Thomas Tuchel’s first Premier League game as England boss revealed as new manager gets to work
THOMAS TUCHEL will be in attendance for Tottenham’s game against Newcastle for his first Premier League game as England manager.
The former Chelsea manager officially took charge of the Three Lions job on New Years Day, replacing Lee Carsley who had been in interim charge during the Autumn Nations League fixtures.
And the German will waste no time in trying to appraise England stars playing for their clubs before he picks his first squad in March.
Tuchel, 51, will head to the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium to watch the likes of Anthony Gordon and Dominic Solanke square off on January 4.
He will be joined by new members of his backroom staff as he considers his first selection.
Assistant coach Anthony Barry was originally announced in October, but Henrique Hilário, Nicolas Mayer and James Melbourne have joined his backroom staff in the England set up as well.
Some of the other stars set to be involved and of note to Tuchel are Tottenham’s James Maddison and Newcastle‘s Tino Livramento, Lloyd Kelly, Lewis Hall, Dan Burn, Joe Willock, Harvey Barnes and Sean Longstaff.
After winning their Uefa Nations League group, England will dive straight into World Cup 2026 qualifiers against Albania and Latvia on March 21 and 24 respectively.
Both of these games will be played at Wembley Stadium, so Tuchel will play his first games in front of the home support.
Speaking about Wembley during his announcement press conference, Tuchel said: “I had the chance to read a quote from Pele in the Wembley building, which said, ‘Wembley is the heart, the capital and the cathedral of football’.
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“I think he was absolutely right. I want to take the opportunity to thank the FA, especially Mark [Bullingham] and John [McDermott] for their trust.
“I’m very excited to start this journey in January with the staff at St. George’s Park and of course a special group of players to make our dream come true in America.”
Tuchel had success at Chelsea by winning the Champions League and Club World Cup, while he also led the club to the FA Cup and League Cup final but suffered defeat to Liverpool on both occasions.
England have suffered defeat in the last two European Championships finals, while they managed to make the semi-finals of the World Cup in 2018 under Gareth Southgate.
It is hoped that Tuchel will have the midas touch to change those fortunes and create a winning formula to land the men’s team its first title since 1966.
Inside FA's thrilling chase for Tuchel
THE FA’s path to securing Thomas Tuchel's signature was not a straightforward one.
They tried to lure Pep Guardiola from Manchester City over the summer.
They even made contact with Real Madrid boss Carlo Ancelotti after deciding to target trophy-laden foreign gaffers.
The FA’s determination to go international was summed up by their decision NOT to interview Newcastle boss Eddie Howe.
Initial talks with Tuchel saw him express a slight interest in replacing Gareth Southgate.
But he was waiting to see what would happen at Manchester United, with Erik ten Hag’s future under the spotlight.
Man Utd owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe eventually decided to stick with Ten Hag – and that opened the door to the FA getting their man.
Read the full story on England’s thrilling pursuit of Thomas Tuchel.
Tuchel is not blind to that challenge, and has already spoken about how the team can take the final step.
He said: “First of all, we are there. The consistency is impressive and it shows we have players who compete in the strongest league in the world day in, day out. We have the ingredients.
“We fully believe this is the moment to install some football patterns and behaviours that can help push this team over the line. We will need luck and momentum.
“We will need luck with injuries and maybe some decisions in games. That is a given. But we feel confident we can add something that will help.
“Most importantly, if we speak about our target to add a second star, we have to prove ourselves all the time. We have to live up to those standards.”
Forgotten England stars could benefit from Tuchel appointment
WITH Thomas Tuchel announced as the next England manager, a few forgotten stars might be hopeful of a return to the international set up.
The former Chelsea and Bayern Munich manager usually uses a 3-4-3 formation.
That could provide an opening for Mason Mount, who’s not been involved in the England set-up since the World Cup in 2022.
The now Manchester United star enjoyed his most successful spell under Tuchel while the pair were at Stamford Bridge.
Tuchel could also offer lifelines to other previously capped players such as Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Eric Dier.
RLC has excelled since his move to AC Milan and with England struggling to find a partner for Rice, he could be the surprise answer.
Meanwhile, Dier played for Tuchel at Bayern Munich as part of a back-three last season.
The defender did enough to convince the club to make his loan move permanent after he had fallen out of favour at Tottenham.
Click here to see the full England XI who could play under Tuchel.
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