The Thomas Tuchel era begins in earnest on Friday night when the new England boss takes charge of his new side for the first time.
The Wembley clash against Albania also sees England begin their road to the 2026 World Cup in the USA, Mexico and Canada, with another home clash against Latvia following on Monday night.
Serbia and Andorra round out qualifying Group K, but Tuchel’s ambitions in the job extend far past merely reaching next summer’s tournament.
Emile Heskey’s Tuchel hope
After another near miss at Euro 2024, when Gareth Southgate’s tenure came to an end with a second European Championship final defeat, expectations will be high under Tuchel, who became England’s third foreign manager in their history after Sven-Goran Eriksson and Fabio Capello.
While neither the Swede or the Italian were able to end England’s trophy drought, former Three Lions striker EmileHeskey, ranked at no.95 in FourFourTwo’s list of the best Premier League players of all time, believes a foreign boss can be an advantage.
“I think back to when Sven was hired and feeling as if I had a real fresh slate,” he tells FourFourTwo. “A fresh slate is always very exciting as it gives fringe players and those uncapped the hope of making an impression, and keeps the big stars on their toes.”
The former Liverpool striker also points out that playing under an overseas coach will be nothing new to the current England squad.
“How many English managers are there at Premier League level?” he asks. “It’s not as if players aren’t used to foreign coaches and different cultures around them at their clubs. Even in my day, that was the case.
“You become quite used to different philosophies and it actually helps you to grow as a footballer. What a manager says is what’s important, not what his accent is.”
Tuchel – ranked at No.10 in FourFourTwo’s list of the best managers on the planet last year – has won three domestic cups and three European prizes during his career so far, with Heskey moving to salute the 51-year-old’s cup pedigree.
“He’s made a name for himself as a cup manager, and they get no bigger than the World Cup,” adds Heskey. “He’s a planner, he’s painstaking, he prepares for an opponent’s weaknesses and he knows how to keep things tight. We’ve brought in an expert for exactly those types of games and I believe he could be our secret weapon.”
