Thomas Tuchel can use friendlies to give England an edge this summer

As phone‑ins buzzed with hysterical fans calling for The Football Association to change the head coach, the mistake, with hindsight, was clear. Southgate had gone with a halfway house – not full strength, not full rotation – a mixture of tired senior regulars and names on the fringes hoping to impress. England lacked cohesion, eventually ran out of steam in the last 20 minutes, and a defeat became a humbling. It satisfied nobody. The big names looked leggy and disconnected, the squad players were only there to plug gaps, and the only positive – Marc Guehi’s emergence as a composed, international central defender – was almost lost beneath the noise of a scoreline.