Thomas Tuchel’s England: What changes have been made inside the England camp?

Where Southgate, certainly towards the end of his reign, would break the news to new or unexpected call-ups on the day of a squad announcement, Tuchel confirmed with some players that they would be called up the evening before the big reveal.

All players who were on Tuchel’s radar received a text in the days leading up to the squad announcement informing them that they could be called up.

Most of the 26 players actually confirmed in Tuchel’s squad all received messages at about 07:30 GMT, before the 09:00 announcement on 14 March.

Clubs would usually be told hours in advance if their players had been selected. This time, official communication to domestic teams didn’t arrive, in some cases, until 20 minutes before the squad was confirmed.

The reasons for such secrecy remains unclear, though the approach does lend itself to preventing news leaking before the official announcement.

Perhaps the most significant change for the players has been Tuchel’s move to naming his starting XI on a matchday.

Southgate usually named his team the night before a fixture – while many players knew the XI based on the shape and personnel deployed in training.

But, for Friday’s game against Albania, the players were informed of the team during a noon meeting on the day of the match.

For Monday’s qualifier against Latvia, sources have indicated the players didn’t know the full starting XI until about 16:00 – less than four hours before the game.

Certain clues from training have also proved red herrings. For example, Morgan Rogers and Anthony Gordon featured heavily in shape training the day before the Albania game, causing many in camp to believe the pair would start the game.

Yet both started on the bench – though Rogers was named in the XI against Latvia.

Not that the uncertainty over team selection appears to have hindered the players.

Six points, five goals and two clean sheets represents an encouraging start for Tuchel.