Six questions new England manager Thomas Tuchel needs answers to during his first two games in charge

England's chronic shortage of decent left-backs was best illustrated by Sir Gareth Southgate's willingness to take a gamble on Luke Shaw's fitness at last summer's Euros - even though it was known before the tournament began that the Manchester United man was unlikely to be fit until the knockout stage.

Shaw eventually made his first appearance in the quarters and went on to play 90 minutes of the final defeat by Spain - but he's barely been seen on a football field since, making it abundantly clear that Tuchel cannot rely on him to be available for next year's World Cup.

Consequently, the new boss had had to get creative, calling up the uncapped Myles Lewis-Skelly even though the Arsenal academy graduate only has nine Premier League starts to his name. The 18-year-old is also a central midfielder by trade and has, thus far in his fledgling professional career, displayed a reckless streak at times.

However, desperate times call for desperate measures and, in fairness to Lewis-Skelly, he doesn't lack confidence, as underlined by his infamous mockery of Erling Haaland, meaning he seems unlikely to be overawed by mixing it with England's finest. Furthermore, given the lack of left-footed options at full-back, it would not be at all surprising to Lewis-Skelly start at least one of the two games as Tuchel looks for an immediate solution to one of England's problem positions.

Alan Shearer called Jordan Henderson's England recalled "left-field" - which was putting it mildly. Tuchel's decision to include the 34-year-old midfielder took absolutely everybody by surprise and was immediately construed as a damning indictment of the quality of the country's current crop of central midfielders.

Even before he ruined his reputation as one of football's 'good guys' by moving to Saudi Arabia in the summer of 2023, Henderson's legs appeared to be going during his final season at Liverpool. He's certainly done well to get his career back on track since joining Ajax last year, but it was both telling - and startling - that Tuchel effectively admitted that Henderson has been selected more for his character than his quality.

"I'm not so sure we need 23 outfield players in the World Cup and every one of these players needs to have the intention to be a starter," Tuchel told reporters. "Once we go to the World Cup, we need to clearly identify the roles. We will have a core team who are eager to be starters. We will have a support team, as well.

"We will have a team who is happy to end matches for us. We will have a group of players who are happy to take care of the values of the team, of the language, of the laughter, the pressure, the intensity, the seriousness."

The importance of team spirit should not be downplayed - a lot of recent tournament triumphs have owed much to the winning coach being able to create a club-like atmosphere within the international arena - but Henderson needs to prove he can still contribute on the field rather simply serving as a morale-boosting mascot off it.

Did Marcus Rashford do enough to earn himself an England recall after a year in the international wilderness? If we're looking at the 2024-25 season as a whole, then no, definitely not. He was abject for Manchester United before being frozen out of the first-team squad by Ruben Amorim, and although he's enjoyed an encouraging upturn in form since joining Aston Villa, it's worth noting that he's yet to score a single goal for Unai Emery's men.

In that sense, Rashford has undeniably benefited from the unavailability of the likes of Ollie Watkins, Bukayo Saka and Noni Madueke, and the atrocious form of Jack Grealish. However, Tuchel's willingness to "reward" Rashford for an increase in work-rate since moving to Villa was also key, with the manager admitting that he did not want to see the forward "fall back into old routines".

"He has stepped up his game impressively against the ball," Tuchel pointed out. "This is the most important point for him – the intensity after possession loss, the tracking back on the side, the sprinting, the hunting down, and making sure you’re in position. That he can bully defenders, we know all that... We forgot a little bit about it but we know it. He is a ­complete package. But, at the same time, we want to make sure that he stays on track."

The onus, then, is very much on Rashford to vindicate Tuchel's show of faith.

Just after the turn of the year, it appeared as if Phil Foden had found some form, with the Manchester City attacker scoring six goals in four games between January 4 and 25. Since then, though, Foden has performed as poorly as he did during the first half of the season - and indeed last summer's Euros.

Consequently, it was by no means a given that Foden, the 203-24 Premier League Player of the Year, would be included in Tuchel's first squad, particularly as the incompatibility issues we saw in Germany haven't magically disappeared. Foden is a fantastic footballer, but Jude Bellingham is better and deserves to start in his preferred No.10 role - it really is as simple as that, so it's up to the City star to prove that he can flourish on the flanks, which is not going to be easy.

Foden has admitted himself that he finds it "very difficult to influence the game" from out wide. "I didn't get what I wanted out of it," he recently told the Manchester Evening News. However, he is going to have to figure it out - with Tuchel's help of course.

We don't yet know what formation the ex-Chelsea boss plans to play - he's been keeping his cards very close to his chest in that regard - but presumably he feels he can not only fit Foden and Bellingham into the same team, but also get the very best out of both. There may well be a temptation to ask Foden to fill in for the injured Saka, but that doesn't look like a long-term solution as the left-footed Arsenal ace will always be the better option on the right.

This is a big international window, then, for Foden, who can no longer be considered first-choice for either club or country. He says he can play "multiple positions", but he very much needs to prove it if he wants to become a key component of Tuchel’s England.

Kyle Walker was among the first high-profile players to back the Football Association's decision to hire Tuchel back in October. "It is a great appointment," the then-Man City captain told the BBC before quipping, "and it is an even better appointment if he puts me in the team again!"

At the time, that looked like a long shot, but now it's a distinct possibility.

Walker was a real liability at the Euros and utterly atrocious for City during the first half of the current campaign, which is why Pep Guardiola didn't stand in the defender's way when he revealed he wanted to leave the Etihad during the January transfer window to join AC Milan on loan.

The veteran has since impressed all and sundry at San Siro with his winner's mentality, and his performances in Serie A have been solid enough. However, he was caused all sorts of problems by Igor Paixao in the Champions League last-16 first-leg loss to Feyenoord, and he was also guilty of not getting close enough to cut out the cross that led to the tie's decisive goal in the return clash at the Giuseppe Meazza.

So, there was some surprise when Walker was brought back into the England fold, as he’s not yet done anywhere near enough in Italy to suggest that he can still cut it at the very highest level.

Of course, he's unlikely to be tested too much if he features against either Albania or Latvia, but one imagines that Tuchel will be nonetheless keen to talk up the 34-year-old's experience, leadership qualities and versatility (which could come in very useful if England employ a three-man defence) at every opportunity over the next few days.

Dan Burn was undoubtedly the story of last Sunday's Carabao Cup final. Just two days after being sensationally called up by England for the first time, Newcastle's big friendly giant opened the scoring with a stunning header in the shock 2-1 win over Liverpool at Wembley.

"I'd definitely say I've had worse weeks!" Burn said during his first media outing as a member of the Three Lions squad. "But I've waited a long time for this opportunity and I didn't want to spoil it. He [Thomas Tuchel] said I've been playing well for a long time. I'm not just coming in to be a cheerleader - I want to play."

He's certainly got every chance of making his debut on Friday night. Marc Guehi, one of the few England players to perform anywhere near their potential at Euro 2024, is a certain starter, but there are places alongside him up for grab.

England, remember, are short on centre-backs, with both Harry Maguire and John Stones ruled out through injury, while Tuchel also sprung a major surprise by overlooking the incredibly impressive Jarrad Branthwaite.

That latter call suggests two things: firstly, Tuchel is not thinking long-term, which is unsurprising given his contract only runs until the World Cup; and, secondly, if Burn delivers immediately, he has every chance of featuring at the finals (even though he'll be 34 by the time they roll around) simply because he's so versatile.

"I want to contribute - I don't care where I play," he said on Tuesday. "I will play right wing if it gets me on the pitch!"