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It's easy to talk something up when the direction of travel has taken a change for the positive but for now England are choosing to buy in to Thomas Tuchel’s emphasis on the collective.
It’s Wales on Thursday and they will not roll over, even if it is only a friendly. Wales are managed by Craig Bellamy and that tells us much of what we need to know about the nature of the opponent.
Tuchel’s England will go without the gilded trio of Jude Bellingham, Phil Foden and Cole Palmer. Jack Grealish will be at home on the sofa also. Of those only Palmer is absent due to injury. Harry Kane, who trained alone yesterday, will miss the game with an ankle injury.
So the spirit of unity espoused by Tuchel so enthusiastically when he named his squad for this game and the World Cup qualifier in Latvia next Tuesday will be required to do some heavy lifting over the coming days.
Do big teams win big games without their best players? We won’t get the answer to that against teams ranked 30 and 137 in the world but Tuchel will be hoping to gather evidence in support of his argument at least.
Unity has been a bit of a theme of the last few days. Steven Gerrard – former England captain and holder of 114 caps – spoke on a podcast this week of the challenges he faced during his days wearing the red, white and blue.
‘We didn’t like each other and it showed’ was the theme of Gerrard’s recollection of days playing for Sven Goran Eriksson, Fabio Capello and Roy Hodgson.
Current England defender Marc Guehi listened intently as this version of England was put to him yesterday. Suffice to say, it’s not an England he recognises.
Thomas Tuchel, taking training on Wednesday, has made it clear he has no room for egos
Marc Guehi, training with Dan Burn, says there are no issues with squad unity as in the past
'There isn’t any animosity between anyone here,’ the Crystal Palace defender said. ‘We are, as we put it when we’re here, “Team England”. Whatever has gone on in the past or whatever is going on in the season, you leave that behind.
‘You come here, these are your best friends, these are your team-mates, these are the guys that you go to war with for however long you’re here.
'The atmosphere is always great when we’re here. The FA, previous managers and the players themselves, the staff, have done a fantastic job at creating an atmosphere.
‘But then again, it comes down to the players to actually buy into that. I think every single person has done that brilliantly, because I enjoy so much coming here and I know the rest of the lads do too.’
The concept of international bonding is always an interesting one. Not all international teams have needed it. Spain, represented largely by sworn enemies of Real Madrid and Barcelona, won a run of trophies between 2008 and 2012 without much cordiality.
On the whole, it is accepted that it helps even if the idea of players fresh from weekly Premier League battle coming together as friends three or four time a season at St George's Park may not always seem as simple as it sounds.
Declan Rice trains at St George's Park on Wednesday ahead of the Wembley clash with Wales
On occasion it has boiled over. Joe Gomez and Raheem Sterling, for example, played in a heated Liverpool and Manchester City game six years ago and then convened with England the next day and promptly had a fight in the canteen.
Asked whether relations between England players endures outside of the confines of international meet-ups, Guehi was revealing.
‘A lot of the boys do keep in touch,’ he said. ‘Whether it’s myself and some of the other lads, or whoever. You know, friends off the pitch as well as rivals on it, or team-mates on it.
‘The fact that we’re kind of rivals when we go back to clubs but you’ll see each other at some point and catch up then. A lot of the lads definitely keep in touch all the time.’
This will be the central defender’s 26th England cap and the partnership between him and Aston Villa’s Ezri Konsa is Tuchel’s preferred one with next summer’s World Cup in mind.
Quietly spoken and considered, he is somewhat reflective of an England group short in alpha males. The players selected to speak to the media this week have pushed back hard against the narrative that Bellingham’s presence threatens team spirit but Tuchel’s own messaging on the issue has been clear through his actions.
Brentford's Jordan Henderson and West Ham's Jarrod Bowen (right) in training
Marcus Rashford has enjoyed a good start to the season at Barcelona, on loan from Man United
A personal opinion is that it makes no sense to approach fixtures in a World Cup season without your most talented players. Tuchel insists there is ‘no proof’ that games can’t be won without them but having top players on the field undoubtedly increases probability.
Tuchel stood in the dressing room after the 5-0 win in Serbia last month and thanked his players for their work and told them they were in pole position to be selected next time. He wasn’t lying. The only change he has made from that squad – Bukayo Saka for Noni Madueke – has been driven by a knee injury suffered by the latter.
The England manager has placed an awful lot of faith in what he saw that night in Belgrade. He believes he witnessed a team clicking in to gear, a corner being turned in terms of application, performance and attitude.
It’s worth recalling here that the game before that saw the same players labour to victory against Andorra at Villa Park. Prior to that was a defeat to Senegal and an even less impressive win against the Andorrans in Barcelona.
So, yes, that win in Serbia is responsible for a heck of a lot already, for good or for bad. Guehi said on Wednesday that to him the World Cup feels like a long time away.
It really isn’t though. England can’t afford many missteps between now and next May. Tuchel’s team really must speak up for their manager over the next five days.
