This is not, it must be emphasized, a criticism of Tuchel, whose possession in his childhood.
It is simply a confirmation that providing the exciting type of trip that the German coach wants to serve for England fans is easier to say that in this type of games with this team, and there is no quick solution to change that.
If Tuchel thought that we could quickly fly the web that he believed that he had gathered in Southgate’s England, then his first two games in charge will have been an sobering dose of reality.
So far there has been little to distinguish the Tuchel team from what was before.
For long periods it was a deadly performance of boring England.
Tuchel, in some aspects, has made a cane by his own back with his deeply little flattering review of the three lions efforts in Germany last summer and his change of change.
England did some of the things that its new boss demanded. He wants more touches in the opposition box, and that figure doubled more than his first game against Albania, increasing from 34 on Friday to 69 against Latvia.
They put 36 crosses on a night they enjoyed 73.5% possession, but the final product was poor. Marcus Rashford improved slightly in his performance against Albania, but Jarrod Bowen could not have the desired impact as a replacement to fight Phil Foden.
England sent 21 of those crosses in the first half, most in a game since Poland played in October 2013 and delivered 25, but their only game of goals from the free kick of James.
In a sign of the complete domination of England, they had 569 successful passes in the middle of Latvia compared to the 26 of the visitors in their own, and must be disappointed in such overwhelming statistics were in relatively scarce results.
Tuchel wants to give England a new identity while trying to cross the psychological barrier of a team almost to the winners, but, as very often in the past, the acid test will really come only when (barely it is if) qualify for the 2026 World Cup.
The qualification must be a formality of a group that also contains Andorra and Serbia, so the first high quality opponents that England are located will be when they reach the World Cup.
It is a situation in which they have been before, and then they have found themselves wanting when it matters.
