Thomas Tuchel saw his career as England manager begin with victory on Friday, as goals from Myles Lewis-Skelly and Harry Kane secured a 2-0 win over Albania.
The German has limited time to implement his style on the Three Lions ahead of the World Cup next summer, and is clearly keen to take a look at his options, choosing to leave a regular out in Marc Guehi as Dan Burn was handed a debut instead.
Such is the nature of his role, the 51-year-old must battle against Premier League clubs who may prefer not to see their stars used in international fixtures, amid a busy schedule.
However, Thomas Tuchel had the perfect response when this dilemma was put to him – using Mikel Arteta and Arsenal as an example.
Thomas Tuchel makes comment about Mikel Arteta using Declan Rice at Arsenal
Defending his selections, the Metro quote Tuchel as saying: “I know that this window, this camp, is where the clubs play a very crucial time of the season. They play for championships, they play for quarter-finals in the Champions League.
“We are very well aware of it but we have also our own goals, we have our own targets. The players are keen to play and it has to be like this.”
Adding an example of when a Premier League club has ignored the interests of England, Tuchel made a good point, saying: “After a 7-1 first leg (win over PSV Eindhoven) and Declan Rice played the next match with Arsenal, I didn’t have the feeling that they think so much about us.”
Arteta easily could have rested the Arsenal No.41 for that match, with PSV Eindhoven unlikely to claim a 6-0 win even if an XI of fringe players was used, but still opted to give the England international 64 minutes of action.
Thomas Tuchel told he has done something which could negatively impact Declan Rice
Interestingly, Danny Murphy feels Tuchel may suppress Rice by getting Jordan Henderson involved in the England camp.
The first goal of the Thomas Tuchel era.
⚽️ @lewisskelly49 pic.twitter.com/hu6Csoj2sa
— England (@England) March 23, 2025
The 48-year-old told talkSPORT: “Jordan’s been a great player, there’s no criticism of his career or anything like that, or his capability, but now he’s not playing, so he’s not ready to play because he started two games in the last ten (for Ajax).
“So, what’s he there for? Yeah, he’s there to help the others… but are you not suppressing someone like Declan Rice’s rise to being a leader?”
We agree. It was time for a new era under Tuchel, who Lewis-Skelly impressed, but the German has scored an own goal by keeping fragments of Gareth Southgate’s old guard around.
