A win, a clean sheet, a debut goal and another landmark strike for the captain. All things considered, it was a successful first game in charge of England for Thomas Tuchel under the Wembley lights.
The Three Lions were too strong for a limited Albania side, who were unable to bring the same passion and intensity to the pitch as their exuberant supporters provided in the stands.
Tuchel has vowed to inject “joy” and “excitement” into England matches after suggesting they lacked both at last summer’s European Championship, but this was a steady rather than spectacular start.
The new head coach felt that England could have been more penetrative around the penalty area but insisted that his team “will get better” in time, hopefully starting in their second World Cup qualifier against Latvia.
Here are three changes he could make for Monday’s game:
Guehi for Burn
Marc Guehi’s omission was a surprise. The Crystal Palace centre-back had started in 13 of England’s last 15 matches, only missing a Euro 2024 quarter-final win over Switzerland through suspension and a 2-1 defeat to Greece in October.
Ezri Konsa and Dan Burn were preferred and while the former was one of England’s best performers on the night, the latter struggled. Burn had a few uncomfortable moments, including when Armando Broja skipped beyond him with alarming ease on a rare moment of promise for the visitors.
Newcastle’s Carabao Cup hero almost scored his second Wembley goal in less than a week with a thundering header and offers natural balance as a left footer.
However, Guehi provides more speed and should return to the team following a brief exile.
Bowen for Foden
England are no closer to seeing the best of Phil Foden after another anonymous showing. Incredibly, given his Manchester City form, Foden has gone 17 games without an international goal or assist.
“We will encourage him to do what he does best, to go at defenders, to go into dribbles,” Tuchel said after the game.
The problem for Foden is that Jude Bellingham is the player that England have chosen to build around rather than him, and given their respective output he can have no complaints about that.
But how long do England persist with shoehorning him into the side? Foden is at his best playing centrally off a striker and made next to no impact as an inverted winger on the right wing.
He was replaced by Jarrod Bowen who has spent much of his career playing in that role. Tuchel called for his wingers to make “more aggressive runs” and that is something that the direct Bowen is well capable of.
Eleven of Bowen’s 15 caps have been as a substitute. Perhaps he deserves a chance to show what he can do as a starter.
Rogers for Rashford
Marcus Rashford was more involved than Foden on his first international start in 16 months, but Tuchel demanded more from him post-match too.
“Both our wingers who started were not as impactful as they can be in club football,” Tuchel said.
Rashford has more leeway than Foden given his comparative lack of football this season. He has only started one Premier League game since the start of December and still looks to be feeling his way back into form.
The same cannot be said of his Aston Villa teammate Morgan Rogers, who has enjoyed an exceptional campaign.
Rogers is at his barnstorming best when used as a second striker, but can play on both wings. He is a rampaging runner on the ball and has the qualities that Tuchel is after.
With Anthony Gordon suffering a “worrying” hip injury late on in the Albania win, Rogers is best placed to take Rashford’s spot.
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