Harry Kane reveals surprising metric that Thomas Tuchel showed England team in first meeting as new boss

England are entering a new era which Thomas Tuchel hopes will be summed up in one word: Excitement.

The German boss will lead his first Three Lions clash against Albania at Wembley on Friday night as he takes the first step towards what he hopes will be a triumphant road to World Cup glory in 2026.

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Under Gareth Southgate, England were the nearly men – reaching the European Championship final in 2021, the World Cup semis in 2018 and then the final of Euro 2024 last summer in a game that saw the Three Lions fall agonisingly short.

But after a tournament that saw England almost paralysed with the pressure, England captain Harry Kane believes that a new lease of life under the former Chelsea boss is just what the doctor ordered.

Speaking exclusively to talkSPORT, Kane said: “Him and Gareth are totally different coaches.

“With Thomas there’s a lot of energy in every meeting and on the pitch he has a clear energy of what he wants us to do, how he wants us to play and he’s very enthusiastic in how he shows that.

“It brings a great energy to the team. I feel like the training sessions over the last couple of days have been at a high, high level and a high, high intensity – partly because everyone is trying to prove themselves and show that it’s a level playing field and prove to the coach that they deserve to play.

“It’s just a really enjoyable place to be. Ultimately it’s about doing it on the pitch but so far, so good.”

Reflecting on last summer’s shortcomings at Euro 2024, Kane explained: “I spoke about it in the summer and there was a lot of expectation on us and it was probably the first time that we were the favourites or one of two favourites to win the tournament.

“I felt that we maybe didn’t express ourselves in the same way as we did in the Qatar World Cup or the Euros in 2021, but in a major tournament there’s a lot of different factors that go into it.

“We can take positives from the fact we got to a final when things weren’t quite clicking and so if we do get things right and things do click then we’re as good as any team in the world.

“I think that’s what Thomas is trying to get out of us. He’s spoke about us as a group, talking to each other, having more interactions and more uncomfortable conversations and being more direct.

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“We’re all here to achieve the same thing and no matter what it is, talk about it and help each other and push each other and that’s what we’re at the start of now – trying to bring more leaders into the team to help the younger players because when you’re at a major tournament and things aren’t going well you need to look around and trust that you’re going to pull through together.”

One way that Tuchel is looking to do that is by encouraging leadership and getting his players talking on the pitch.

Alongside existing leaders Jordan Pickford, Declan Rice, Jude Bellingham and Harry Kane, Tuchel has recalled experienced heads such as Jordan Henderson and Reece James to his squad, while also handing 32-year-old Dan Burn his first England call.

Tuchel revealed that in the Euro 2024 final with Spain, England’s players had 60 on-field interactions in the first half of the game – a sum that dropped dramatically to just 35 in the second half as Spain tightened their grip on the game.

That’s something that the German boss is keen to change if England are to stand any chance of going all the way.

Asked about Tuchel’s presentation, Kane admitted: “I’ve never seen it before.

“Ultimately we’re really close to being a success as a national team and having two European Championships under our belt so I think the coach knows it’s not about changing the whole system but finding different details that can really help us.

“He showed us that and it was great to see. It was something I’d not seen before and it was interesting to know that in certain moments of the game – it’s an interaction of talking to your mate when the ball’s out or someone is down injured and keeping people in the moment.

“You need that more than ever when things are going against you a little bit and you’re under a bit of pressure, talking to each other and keeping each other in the moment.

“It’ll be interesting to see how that improves over the next camps but it was definitely interesting to see and not something I was aware of.

“It shows an area that if we can improve, it could make a difference.”

Tuchel made his feelings on England’s Euro 2024 campaign painfully clear in a recent interview.

Asked if England had a clear playing style in that game, Tuchel told ITV: “Not last summer, no.

“The identity, the clarity, the rhythm, the repetition of patterns, 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.”

Quizzed on what the missing piece is, Tuchel replied: “Excitement. The view that people feel that’s the team to beat.

“That we arrive with a group to beat that we know already when we arrive, once we qualified, once we arrive that everyone knows this is the team to beat.”

To talkSPORT, Tuchel added: “This is a part of it. I think you can affect matches with the interactions when the going gets tough and you feel the momentum shifting then it’s even more important to interact, get the messages across and keep pushing and encouraging each other.

“We felt that in the English team each of the players went into a bit of a shell – they gave their best individually but stopped interacting on the level that they did, for example, in the semi-final.

“You don’t win matches with it but you can influence the momentum – get back the momentum, stop the momentum of your opponent and I think they’re aware of it.

“The way that they are with each other right now and it’s a process that we’ve started and I think it’s important to have this kind of extra layer in international football.”

England’s upcoming matches with Albania and Latvia are both live on talkSPORT.