Thomas Tuchel says England’s players need to “drop their club hats” as he insists his true England football team will start to be seen over this international break, but admitted that the Club World Cup has influenced his thinking on preparation for a hot summer next year. Tuchel acknowledged the team would not be able to play in the same way in different parts of America, as he marvelled at just how much variety there is in the international game now.
He said that the camp for next week’s matches at home to Andorra and away to Serbia will primarily be about developing a plan to open up a 5-4-1 low block, but also while incorporating it into a longer-term system. Tuchel said that one consequence of a difficult June break was to strip down the squad, as he also stressed that all decisions - like leaving out Trent Alexander-Arnold - were ultimately “competitive”.
