England have begun a new era under a new head coach as Thomas Tuchel takes the reins following Gareth Southgate’s tenure – and the German has immediately set his stall out
Thomas Tuchel introduced his new era with high fives, smiles and a big bear hug.
England boss Tuchel stood in the foyer at St George’s Park to welcome the players on their arrival from 11.30am on Monday morning. And from that moment on, the whole squad noticed a big change to Tuchel’s methods compared to the eight years under former boss Gareth Southgate.
Tuchel was known for using “mini balls” at all his previous clubs including Chelsea, Paris Saint-Germain and Borussia Dortmund. They are used for technical skills and close control while a giant clock was a fixture at Chelsea’s training ground because every session was about sharpness, intensity and drills.
Less is more in Tuchel’s world but one of his key messages has been the players only have 60 days together before next year’s World Cup – and they cannot waste a single training session. England’s players – the 26 seniors joined by Taylor Harwood-Bellis, Adam Wharton and Liam Delap from the under-21s – were put through their paces on the Fara Williams pitch at St George’s Park.
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They kicked off the session by splitting into three groups, all holding hands and playing a version of ring-a-ring-a-roses “keepy-uppy” before then trying to work the ball among themselves before trying to get it in a waste bin. Tuchel has made it his business to make the players laugh from the moment that he started telephoning and video calling them after taking charge in January.
That light touch will be part of Tuchel’s management style as he has stressed about wanting to make England feel like a club atmosphere and a “family environment.” England players were all picked up in people carriers on Monday – transport laid on by the Football Association – and each and every one of them was greeted with a joke, a smile and a comment.
Tuchel has called some players up to SIX times to get to know them, develop a bit of banter but also tell them what he likes and dislikes about their game. Ex-Chelsea boss Tuchel gave a short welcome meeting to reinforce to all the players how well they had done to get into the squad and earn their place.
Traditionally, England players would often join up either late on a Monday or Tuesday morning after a busy weekend of fixtures but Tuchel wanted to maximise his time with the players. They trained late afternoon Monday which was a session with some simple drills, some players did more of a warm down and a chance for Tuchel to introduce his backroom staff, headed up by his No.2 Anthony Barry.
One of the biggest changes was that they trained in the late afternoon on Monday whereas Southgate used to do all his sessions in the morning. Tuchel’s idea is for the players to train in the afternoon – closer to evening kick-off times – and then do any meetings in the day.
His first meeting in this camp lasted about 20 minutes and he spelt out his determination to make everything focused on winning the World Cup. Tuchel stressed the need for leaders, voices on the pitch and big characters. They will need them in the next 18 months.
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