Kane and co energised by Tuchel's tactical insights

On Tuesday morning, Thomas Tuchel and his staff went through the debrief of his first England camp. They are already thinking about the June squad, but the feeling has so far been "very positive".

- MIGUEL DELANEY

That may seem a little over the top given it was an aggregate 5-0 over two moderate national teams at home, but this is about so much more than just results. Tuchel himself has talked about how these are first games against sides with extremely low blocks, which is going to complicate his own adaptation to international level.

None of that is really a concern for the long term, and it is the long term that is, of course, the point. Tuchel isn't trying to build a team to convincingly win forgiving games in qualifiers. England can already do that. What they haven't yet been able to do for some time is beat the very best sides in matches that matter, and that's what he is trying to change.

It's almost a strange inversion of how things used to go. The old reaction to only beating Latvia 3-0 at home might have been to wonder what chance you have against the best if that's all you can do against the lesser ranked. Now, it's generally acknowledged that the context is different. There's only so much you can do in terms of a wider system when the opposition just sit back.

"I probably stayed a bit higher because their block was so low, there was no point in me coming back as well," captain Harry Kane explained. Regarding that point, the players have been struck by how much Tuchel immerses himself in the tactics.

Asked what stood out over the last few days, Kane pinpointed "his energy and his enthusiasm".