Thomas Tuchel’s construction of England’s high-speed monorail begins | England

The first thing with any new England manager is the visuals. Here it is, a new way of standing, a new energy, a new outline. How are we going to feel? What is Thomas Tuchel? Do I like this thing? What are the semiotics of body shape, stride pattern, arm movements, that will come to signify triumph or despair?

At Wembley for day one of his fast-cut mini-era, Tuchel looked good. There is a distinct kind of charisma in that skinny frame, angular, tall, oddly impressive, like a strolling duke. Leaders wear hats. The Tuchel cap is good. Maybe city centre fashion retailers will be doing a blue Tommy T by next summer. Maybe its all going to be fine. Maybe it’s going to be smart Gareth, Gareth+, Gareth without the really Gareth bits. Maybe it’s just Albania.

But England were pretty good on Tuchel Day one. This was after all still England on a Friday night, post-work pints football, chip shop stroll football. As ever Wembley was a vast echoey fizzy place at kick-off, given life by the bobbling knot in the Albanian away end and a diaspora of thousands more dotted about the seats in pie crust hats, eagle flags fluttering.

It was a slightly strange game, a sleepily comfortable 2-0 win, during which Dan Burn touched the ball 153 times on his debut. Has any England player ever touched the ball this many times? But it was good for Tuchel in other ways. In a bracing break from tradition he was also harsh in victory, disdained the easy ticks, criticising his players, asking for more. This is good. This is unsettling. No easy wins, even in the easy wins.

Tuchel’s first selection was interesting too. A returning Marcus Rashford. A defence with two debutants, including of course Dan Burn, who seems to be surging around the country like a novel coronavirus.

Words like and energy and intensity had been chucked around in build up. But there just wasn’t really the room or the time for transitions, high turnovers, the dogs of counter-press. How do you do this when you’re noodling about in possession and people are throwing paper aeroplanes on to the pitch?

Tuchel isn’t just those words though. This is a manager who also wants control and England were sure-footed at times. It also felt like it mattered. The brevity of his contract has inserted an unexpected jeopardy. Tuchel has been given a target for the World Cup. That target is: win the World Cup! Admittedly this has been the tried before. We remember Greg Dyke’s 2022 World Cup glory countdown clock.

But there is an intensity here. Nobody’s fiddling away building a pathway. It’s a high speed monorail. It’s a dash across the collapsing rope bridge to the grail. Fast-cut, instant, TikTok-style management where every choice is condensed.

So what did we get? Tuchel was out on his touchline early on in premium hooded blue rain mac, skinny jeans, brown shoes, a kind of Sunday lunchtime Surrey banker chic. You half expected to see a Labrador trailing behind him. At the start England just passed and passed, as Albania sat so deep they were pretty much playing in the crowd.

It’s a classic Wembley test, too much of the ball, the extended silence, the lull that nags away at the back of an English footballer’s mind like a ticking clock. Go on. Cope with time passing. And the ball. Go on. Be England while people watch.

Happily the first really bold pick paid off. It was Myles Lewis-Skelly who scored the first goal of the Tuchel England era. It was beautifully made by Jude Bellingham, spinning and threading a pass for Lewis-Skelly’s run. The finish was calm. Pretty much the entire team ran across to offer proprietary, mentor-like hugs and head pats.

At that moment England had 92% possession and made 253 passes to Albania’s 12. Albania are 65th in the Fifa rankings one place below Jordan. It feels generous.

Fine sideways rain began to swirl in through the roof, the kind of rain that wants to get inside the neck of your coat, up your sleeves, in through the eyeholes of your shoes. Not much happened for a while, the game became an exercise in will-Dan-Burn-score, because of course this is the week when Dan Burn has an incredible week.

Harry Kane would eventually score the second with a fine finish. And that was pretty much that. Does it mean much? The energy was a bit different. Tuchel has done interesting things. He talked a lot about club football and intensity. He rejigged training and the press conference times to make it more like a Champions League game. This is a good USP for Tuchel. It’s what he has, elite club football swank.

Only one previous new England manager had ever won the European Cup, Fabio Capello, who approached the job with all the carefree enthusiasm of a man cajoled into emptying the cat litter tray at midnight because the bin men are coming tomorrow. Southgate was always running to catch up with the club football optics. Tuchel has that. This is his superpower. And this was a good, encouragingly unforgiving start.