England 2-0 Albania: Match report & 4 talking points from Thomas Tuchel's patchy debut

England eventually eased to a 2-0 World Cup qualification win at home to Albania on Friday night, but it was not a faultless debut for Thomas Tuchel.

Had Gareth Southgate been swaying around the dugout in a knitted cardigan rather than the praying mantis figure in a dark coat, there was only 25 minutes when it looked like anything had changed.

Myles Lewis-Skelly's opening goal in the 20th minute sparked a sustained spell of pressure until the half-time break. England struggled to regroup over the second 45 minutes, affording Albania better openings before Harry Kane's goal sealed victory. As Tuchel admitted after the match: "We can do better. We have to do better."

How the game unfolded

Tuchel wanted energy. He also demanded "identity, clarity, rhythm, repetition of patterns, freedom, expression and hunger" - everything which, as he pointed out, was lacking at the Euros.

Bellingham brought all those qualities and more. Nothing will be set in stone after a patchy home win against a side ranked 65th in the world, but the rampaging, record-breaking Real Madrid star did his best to get on Tuchel's good side early on.

It was Bellingham's defence-shattering pass for Lewis-Skelly which broke the deadlock of a World Cup qualifier which started like so many under Southgate's regime. Faced with a rigid low block, England's No 10 pirouetted away from Myrto Uzuni and took five black shirts out of the game with one ball for the Arsenal youngster.

Thomas Strakosha's trailing leg denied Bellingham's header from point-blank range and it took a desperate lunge from Berat Djimsiti to block Kane's effort on the follow-up.

Dan Burn was denied a debut goal of his own by the crossbar. The insertion of the the 6'7 centre-back at corner kicks saw England's signature love train have a double-decker bus stuck on top, but they couldn't make the aerial advantage count.

Bellingham - and therefore the rest of the England team - started the second half groggily. Albania had a squall of promising openings that won't be reflected in their shot count due to a combination of poor decision-making and last-ditch defensive interventions, most of which were made by the quietly impressive Ezri Konsa.

Kane banished the gently simmering unrest before it could reach a boil with a super strike in the 78th minute. Shrugging off Arlind Ajeti with alarming ease, England's all-time top scorer waited just long enough for a gap to open up, stuffing the ball between the narrow avenue of open air to find the bottom corner.

Player ratings

Check out player ratings from England 2-0 Albania here.

Myles Lewis-Skelly defies the haters

When Lewis-Skelly saw his phone ring the day before Tuchel's squad announcement, he put on his "good voice", steadied himself and answered. "We've got your food, it's outside," a delivery driver crackled over the line. "It was Uber Eats, for my mum," the teenager glumly recalled. The call-up eventually came and there were no false alarms on a debut to remember.

Arsenal's academy graduate had already seen plenty of the ball, striding forward and punching passes into the feet of his teammates before he slipped it between Thomas Strakosha's legs.

Lewis-Skelly was visibly overwhelmed by the emotion of his achievement, becoming the youngest player to ever score a debut goal for the senior national team, rubbing his head in disbelief after untangling himself from his teammates. That innocent appreciation clashes sharply with the warped perception which has quickly dogged the 18-year-old.

Perhaps his mockery of Erling Haaland's celebration wasn't in the best taste and he has already been shown two red cards, but there is hardly any need for the searing toxicity which bubbles beneath so many comments about this baby-faced teen. This is an intelligent, well spoken young man whose prodigious rise should be lauded - rather than than lambasted - at every opportunity.

Phil Foden still doesn't quite fit

Versatility can be a blessing and a curse. The question of Phil Foden's best position has plagued his entire senior career. While Pep Guardiola has freely shifted the natural playmaker around the final third - often successfully - Foden has routinely struggled to replicate his club form in an international setup without the same tactical rigour as Manchester City.

Foden has routinely impressed in a left-wing role while draped in sky blue. It was from that position which he scored a hat-trick against Brentford just last season. Yet, when lining up in that same position during the Euros, the 24-year-old veered around the pitch like a broken dodgem.

Pushed onto the right flank in the absence of the injured Bukayo Saka on Friday, Foden did his best to resist wandering infield (with mixed success), scurrying up and down the touchline. Yet, he managed just two touches in the penalty box, flitting in and out with a performance which did little to worry Saka about his place in the team.

Tuchel wanted "more impact" from his wingers, grouping Marcus Rashford and Foden who were also required to make "more dribbles and less passes".

With Bellingham in such fine form through the middle - theoretically Foden's preferred position - quite where he fits into this England side is as unclear as ever.

Kyle Walker poses a conundrum

The six-time Premier League champion chose a bad season to launch a podcast called You'll Never Beat Kyle Walker. As a startling number of players proved over the first six months of the season, that simply is no longer the case. Walker's decision to leave City on loan in January was reportedly the consequence of realising that he "could no longer cut it".

Walker has enjoyed fewer moments of existential dread at AC Milan thus far and looked five years younger in the dialled down tempo of international football. The 34-year-old even found energy to repeatedly run beyond the winger in front of him.

These bursts offered a sense of vibrancy which underpinned England's best spell in the match - it was Walker's ball back from the byline which teed up the double first-half chance for Bellingham and Kane.

Trent Alexander-Arnold, the injured Liverpool full-back who would have been expected to take Walker's place when fit again, has not marauded forward in that style for years. By tucking infield and using his unrivalled passing range, Alexander-Arnold brings his own range of qualities. However, if Tuchel does opt for the probing Scouser, that may impact which type of right winger England select, with his inclusion pointing towards more of a direct runner than Phil Foden.

Harry Kane proves his point

When Tuchel was asked who would be his England captain he let out a puff of air. "It's Harry," he said, muffling his disdain with a waft of exasperation, as though someone had asked him something so blindly obvious it was almost insulting.

Kane has been on the end of more blunt jibes while playing in an England shirt over the past 12 months. The typically sedate striker took aim at his critics ahead of Friday’s match, comparing his normalised brilliance to that of Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo while insisting that he has been "taken for granted".

Tuchel would have deeply appreciated Kane's goal to double England's lead and effectively guarantee a maiden victory on Friday.

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