It really all started in a dark Serbian car park.
Nine months into the job, Thomas Tuchel had just passed his first real test as England coach with flying colours, thrashing a potentially dangerous Serbian side 5-0 in a cauldron-like Belgrade.
In the aftermath of that success, which effectively booked England a World Cup spot, a group of unused substitutes chose to conduct an intense warm-down, in darkness, after celebrations had died down.
Unbeknownst to those squad players doing “box-to-box” runs next to the stadium, they were being watched by a coach already starting to formulate a winning ethos.
“It was remarkable because they have this huge tunnel going up from the ground, uphill to the dressing room, almost no light at all and the quality of the pitches was not there,” Tuchel told a small group of reporters last month.
“My coaching team were like ‘let’s do some runs’ and they went out and took our performance coach. They were not aware that Anthony Barry [Tuchel’s assistant] was watching.
“It was just so beautiful. They were just fully involved in the celebrations and in the joy after the match. To put the cherry on top like this it made us feel very, very good because they didn’t see that we saw it. There was no whispering in the dressing room, there was no group that was unhappy not to have played their part. That is the kind of group I want to create. One that can be successful.”
‘Owners don’t like him’
From there on in, as one source close to the England manager tells The i Paper, Tuchel “fell in love” with the job.
Speaking to insiders who have worked with the impressive German, they tell a tale of a manager with intense passion, fire that can boil over at times.
Unlike his great friend Pep Guardiola and compatriot Jurgen Klopp, Tuchel often stays for a good time not a long time. There have been spectacular fallouts, most famously at Paris Saint-Germain, where the enigmatic young coach, with the second highest-ever win percentage of any PSG manager, was sacked in 2020 after clashing with the club’s hierarchy.
“He can take it too far sometimes,” one source says. “Owners don’t tend to like his combative nature, but put up with him given how successful he is everywhere he goes.
“You have to remember, his hunger comes from how it all started.”
The barman turned belligerent coach
When Tuchel’s mentor Ralf Rangnick picked up the phone to question what on earth his protege was doing working in a lively Stuttgart bar post retirement from playing, a career cut short by injury, he knew he had to act, offering the eager pupil a job with the city’s youth teams.
The rest is history, with Tuchel’s rise in the coaching world nothing short of meteoric. The England job was always on the radar of a longstanding Anglophile, but there were reservations among some, due to the breakdown in relationships at several of Tuchel’s previous clubs.
Manchester United thought long and hard about giving Tuchel the job to replace Erik ten Hag, a coach who had just won the Champions League with an English club, Chelsea, three years previously. Tuchel himself did not want the ir. He had bigger aspirations.
The 52-year-old is the antithesis of his predecessor Gareth Southgate. And that is exactly what England needed in the here and now. Southgate did a fantastic job revolutionising everything England did, from the grassroots up. Where the naysayers insist he fell down was in the heat of the battle, on the pitch.
Southgate was ever the diplomat. Captain Sensible. While Tuchel is not going to completely rock the boat with some madcap formation or anything, his combative nature, and insistence it is his way or the high way, can be the panacea to any tepid previous tournament approaches.
Tuchel learned this the hard way at PSG, where he had to deal with temperamental superstars at the height of the Parisiens’ “bling-bling” era. By allowing the likes of Neymar, Lionel Messi and Kylian Mbappe dictate how the club operated, the German effectively ceded control.
How things unravelled is understood to be something Tuchel regrets. Vital lessons, however, were learned. What Tuchel saw that night in Belgrade was a group “brotherhood” – very much the mantra he is trying to force home now – beginning to form.
How he picked his squad
Many of his left-field squad selections for this summer’s showpiece were there in Eastern Europe, as Tuchel got the basis of the team ethos he wants, over the individual.
Leaving Cole Palmer, Phil Foden, and Trent Alexander-Arnold at home for a major tournament seemed unfathomable to some. But Tuchel’s meticulous selection, one he and his team deliberated over for months, is about the group dynamic.
Working with sports psychologist Richard Hampson, Tuchel has worked long and hard on communication within the unit, establishing relationships that can take England all the way this summer.
Jordan Henderson is effectively there to drive up standards off the pitch, and act purely as a mentor for younger players, Jude Bellingham being prime example, who need a hand on the shoulder from time to time. Ivan Toney knows he won’t be starting, and is fine with that.
When you love what you do as much as Tuchel does, you put every ounce of your soul into preparation. The Florida pre-tournament camp was selected for a reason, getting players acclimatised with the most humid state in the country, before a competitive ball was kicked.
The relaxed nature allowed for a smoother transition, before the real business begins. WAGs and families were allowed to join the team in Florida, but that is where they will stay, with England’s players a three-hour flight away in Kansas City.
A proven winner
Everything has been thought of, despite England effectively getting third pick of training options in Kansas, after Argentina and the Netherlands. A secluded hotel should keep the scandal, and chance of misdemeanors, to a minimum.
Without wanting to raise hopes before they are inevitably dashed once more, the stars are somewhat aligning. There is less pressure on the players given expectations remain pretty low compared to previous tournaments. A lack of a clear frontrunner to win the World Cup outright gives England as a good a chance as any.
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No metatarsal has been harmed in the months leading to a major tournament. Aside from Tino Livramento, who is expected to miss the tournament with a hamstring problem, Tuchel effectively has a fully fit group to choose from – something few coaches have had previously.
England also possess a proven winner at the helm. One not afraid to make tough decisions and do things completely his way. Tuchel possesses a group who understand his methods and the ones present in the United States are on board.
There’s just one thing left to do.
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