the kitchen sink at teams in temperatures of more than 30 degrees centigrade will be an unbelievably bad idea.
Playing like a Prem team is definitely NOT the answer.
The horrific conditions at some venues are, obviously, the same for everyone.
But it will be the teams who control games with possession and are slower-paced which look likely too thrive and that remains the challenge for Tuchel and the Three Lions.
The England manager took his squad to a training camp in the Spanish city of Girona in June ahead of the qualifier against Andorra in Barcelona but it did not prove to be a great choice.
After the end of a long season, the players did not want to be away for another week and England scraped a 1-0 win against one of the world’s worst football nations before losing 3-1 to Senegal in Nottingham.
Next June, the Three Lions will not play any games in England after the end of the Prem season.
Tuchel takes his squad to Florida for a World Cup training camp which includes two friendly matches.
If any English players are involved in the Champions League final in Budapest on May 30, they will join the squad at a later date.
Uruguay and Japan have been pencilled in as Wembley opponents in March.
Although this will change if England get drawn against them at the World Cup finals.
England ratings v Wales
THOMAS Tuchel’s side blew the Dragons away in a brilliant first half.
But they took their feet off the gas in the second half, perhaps with Tuesday’s game against Latvia in mind.
So who impressed the manager at Wembley, and who has more to do?
Find out here with Tom Barclay’s player ratings.
Tuchel has no problems in returning to the national stadium, even though he was unhappy about the lack of noise on Thursday, particularly during the second half.
He said: “No, no. Don’t make a big thing out of it. I am pretty sure we will play here in March, no problem.
“I just felt like the boys and team deserved a bit more of a spark and in the second half they could have helped us.
“They should not underestimate how much it helps sometimes if the game goes a bit flat.
“I loved the support in Serbia and I am sure we will have top support in Latvia, and of course once we arrive at the World Cup it will be outstanding.”
After 24 hours with their families, England’s players linked up at Tottenham’s training ground last night to prepare for the game in the Latvian capital Riga.
If he has any sense, the German will try to stick with the same team although skipper Harry Kane is likely to return from an ankle knock.
Next month, Tuchel has a home qualifier with Serbia followed by the final Group K match in Tirana against Albania. That would take him up to almost 12 months since he started the role — having played ten matches.
It looks as though the second chunk of matches will be more successful than the first five.
The World Cup draw is in Washington DC on December 5.
It was initially going to be in Las Vegas until US President Donald Trump effectively told Fifa the ceremony had to be moved near his back garden.
So it is now at the John F Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, where Trump happens to be the chairman, just over a mile from the White House.
Tuchel will be in the US capital and, after a tough start, he is finally starting to show that he is a popular leader.
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