An initial glimpse of Tuchel's England: pressing, dream debuts, and wasted wingers

A fresh mindset, a new viewpoint, and the beginning of a new era were evident in barely three minutes of the Thomas Tuchel era.  

 When Phil Foden took the ball in the Albanian half and made a backward pass, the new manager of England turned to his bench in exasperation.

Possession was retained but an opportunity to penetrate was wasted. That may have been allowed under the old administration, it will not be in this one.

It might have captured the essence of the match and even the state of affairs in England.  There are still problems with this team, certain old habits that need to be broken, and the slow atmosphere of Wembley, which is silent all day and has large vacant spaces at full time, demonstrated that the German has more work to do to bring about the more expansive England that he seems to have promised.

In addition to that Foden incident, there are indications that this team needs Tuchel and the "win now mentality" that permeates his current England position.

Jude Bellingham made a potentially scathing remark about Gareth Southgate's former administration when he stated, "We had clear ideas of what we wanted to do and how we wanted to play," at full time.  Even in games like these, England didn't always look in control under the previous permanent manager.

 The first indication of such was published in the media.  After losing the ball, England counter-pressed right away to create their first opportunity of the game, a half-chance for Kane in the area. They appeared considerably more aggressive off the ball.

For the majority of the first half, especially the first fifteen minutes when things didn't get going, Tuchel was a quiet man, but every time the press forced Albania to make a mistake, he erupted in cheers.

 It is among the fundamental tenets of German philosophy.  It was a big plus because Bellingham, Kyle Walker, Curtis Jones, and Declan Rice all began the game with that keen, aggressive mindset.

 Additionally, it aided England's dominance, as they made the most passes in a first half since the beginning of statistics records.  Prior to Albania's opening opportunity of the match, the Three Lions held an 88 percent possession advantage.

England was ahead 1-0 at the time of that opportunity, a looped cross onto Jordan Pickford's crossbar, thanks to an early goal from new hero Myles Lewis-Skelly.  This adolescent played football for Arsenal's Under-23 team last September and England's Under-19 team as recently as October.  Under the arch, a true global hero now.

"He is fearless," Declan Rice, a teammate from Arsenal, stated following the match.  The manager saw him, promoted him to the senior group for two age groups, selected him for the Wembley lights, and gave him his reward.

 "In camp, he was fantastic.  "Such an open character, full of humour and confidence," Tuchel said of England's newest teenage sensation.  "He was decisive and opened the game for us."

 Another rookie, Dan Burn, too had Tuchel's exceptional eye.  A strong performance from the Newcastle player, who was denied another Wembley magic moment by the crossbar in the first half, supported the England manager's admission last week that he was surprised Burn had not been called up much earlier in his career.

Although he has a solid picture already, Tuchel admits he wants to know more about his England team.  A last-minute tackle that prevented Albania from equalising in the second half served as justification for Ezri Konsa's selection over Marc Guehi.  Curtis Jones didn't appear uncomfortable.

 The output out wide was the one drawback of England's performance.  Marcus Rashford looked good, but if the Aston Villa forward isn't creating or scoring goals, what else does he bring to the table? Foden's wait for an England goal involvement has now reached 17 games.

In that sense, Bukayo Saka's comeback is much needed, as Anthony Gordon's hip injury has hurt the reserve options.

 "Both of our wingers were not as impactful as normally they can be, as they normally are in club football," Tuchel stated.

 We didn't have enough passing or dribbling, and we didn't have many runs off the ball.  Not enough ball-driving action.  not active enough in pursuit of the objective.

 "Individually, we can have more impact from the wingers."  After the first game, Tuchel called out two players, which shown a slight sense of ruthlessness.  Maybe this is the England of the future.

 Some will argue that this is just Albania, but it's only one game.  However, this team already had a Tuchel vibe to it.

Upon his first exit from the Wembley tunnel, Tuchel heard the banner read, "Welcome to the Home of Football".

 Even after just one game, Tuchel has demonstrated enough growth to feel comfortable; the next question is if he can introduce football there.