How Thomas Tuchel is warding off complacency in the England dressing room | OneFootball

Thomas Tuchel says that his players must “love” playing for England rather than just like it, and that he specifically cut the size of squads in order to start fostering a sense of competition. The German has clearly been focusing on sharpening intensity and warding off complacency, as his side host Andorra at Villa Park in a World Cup qualifier on Saturday.

The last match between the countries ended in a tepid 1-0 win for England in Barcelona in June, where Tuchel admitted that the right energy did not translate from training. He said there had been “learnings” from those camps, and one of them is that the squad needed clearer tactical instructions in order to foster that edge. A further consequence has been to shorten the numbers called up, with this squad featuring just 25 players.

“It comes down again to ‘does the group have the right energy together’, ‘is the group happy to be with each other', 'is the group happy to go and get going’, ‘does the group love to play for England or do they just like to play for England’?

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Thomas Tuchel is trying to ward off complacency in the England dressing room (PA Wire)

“This will have a huge impact and we are just ready to be well aware of that.”

Tuchel believes that making a call-up feel more elusive will aid that. Trent Alexander-Arnold was one of the big names to miss out on this camp altogether, as others face a fight to be in on matchday.

“It was always in my head, on a white piece of paper, to use the first two camps to learn a lot and then use camps three, four and five for more competition and narrow it down. And to make the players feel that the competition is on. We did this by cutting down the long list, cutting down the squad list.

“It was very difficult for me, in the evening of an MD-1, to talk to Connor Gallagher or to Levi Colwill to say you’re not in the squad tomorrow. It’s just not the right energy in camp. I said to myself that I wanted to make these difficult decisions earlier and then everyone knows that ‘I’m here, I’m fighting for a place’.

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Trent Alexander-Arnold was a notable omission from Tuchel’s squad (Getty)

“They made the first step, being in the squad, but are fighting for a place in the starting XI or to come on. These are the signals and this was needed. We need to find the right team, the right teammates who are good with each other. So far, this camp has been excellent and I hope we can prove it.”

On his own side, Tuchel has made sure that tactical instructions are far sharper in this camp.

“It was always intense, but I think it comes with clarity: we told the players where they compete, we told them the formation that we’re going to play in these two matches. Once you have clarity, intensity will rise and follow. We’ve seen the level in training as very high. We’ve had excellent days; it was a pleasure to be around the guys.”

Tuchel also sounded a note of caution about how his home country, Germany, had been beaten 2-0 by Slovakia in their first World Cup qualifier on Thursday night. It illustrates how crunched and pressurised this campaign is.

“We are thinking about the World Cup, but we’re not qualified yet.

“We’re in a very good position at the moment, we can have an excellent position after these two matches and we have to win them.

“Tomorrow we will play against a well-drilled team.

“I know it sounds silly and, of course, we have better players and it’s Andorra and I don’t know where they are in the rankings, but they are a well-drilled team, and we have to break them down.

“We have to break down a 5-4-1. Spain won 5-0 against them, but the first goal was a set piece. This is reality.

“I didn’t see anything from the German match, but when I saw the comments after, they said they were lacking energy and intensity and this was a given."

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Tuchel in training ahead of Saturday’s clash with Andorra (PA Wire)

Hence, his decision to cut numbers.

Meanwhile, Tuchel said he has been thinking about a back three for his squad, but doesn’t intend to play it yet.

“I can imagine them in a back three. Marc Guehi plays always in a back three. In the moment, I think we will not do it, but it is always an option.

“I had great success in Chelsea, it suited the players very, very good, I think the back three would suit us, we have a lot of players who can play in a back three, including even a Reece James or even a Djed Spence could play in a back three, can also play wing-back.

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Tuchel has been thinking about a back three for his squad (Nick Potts/PA Wire)

“The two midfielders, as I said, we have very mobile midfielders who can play a bit more mobile in front of a back three, which would also suit us very well but we have also strong wingers in a three, who maybe don't have the classic wingers, you have them maybe more inside and half-10 positions and maybe we don't have the profile of pure wing-backs, but it is an option, it's an option in my head.

“I'm not ready to change into this formation yet, I think we still have good options to play in a back four and to have one more offensive players per se on the pitch, with a number-10 profile and wingers, and a number-nine, that gives us a chance to have four offensive players per se on the pitch, this is where the focus is at the moment, but it’s always a chance.

“We have these three camps now, not very likely that we will change in these three camps, but then we have March, we have still a long time. It's not so hard to learn, to play in a back five. If we think in tournament football, this is the way to go forward; it's always an option.”