Thomas Tuchel told he’s already made his first major mistake as England manager | Football

Thomas Tuchel has been warned he has already made his first major blunder since becoming England manager.

Harry Kane and Myles Lewis-Skelly were on target as England beat Albania 2-0 in Tuchel’s first game in charge of the Three Lions.

Ex-Chelsea, Paris Saint-Germain and Borussia Dortmund boss Tuchel was appointed as England’s new manager back in October and officially started the role on January 1.

Tuchel was given an 18-month contract with the sole objective of winning next year’s World Cup and end 60 years of hurt for the England men’s team.

During talks with the FA, an agreement was reached whereby Tuchel has been permitted to regularly return home to Germany during his tenure, even if it means missing out on the chance to watch England players in action for their club sides.

It was reported by The Times that Tuchel had missed three Premier League weekends in his first six-and-a-half weeks in the job, while also missing the FA Cup third-round weekend and all four Carabao Cup semi-finals.

Both Tuchel and the FA have defended the arrangement but ex-England boss Fabio Capello doubts it will prove to be effective.

‘You have to go and check the players every game,’ he told the Daily Mail. ‘Not on TV. Live.

‘On TV, you can see one part of the pitch. But when you go to the match, you can see every moment. The ball is one part, but tactics, positions, everything.

‘You have to see that. I went every Saturday, every Sunday. I saw a lot, a lot, a lot of the games.

‘You have to live in England, absolutely. You have to live the culture, everything. I went to the office, to Wembley, every day, with Franco Baldini. Only the day after the games, Monday, did I stay at home.’

Tuchel is England’s third foreign manager following Sven-Goran Eriksson and Capello.

‘It is not easy, for sure,’ said Italian Capello. ‘As an England manager, if you are English, it is easier, because one or two people think, “Why did we choose a foreign manager?”

‘But that is for the president of the FA. They choose the manager. If they decided this, they think it is the best way. No one arrives with a gun to their head saying, ‘You have to choose this”.

‘They decided, from around the world, “What is the best for us in this moment? This manager is the best”.

‘There was Sven, then Fabio and now a German. So you try different mentalities and different styles!’

Responding to the criticism over his ‘working-from-home’ arrangement, Tuchel said: ‘Since I am on the job I’m based in London, I spend many days in St George’s Park, we watched almost 25 matches live to see every player like at least once in the stadium – a lot of traveling.

‘From time to time I was in Germany to see my children but the majority of the time I was here in London so I don’t really get the point of the story.’

The FA added in a statement: ‘Thomas has attended 17 matches – in England and abroad – to watch English players since he joined in January.

‘He is also working full-time to assess players for his first squad announcement next month.’

Tuchel’s England return to action on Monday night in another World Cup qualifier, this time against Latvia.

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