How Thomas Tuchel is preparing England for 'unbearable' conditions at the World Cup - and why he has cut DOWN on training days despite limited time

Unbearable is how Thomas Tuchel explained his time in America for the Club World Cup. Despite popular opinion, that wasn’t because of the tournament itself.

The heat. The dry heat, wet heat, claustrophobic heat. The sort of heat a bunch of pasty Englishmen won’t react particularly well to.

He learnt nothing about which side of the United States offers the best opportunity to progress because the finalists this summer – Chelsea and Paris Saint-Germain – took wildly different routes in both a climate and travel sense.

‘Crazy hot,’ he said. ‘Humid. Sometimes almost unbearable to watch games at two o’clock without a roof. But we don't mould and create the game model now for the USA in these four [training] sessions this week.’

Tuchel visited Manchester City just north of Miami out there, a spot he is eyeing up for a potential pre-tournament training camp. 

He can lean into discussing next summer, saying that clearly thoughts have always been geared towards that, while also maintaining they cannot lose focus over the next four days with minnows Andorra and then a lively trip to Serbia on Tuesday as he attempts to locate a defining style of play.

The way in which England approach cementing their qualification will differ to how they look Stateside. There could be a back three come the tournament, a formation the German excelled with at Chelsea but something which he insisted will not be experimented with until at least March. 

John Stones, sent back to City with a muscle problem, is consistently being talked up as a deep central midfielder. There are significant tweaks that supporters have not yet seen.

Tuchel has already made alterations to his set-up though. The March and June camps, during which stodgy performances post question marks over England’s new direction, have prompted changes. 

Players were told to report for duty on Tuesday, not Monday, after the head coach felt the build-up to the slow 1-0 win against Andorra in Barcelona was laboured.

‘We had the intensity on the training pitch before Andorra but we could not translate it,’ Tuchel admitted. ‘We meant well, we had a good week and we started with Formula One for a bit of bonding and experience and then we had a very long (week), starting on Monday on the training pitch until Saturday. It felt a bit long.’

That is a major leap from his first camp in March, when the lack of training days available to the backroom staff before America was the main issue Tuchel was at pains to impart. 

It does sound like he is constantly reflecting on what works and what doesn’t with internationals, an alien concept for him until this job, and Tuchel has taken a fair amount of learnings – especially from June, including the defeat by Senegal.

This week, the messages to his players have been to look at Spain’s friendly win over Andorra during that international window. And note that Ayoze Perez’s first goal, the only one in the opening 45 minutes, came from a set piece. 

‘It can feel like chewing gum to break a block down like this but we have to play with more energy and enthusiasm,’ he said. 

‘I think international football is a bit more predictable also towards the opponent, what they are doing, so we can take it as an advantage. 

'We want to be clearer because we have so many players from different clubs, so they're used to a different style.’

There will be a more active England over the next two matches – but it is for the here and now, for Andorra and Serbia, rather than anything long-term. 

The tactical concepts are going to evolve over the next six months to suit the upcoming conditions.

Some might suggest that is risky, others that Tuchel is adaptable and light on his feet. The accepted wisdom will only become clear on the plane home in July. He is demanding more hunger off the ball, to speed up play on it against those who sit in. 

These aspects could fly out of the window when the sun beats down, though – even if they have stored plenty of data from how individuals coped with the heat during their last meet-up.

‘I actually cannot tell you what it will look like in the first match in the World Cup,’ he said. 

‘I saw a change of intensity at the Club World Cup. Less intensive runs, less sprints, less distance covered.

‘Will it make sense to go out and play man against man in the opponent's half? Is this even possible? Do we take the risk to be man-to-man and concede maybe a goal from one slight mistake? 

'We will get our heads together - hopefully after our qualification in November.’