The Thomas Tuchel era is under way for England and one of the players handed his debut by the German has made an immediate mark.
Tuchel's first game as Three Lions manager saw his side defeat Albania 2-0 in the World Cup qualifier at Wembley Stadium thanks to goals from Myles Lewis-Skelly and captain Harry Kane, who notched for the 70th time in 104 appearances.
It certainly was not the fluent, exciting performance Tuchel suggested he was aiming for before the match but it was still three points and a clean sheet against an ultra-cautious opponent who failed to register a shot on target over the 90 minutes.
And the first-half goal and all-round performance from Arsenal teenager Lewis-Skelly was the high point for England, with the left-back becoming the youngest player to score on his senior England debut – aged 18 years and 176 days.
That beat the record held by Marcus Rashford – who made his first start since in a year – by 33 days and helped ensure England's campaign to reach the 2026 finals in North America enjoyed a winning start.
And Declan Rice was not surprised in the least his Arsenal teammate's performance. “I said about it before Christmas, and a lot of people laughed at me and questioned it,” said the midfielder, who won his 62nd cap after starting against Albania.
“They said I was speaking out of turn by saying good things about him.
“But week on week he's shown how good he is, and the fearlessness he has in his performance.
“He needs to keep being himself around the training ground at Arsenal, around England, and keep pushing himself.
“He's an asset for us now. He's 18 years old and has got a long career in the game if he keeps doing good things.
“He didn't even know he was going to be starting until today and I just knew he was going to have a good performance, because he has that belief in himself.”
Defender Dan Burn, another debutant, almost capped his unforgettable week with another goal at Wembley.
The 32-year-old scored a thumping header in Newcastle United's League Cup final win over Liverpool last Sunday which saw the Premier League side end a 70-year wait to win a domestic trophy.
And the big centre-half almost made it two in a week at Wembley but was frustrated to see his first-half header on Friday night come back off the crossbar.
“To walk out at Wembley and sing the national anthem and get a start for England is something that I dreamt of when I was a kid,” Burn said.
“I'm gutted that I didn't score again, probably I'm being greedy, I think, because I've had a pretty good week.
“Now that I've had that first taste of international football, I'm just desperate to keep playing.
“I'd love to go to the World Cup but there is six, seven camps before that, and I'm going to have to keep playing a very high level.”
Next up for England is Latvia, ranked 140th in the world, who they face in their second World Cup qualifier in London on Monday with Tuchel ready to make changes.
Asked if he is looking at rotation against Latvia, Tuchel said: “Yeah. I think we had some heavy legs.
“I felt us even a little bit tired, so we will take the opportunity, of course, to check who's available and we have some good, good players on the bench, who came on today or did not even play, so we have our options.
“But I have full trust in all 22 players, plus four goalkeepers, and from there we go.
“We have a full day of recovery for everyone [on Saturday]. Everyone deserves that because everyone trained on the high level and played the match now together, so tomorrow's a recovery day and Sunday we take care about Monday.”
Tuchel admitted wingers Rashford and Phil Foden were not as “impactful” as the new coach wanted.
“We will encourage him to do what he does best – to go at defenders, to go into dribbles,” Tuchel said of Foden's seeming lack of self-belief with England.
“We played him from the right wing. Both of our wingers who started were not as impactful as they normally can be, as they are normally in club football.
“I'm at the moment not so sure why we started to bring the ball quicker to them, to bring the ball in more open positions to them. I need to review the match. Not so sure why it took us so long.
“They trained very well, they were decisive in training. That's why also they deserved [to start]. They were very good in the last weeks in their clubs.
“We will keep on encouraging them and make sure to create a structure for them that they can show their potential.”
