Reaction to Tuchel a sign of England's misplaced grandiosity - opinion

England's interim boss Lee Carsley will continue in his role throughout the Nations League, with his final match fittingly set to be against Ireland next month.

The reaction to Tuchel's appointment has been quite mixed; one side of the fanbase is happy to see an accomplished manager take the reigns, but the other is sceptical of a non-English man at the helm.

For reference, the Three Lions have been managed by just two people not born in England since 1946 (Sweden's Sven-Goran Eriksson and Italian Fabio Capello).

Both saw England perform fairly well, but neither were able to deliver silverware - and the same could be said of recent departure and Englishman Gareth Southgate.

Southgate did, however, come very close on two occasions as the Three Lions claimed silver medals at the last two European Championships.

Now, with that little history lesson out of the way, let's get stuck into the point of this piece of writing.

The lack of talent

There is, perhaps, a misplaced sense of grandiose among the English hierarchy - from the fans, to pundits and former players, and even up the ladder within the FA.

For those screaming out for another English manager to take charge of the Three Lions, I ask: Who, genuinely, is a better option?

Eddie Howe? Sean Dyche? Graham Potter? Rob Edwards? Gary O'Neil? These men are good managers, but not one of them has a CV that can be compared to Tuchel's.

And it's not that England's manager simply has to have a stacked CV as some of the world's most successful international managers haven't had illustrious club careers.

We're talking about the talent pool, and the English talent pool isn't that deep.

Howe's with Newcastle, Dyche is with Everton and Potter recently said he's in "no rush" to take a new job.

Edwards and O'Neil are currently employed too, but you'd imagine the FA would have an easier time dealing with Luton or Wolves than they would Everton or Newcastle.

But is that really the best England, the runners-up of the last two European Championships, can do? Surely not.

That said, there is a conversation to be had about the grassroots development of coaches in England - or lack thereof - but we'll save a deep dive on that for another time.

For now, I'll let the words of former Manchester United defender Gary Neville do the talking: "We are in a rut when it comes to English coaching," he told Sky Sports after Tuchel's announcement.

"English coaching is one of the least respected big nations in Europe when it comes to taking charge of a football team.

"Spanish, German, Italian (and) Portuguese coaches are renowned for their styles of play (and) for their philosophy."

Tuchel is a good manager

A quick retort to the "England manager should be English" crowd is that Tuchel has accomplished many things, in a relatively short time, in his career.

While it doesn't address the core concern, it does go some way to suggest there should be a break from the romanticism of having a native lead the English national team.

Tuchel won his first major honour as a manager in 2017 when he led Borussia Dortmund to German Cup success; he then won four major honours with Paris Saint-Germain, including two Ligue 1 titles, between 2018 and 2020.

With Chelsea, the German completed the so-called "international treble" by winning the Champions League before picking up both the Super Cup and Club World Cup in 2021.

Tuchel's time with Bayern Munich was short-lived, but he did win a hotly-contested Bundesliga title in the 2022/23 season. For those counting, that's nine major honours in six years.

A coach with that CV - the clubs managed and the trophies won - being interested in managing England is an opportunity that shouldn't be squandered by the English FA, and it hasn't.

For the sake of comparison, Howe, Dyche, Potter, Edwards and O'Neil, between all of them, have won two English Championship titles.

'One of our own'

It should be said, there is undoubtedly an extra element of joy when "one of our own" achieves something in sport.

For many Liverpool fans, Trent Alexander-Arnold's accomplishments will fill them with even more pride than if the right-back were born in London or Glasgow.

But he's from Liverpool and he's "one of our own". The same could be said of Jack Grealish during his Aston Villa days; Marcus Rashford and Man Utd; James Ward-Prowse and Southampton; Todd Cantwell and Norwich; the list goes on.

It adds something extra, but would the fans who proudly boast about these players take a similar stance if they didn't contribute to the success of the team? I seriously doubt it.

Would Liverpool fans rather have John Lundstram at the heart of their midfield, instead of Argentine World Cup-winner Alexis Mac Allister, simply because he's a Scouser? No.

I can appreciate it's not a one-for-one comparison and that, in international set-ups, you have to be considered English to play for England - but that isn't the case for managers.

If you look at the current set-ups of major international teams, you'll see an Italian is in charge of Belgium, a Spaniard is in charge of Portugal, an Italian is in charge of Turkey and a Serbian is in charge of Greece.

For clarity, Spain have native Luis de la Fuente, Italy have "one of their own" in Luciano Spalletti, Julian Nagelsmann is in charge of Germany and the Dutch have Ronald Koeman.

Are the aforementioned Englishmen at the level of these international managers? No.

There is an argument that England could follow in the footsteps of Spain, as De la Fuente, prior to joining La Roja, was hardly pulling up trees.

But for that comparison to track, as the Spaniard was heavily involved in the nation's youth teams, Carsley (who was born in England but played for Ireland) would be the man to pick - not Howe, Dyche or Potter.

The English FA have seen a real opportunity with Tuchel and they've taken it. Whether we agree or not, it is a bold choice in the eyes of many fans of the Three Lions.

The best thing he can do is hit the ground running. Get the team playing eye-catching football and get a few wins under the belt. 

Genuine chatter, and the faux outrage, will soon go away after a few fist-bumps in celebration to the English faithful after putting a few goals past the opposition.

England, still under the tutelage of Carsley, are next in action against Greece next month.