Thomas Tuchel believes that Trent Alexander-Arnold has needed to buy into the new ideas being implemented by England, to move a little bit further out of his comfort zone in order to really impact this team.
That is apparently focused on playing more vertically, happy offering more width and generally appearing more active in attacking areas.
Tuchel has seen the Real Madrid right back trying to do that, rather than constantly reverting to the quarterback role of pinging passes everywhere from deep central areas. And encouragingly, he still managed those long, raking crossfield beauties while spending much of the night in more dangerous positions.
The England boss thinks that switch in positional mentality will also help Bukayo Saka flourish – with somebody buzzing around him, under or overlapping – and Alexander-Arnold’s progressive performance against Czech Republic indicated what he can offer.
Before half-time, only Marc Guehi registered more touches than his 47. Many of them were in the final third and only 11 came inside the England half. Nobody was more engaged in that first half than Alexander-Arnold and there is definitely a way for Tuchel to engender the best out of somebody who really ought to have registered more caps than 36.
‘He can impress and mark his territory and show his true capacity that no one’s doubting,’ Tuchel said on Friday and proof of that came a few days later.
Trent Alexander-Arnold (left) has bought into Thomas Tuchel’s wish to play more vertically
Harry eyes more history
Having equalled Peter Shilton’s record 125 England caps, Harry Kane will have his eyes on other places in history on a more global scale before the European Championship in 18 months’ time.
Two goals on the night – the first beautifully crafted, a lofted one touch pass by Elliot Anderson and a first-time cross from Morgan Rogers – took Kane to 91 in an England shirt.
That nudged him clear of Malaysia’s Mokhtar Dahari from the 1970s and India’s Sunil Chhetri, who retired last year. Kane finished the night with Robert Lewandowski’s record of 92 international goals now firmly in his sights and could pass it next month.
Already sixth in the all-time list, it is conceivable that he surpasses Ali Daei’s haul of 108, with the ex-Iran striker nestled in third behind Lionel Messi and everybody’s favourite sulker, Cristiano Ronaldo.
Given that Kane contributes significantly more to the side than merely goals, dropping just as deep as normal on Tuesday night, then the idea of him being described as England’s finest player ever is not particularly farfetched. One piece of silverware would rubberstamp that and his legacy may be defined by what happens across a few weeks in 2028.
Harry Kane scored twice for England against Czech Republic to take his Three Lions tally to 91
A sigh of relief (sort of) for Manchester City at last…
Manchester City have bigger problems to deal with than player fatigue at the moment but there will have been a sigh of relief from Enzo Maresca just after the hour when Guehi and Anderson were withdrawn.
Both had started every match of this camp – Guehi playing almost every minute until the Czechs – and even though Tuchel feared the Saturday-Tuesday turnaround, felt he must pick both City stars for the final match as they look to secure a quarter-final spot.
Kane is the only other to have started all four and Tuchel will be pleased that the trio came through unscathed following Bournemouth’s disappointment at the handling of Alex Scott at the weekend. But Tuchel also rightly points to how for just over a fortnight, whatever England do supersedes the anxiety of any clubs.
Jordan Pickford and James Trafford bid to pass the test
Fourteen minutes to go and Tuchel had his arms aloft, gesturing in Jordan Pickford’s direction. He’d just misplaced a clipped pass into midfield and to be honest, looked like he had been struggling with boredom for much of the night.
‘There’s nothing better than playing a pass through the lines, or a longer pass,’ Pickford told us recently when asked about goalkeepers becoming even more active in the build-up. He takes great pride in that side of his game and still registered around 80 per cent successful passes for the evening, with many of them risky through the lines.
You suspect it is on that battleground where either he or James Trafford will prevail before the Euros.
Jordan Pickford’s distribution will be key if he to keep James Trafford from taking his No 1 spot
Ashley educating the young
There are some strong initiatives around England home games and one of them is for an ex-international to speak with teenagers in the FA’s system about his experiences. Ashley Young was at Wembley for this and talked with the Under 15s, organised by Michael Johnson, head of talent ID from the Under 14s to the 17s. Certainly not a bad experience for talented youngsters.
