Reporter Notebook: Inside Tuchel's first England training session

Thomas Tuchel has taken his first full England training session since he took over as England manager, and it’s quite a moment.

All 26 players of this England squad were out [for training], but there were three additions as well, which is significant. Taylor Harwood-Bellis, Liam Delap and Adam Wharton were all included from the U21s, so Tuchel’s decided that he wants more than 26 up in this training session.

We expected Cole Palmer to withdraw from this England camp, but the FA have informed us that he’s still being assessed by Chelsea, so even though he’s not at St George’s Park, he hasn’t been ruled out of contention for these two games. I think you have to say it’s unlikely he will be involved.

England did have a bit of an introductory, warm-down session on the grass on Monday, but Tuesday was his first full training session and the first time with all the cameras. There were lots of German media as well, such is their interest in this, and Tuchel admitted that it’s a very different sort of job that he’s got, being in charge of an international side.

He gave a very inspirational, emotional welcome speech, I think, to the players on their first night as a squad, and he talked repeatedly of a brotherhood between the players.

Tuchel wants to try and foster that brilliant relationship that Gareth Southgate started amongst the squad, but he did stress to them the only goal, as far as he’s concerned, is the World Cup, and the attempt to win the World Cup starts now with this first international camp.

I’ve been really impressed with him since he’s started the job. Tuchel has had the English media eating out of the palm of his hands in every news conference that he’s done so far, and by all accounts, he’s had a similar response from the England players, such was this inspirational speech he gave.

The players have been impressed by him, but it’s a very short-term job. He has an 18-month contract, and he’s already three months into that before he’s played his first game, so he’s got to hit the ground running.

He doesn’t have to try and bring young players through, he’s got to try and win the World Cup and I think that’s why you’re seeing some of the names included in this camp.

‘Lewis-Skelly has the chance to be first-choice left-back’

Jordan Henderson is probably the most controversial inclusion. He’s 34 years old now, absolutely not one for the future – he’s for the here and now. There will be some England supporters who think he was one for the past and maybe shouldn’t be involved.

But Thomas Tuchel said ‘absolutely none of that’. He called Henderson a winner, a leader, with huge experience and he’s very much part of his plans for the World Cup going forward. He is playing very well for Ajax, by all accounts.

With Marcus Rashford, it’s a year since we’ve seen him play for England. He’s been reborn at Aston Villa – out from the footballing wilderness at Manchester United, where it just wasn’t going well for him. It felt like he needed a break.

We know Tuchel contacted him soon after he was given the England job to say he was part of his plans, so I don’t think it’s any huge surprise that he’s in this squad now.

There’s a feeling amongst the press corps and people in football that Myles Lewis-Skelly has the chance to become England’s first-choice left-back for many years to come. It’s been a problem position for England for years now and he’s Mikel Arteta’s first choice for Arsenal.

He’s skipped the U21s and been called up straight to the seniors. He’s a great athlete, gets forward, creates opportunities, but he’s very impressive defensively as well. That’s something that Tuchel will really appreciate.

Yes, sometimes that aggression has gone a little bit too far. We’ve seen him see red twice – albeit with one of those red cards rescinded – and there was a feeling that he might have seen red in the Champions League as well. But you don’t want to take that aggression away from a defender like Lewis-Skelly.

And what a five days Dan Burn has had. He’s never trained or stayed at St George’s Park before. Almost every single one of the England players knows St George’s Park, they’ve trained here with the junior teams. Not so for Burn.

We asked him about that and whether he’d celebrated winning the Carabao Cup too much. And he said no, he was actually trying to get his team-mates to be quiet on the bus at around midnight because all he wanted to do was go to sleep because he had an early call for England the next day.

Will he make his debut? We wait to see about that, but he gets his chance because of injuries to Harry Maguire and Ben White, who Tuchel says is ready to return to the England fold when he’s fully fit. But it is a chance for Burn to impress in the meantime.

It was controversial in the extreme when Morgan Gibbs-White was left out of Friday’s squad. In fact, Paul Merson said it is a disgrace that he wasn’t involved in the first place. It is a chance for him to impress in Palmer’s absence, but there’s huge competition in that No10 position – Bellingham, Foden and Palmer. Will Morgan Gibbs-White get his chance? He will hope so because he’s having the season of his life.

‘Bellingham and Kane key for World Cup aspirations’

Jude Bellingham is one of the senior players now, despite his tender years, and is one of the most important members of this England squad if they have aspirations to win the World Cup.

He doesn’t suffer fools gladly. I know there were some fallings out with Southgate, but whilst they didn’t always see eye-to-eye, there was a huge mutual respect between the two. Can Tuchel nurture a close relationship with Bellingham, bring out the best in him, make him a leader in this England team again and make him the very best he can possibly be?

That’s probably a much easier thing for him to do with Harry Kane. The two men became very close while Tuchel was in charge at Bayern Munich, and the England manager has confirmed that Kane will continue as his captain.

Kane is in good form again right now, fully fit and firing for Bayern Munich. He has 10 goals in the Champions League this season – that’s more than any other Englishman has ever managed in the competition. Overall, he has 32 goals and 11 assists this season.

He is a goal machine, a consummate professional, and he’s going to be absolutely key to Tuchel’s hopes of winning the World Cup. Kane is also influential with the rest of this England squad and you suspect Tuchel will want to nurture that as much as he possibly can.

Back three or four for Tuchel?

This is going to be a key question over the next few days as we build up to Tuchel’s first game in charge, which is against Albania at Wembley on Friday.

A lot of people at Chelsea remember he played with three centre-backs, but that was because the players he had at his disposal suited that formation rather than it being necessarily Tuchel’s preferred formation.

If you look at what he did in PSG and Bayern Munich, he tended to play with a back four, so I think it could be either. If you ask me for my gut feeling, I think he’ll go with a back four predominantly with England.

We know that full-back has been a difficult position. If you’re playing with three centre-backs, there’s a lot of expectation on the full-backs to get forward and offer support to any England attacks. I’m not sure he’s exactly got the personnel fully fit to be able to do that.

And also, if you play with wing-backs, I think it nullifies where England are very strong, which is wide attacking players. They’ve got so many good wide attacking options that you want those guys to be the people who are getting down the flanks and putting the crosses in.

It may be something that evolves and changes. It may be something that Tuchel is prepared to change in the middle of matches – he’s done that before. Tuchel will probably use both formations over the next 15 months.