Thomas Tuchel has said he wants England’s style of football to ‘reflect the Premier League’ and has warned the Three Lions can not copy other nations.
Tuchel begins his reign with World Cup qualifiers against Albania and Latvia later this month. At the announcement of his first squad, the German discussed the style he hopes to implement.
It’s time to reveal Thomas Tuchel’s first #ThreeLions squad! 👀🏴
— England (@England) March 14, 2025
England were criticised for a pragmatic approach under former manager Gareth Southgate, despite twice reaching European Championship finals.
Tuchel believes the style of football should be reflective of the Premier League, widely considered the most demanding domestic division in world football.
He called on England to be ‘brave enough to play like an England squad’ and a desire to bring a ‘direct, attacking style’ to the national team.
“I think it needs to reflect the Premier League. The Premier League is a very physical and demanding league. I think we should be brave enough to play like an England squad. We should not try to copy other nations or other styles – it just reflect the values of the country with the strongest league in the world. We will try to implement a direct, attacking style and we will try to increase the rhythm and intensity of our game. We will try to do this in a crash course on Monday and unleash the potential on Friday.”
On his squad selection, that included first call-ups for Dan Burn and Myles Lewis-Skelly, Tuchel added: “We have all the options. We called up nine defenders to have options. We will see how they adapt.
“I don’t want to give it away right now whether we are playing with a back four or five – I’d like to keep this information to us regarding the respect that we have towards Albania and Latvia.
“I think we have a lot of options. We chose some players because they are able to play in more than one position. I think that the challenge is to combine all of these different ideas into one idea and maybe more than ever it is important that less is more.
“We will not invent new football in the four days we have before the first match. There will be a lot on video and on the pitch and then we need to find a structure and identity that suits everyone and that everyone understands quickly and give everyone freedom to express themselves and show their talent.”
