The German Thomas Tuchel in charge of England? ‘Das Spiel ist vorbei’

We have your initial reactions to the news that Thomas Tuchel will be the new England manager. Is he Southgate plus flair?

Send your views to theeditor@football365.com

A German?!
Tuchel managing England is going to be hilarious. I mean that in a bad way.

Talk about not reading the room.
Niallio, Dublin

…Sir Alex sacked and a German appointed as England manager?

Das Spiel ist vorbei.
Mason

Go on Tommy T
He’s no Emery but I’m personally very excited about the appointment. It would have been very easy to go down the Graham Potter route but credit to the FA (for once) taking a gamble in this case.

In response to the very eloquent Oli; I wasn’t suggesting Villa fans would be happy with swapping Unai for Gareth, so I apologise for any offence caused as that really would be a stupid suggestion 😊

I was merely suggesting Southgate would be a convenient, possible, replacement given his availability and ties to the club, even though it would be a downgrade.
Brian (BRFC)

Nobody expects the Spanish inquisition
If there is one thing the whole England Manager job fiasco highlights, it’s how managers, interim or otherwise, are always left holding the can in public. The press asked Carsley about the process, etc., and when those questions should have been aimed at the FA management. But we have seen this time and again. A more experienced manager would have batted those questions aside, but the fact that any manager is required to answer questions in public about their job is weird, at best, and downright unconscionable on the part of the management team hiding behind him.

Now, no question Carsley made a complete bollocks of the press interviews and, while he might be a great coach, would never last in the role of England manager. A stronger personality is needed to play a straight bat and face down the media.

But if Carsley is to be believed, and there is one thing his responses showed, he is nothing if not too honest; the FA had not pursued anyone else. Perhaps they thought Carsley could make a go of it. But that’s not good planning.

So it was a surprise to read they were in talks with Tuchel. It was not a surprise in the sense that he was a top-class manager who was available, but that they were going anywhere with the role.

Yet a surprise in that his success as a manager is reputed to come from his incredibly detailed concept and strategy for playing the game—drilled into his team through constant and rigorous training—something national managers don’t get the time to do. On the other hand, he does have the standing and reputation to stand up to the egos of many of the young crop.

While Johnny Nic may think these players are rubbish, they are certainly good enough to win a competition. France, a nation oozing with talent, didn’t win tournaments by throwing all their ‘stars’ into the team but had many ‘water carriers’ to get the best out of their ‘stars.’ No surprise, given that the team are led by the arch water carrier– Didier Deschamps. England needs a manager who can balance the pragmatism of Southgate and add just the right amount of flair to a balanced team.

Can that be Tuchel?
Paul McDevitt

Clone wars
The internationals were underwhelming to say the least and there’s still lots of my dad is bigger/more successful than your dad nonsense being published today so can we revisit an old classic and have a little change at least until the league returns?

Whilst watching the games, my friends and I ended up back on the cloning machine question: Which of your current players would make the best XI? My pick for Newcastle was Fabian Schar: v good defender, good distribution, can hit them in from distance and has taken a few penalties for us too, so would prob make a decent well-rounded team. My friend went for Joelinton, and my Spurs fan mate picked Van de Ven and went for Romero as his second choice interestingly enough.

Any other takers on this? What would make you strongest team?
AD, NUFC (A team full of Rodris would probably walk the league tbf)

Arsenal fan pretends Community Shield = League Cup
Ok, this is one that has legitimately been confusing me for a few weeks with all the “trophies won” talk. I personally think the “major” ones are the big 3 (League, FA Cup, Champions League) and then, on a lower scale, you’d have the Europa League, Community Shield, League Cup, Club World Cup, and any other minor silverware I can’t think of at the moment.

So it’s been really confusing me lately seeing some Man Utd fans counting the League Cup as a trophy won but not counting the Community Shield. Very bizarre, I always thought there’s the ‘Big 3’ and then ‘The Rest,’ but I guess everyone has their own narrative they’re trying to spin.

Looking up the info online, Arteta has won 3 trophies as a manager – 1 FA Cup and 2 Community Shields. Ten Hag has won 2 trophies for Man Utd – 1 FA Cup and 1 League Cup. If you count a “minor” trophy like the League Cup, you have to count the Community Shield, Club World Cup, etc, as well.
Andrew M, AFC (3 paragraphs, baby), Australia

We’ve let ourselves down
Disappointed to see that Phil Neville wasn’t one of your Ten England internationals who haven’t retired yet but really should.
Rory Johnston, GUFC, LFC, Galway