Thomas Tuchel can bring it home! England winners & losers as Harry Kane & Jude Bellingham seamlessly run the show - but bench duties beckon for Phil Foden after blowing his big chance

No person inside Wembley will have been more chuffed with the result than the new manager in the home dugout. Tuchel has had to be patient for nearly half a year before getting his chance to oversee an England game, formulating his plans and toiling over his tactics.

An expert tinkerer, the English public were most used to Tuchel playing the solid 3-4-3 formation which served him so well at Chelsea. Pep Guardiola has, famously, fawned over the German's expert nous. This appointment seemed to scream a desire for the Three Lions to become tactically savvy.

Friday's triumph was not necessarily one of overthinking, rather stripping back and excelling at the basics, even if Tuchel tried to make it seem otherwise in a jargon-heavy post-match press conference. There were runs in behind, a want and will to squeeze the game, a quick and direct plan of action to break down Albania's stubborn block.

Ultimately, England's World Cup qualifiers are merely about keeping the doomsayers from the door. Tuchel won't have to worry about negativity seeping in for this weekend at least.

Tuchel wasted no time in laying into predecessor Sir Gareth Southgate's version of this England cohort. In the lead up to Friday's match, the German replied when asked if the Three Lions had a particular style at Euro 2024: "Not really, no. The identity, the clarity, the rhythm, the repetition of patterns [were missing]. The freedom of players, the expression of players, the hunger. They were more afraid to drop out of the tournament, in my observation, than having the excitement and hunger to win it." Remember, England reached the final!

That must have been a gut-punch for Southgate to hear, and he probably won't like some of the rhetoric around him if Tuchel does get England over the winning hump. He undeniably built a culture for success, only he lacked that extra edge as a top-level manager to make the most of it himself.

Southgate really ought to live out the rest of his days as an English hero without anyone badgering or pestering him, though he'll do well to go up in the wider public's estimations at this rate.

The rapid rise of Lewis-Skelly has been something to behold. He had never played at left-back heading into this season, but now that spot is his to lose for the England national team and an Arsenal side competing for the Premier League and Champions League.

The 18-year-old just looks like he belongs at this level, and not in a 'play it safe to not appear out of place' way either. He relishes responsibility, he loves to take the ball and move it (pass-and-go as the Gunners way of old went), he was the main beneficiary of Tuchel's idea to get bodies in behind so freely.

Even beyond Lewis-Skelly's goal - which made him the youngest debutant to score in the history of the England national team, for goodness sake - he had his fingerprints all over the game. If you wanted one player who embodied what this new side can be about, it was the fresh and dynamic Lewis-Skelly.

Tuchel's simplicity in terms of tactics extended to the use of his two best players in Kane and Bellingham. Too often at Euro 2024, they drifted through games as passengers, so there was an immediate resolution on Friday to get them as involved as possible.

Kane suggested that Tuchel would play him as a more traditional No.9, yet here he was spreading play and tracking back, barging away midfielders and dipping into his passing bag. Off his shoulder ran Bellingham into space, though he too was privy to getting on the ball and distributing it between the lines, teeing up Lewis-Skelly for his record-breaking opener. Of course, Kane got in on the act with a goal of his own late in the second half, expertly finding the very inside of the netting as he so often does for his country - he's now the first player to score 70 times for England.

If Kane and Bellingham aren't involved in games, then England won't win as many of them. Football can be as easy to figure out as that sometimes. Tuchel could very well have football's deadliest duo in his palm.

'Loser' might be a tad harsh in the case of Rashford. 'Someone who did not benefit as much as they had maybe hoped' would be more apt. But 'loser' is definitely the right term for Foden.

The two Mancunians have not enjoyed particularly stellar seasons to this point, with the Manchester United star even heading out on loan to Aston Villa in a bid to reignite his flailing career. Tuchel has preached about giving players a fresh start, so it was disappointing that neither were able to make the most of a start in his first match.

To Rashford's credit, you could at least see his purpose in the side - run in behind, get ready for Bellingham and Kane to make that killer pass. His main problem in that regard was the final action, missing his shooting boots and sometimes taking too long to make a decision.

Foden, on the other hand, was determined to run down dead-ends and shy away from responsibility. His touch was far too loose, especially for the reigning PFA Player of the Year with so many major honours to his name and still in the prime of his career. Injuries to Bukayo Saka and Cole Palmer allowed him to walk into the starting XI, yet all he did was remind England supporters why they wanted him out of the side in the first place.

Tuchel didn't hold back on the duo post-match: "We hope for more impact in these positions. More dribbling and more aggressive runs towards the box. In general that was missing. The chances come from the little runs behind the line. There was a bit missing, they were not as decisive as they can be." Don't be surprised if he selects two new wide-men on Monday against Latvia.

What a week Dan Burn has had. From simply another name on Tuchel's long-list of options, to all-time legend for Carabao Cup-winning Newcastle United, to England's oldest debutant since 2010.

There were times where he looked every inch of his 6'7 frame, every bit of his 32 years of age. A la Arsenal with Gabriel Magalhaes, Tuchel instructed corners be placed right on Burn's head, while he stumbled in England's high line on occasion too.

Nevertheless, he formed a fine partnership with Ezri Konsa - the Aston Villa defender being one of the hosts' understated heroes on the evening, sweeping up magnificently - and leaves Wembley with a precious clean sheet on his first appearance for his country. His days working at Blyth Asda must feel like a lifetime ago now.

Tuchel and Morgan Gibbs-White haven't got off on the right foot yet. The Nottingham Forest midfielder was a surprise exclusion from the initial squad, only brought into the camp owing to Palmer's injury, and he was one of three players - the others being Aaron Ramsdale and Jarell Quansah - who did not make Friday's matchday squad.

Speaking on the awkward tension with the new England boss earlier this week, Gibbs-White said: "When he told me [of not being called up at first], I respected his decision. The standard of players is top-level. I said to him back like ‘I feel like I’ve done enough to get the call-up, considering the form level that we were in, but obviously you’re the manager, you make the decisions, and I respect that totally’. So, obviously, it was disappointing but then Sunday I got the call, so I was straight here.

"It was about 4 or 5 o’clock. He sent me a message to say ‘Are you free to talk?’ And I think I replied within like 30 seconds. He phoned me up and said ‘Are you still upset with me, or do you want to come and join us and fancy training tomorrow?’ Obviously, there’s no question there. I said I’d obviously love to come and join and train with the boys, so, yeah, found out Sunday late afternoon and I was just smiling from ear to ear."

The silver lining for Gibbs-White is that there is definitely a place in Tuchel's midfield up for grabs. Bellingham and Rice are guaranteed starters, with the third spot in the centre open for audition. On Friday, it was the turn of the safe and unadventurous Curtis Jones, with attacker Morgan Rogers ending the game in that position. There's still time for Gibbs-White to wrestle his way into the conversation.

Well, kind of. A 2-0 win against Albania won't really have much impact on England going all the way at the 2026 World Cup. It will, though, give the team and country that little lift of positivity which has been missing since Ollie Watkins fired the Three Lions to last summer's Euro 2024 final.

Tuchel wasn't totally fair in his dismantling of Southgate's England, but he was right that the nation needs to have a more positive outlook towards the game. They shouldn't be shackled by fear, instead be motivated by realistic visions of glory.

There will always be delusional hope about the England team heading into any major tournament. That's as certain as death and taxes. It would be nice to remove the delusion aspect which hangs around like an unwanted tumor infecting the country's psyche, and with a world-class operator like Tuchel at the helm, that should come to pass.