Thomas Tuchel reveals different England role for Harry Kane than under Gareth Southgate | OneFootball

England boss has also insisted he will not allow “any exceptions” when it comes to high-pressing approach

Thomas Tuchel has revealed he not allow any player to be an "exception" to England's high-intensity pressing game but believes Harry Kane has the legs to play his football -- though the German does not want his captain to continue "dropping deeper".

Kane is England's record goalscorer and has captained the side since 2018 but there have long been questions over whether he has the skillset to press from the front for the kind of progressive, club-adjacent side Tuchel is expected to build.

The Bayern Munich forward, 31, was dropped by interim head coach Lee Carsley for a Nations League game against Greece in November, with his inability to press in the same way as Ollie Watkins cited as a factor.

Tuchel, though, is confident Kane can live up to the "highest expectations" and added that he does not want to see the striker dropping into midfield.

"First of all, he contributes goals," Tuchel said, when asked his view of Kane. "That is what he does for years at the highest level. This is unique and this is what he built his career on.

"We have the highest expectations when we bring him in. He is our captain. Highest expectations means leadership, leadership in the group.

"He will maybe never be the most outspoken person, never be the most emotional leader out there on the pitch but in the group we have highway expectations he has to live up to and of course, in terms of intensity in the game, pressing, closing down players, we will not take any exceptions of the rule.

Harry Kane worked under Thomas Tuchel at Bayern Munich

AFP via Getty Images

"He has to live up to the highest level but I know Harry now as a top, top professional who does what is asked of him and he does it now with Bayern Munich. They play with a very high press - they almost man-mark.

"I saw him here for England dropping deeper and deeper in his game and this is maybe not exactly what we want with Harry and when I worked with Harry we have laid out the plan for what we wanted for him and you can be sure he followed the plan and does what is needed so making him drop as a No.9 is not a problem but it should be not as a No.6 position.

"Dropping as a No.10, turning and shooting from range and delivering from outside the box is not a problem but then we need to make sure that around him is enough speed and high position to take advantage of the space."

Under Tuchel's predecessor Gareth Southgate, England twice finished runners-up in the European Championship and reached the semi-final and quarter-final of the last two World Cups, but there was criticism of their conservative playing style.

Tuchel says he wants to replicate the approach of the best Premier League sides by bringing up-tempo pressing football to the national team.

"We have to increase the intensity in our games, the intensity, the rhythm - I want to have more touches in the opponents’ box, I want to have more ball recoveries in the opponents’ half," he said. "I don’t see any reason why we shouldn’t play a high press in the next matches, this is common nonsense, it happens every time in the Premier League, it happens every three days, the players are exposed to that so why not bring it [to England]?

Thomas Tuchel wants his England side to play at a high tempo

Adam Davy/PA Wire

"It’s easier said and done because every team presses a little bit different, every team attacks a little bit different so we need to align our ideas.

"This is our job to make it quickly understandable, to make it easier to transform onto the pitch, on and off the ball, and still give the players the freedom to express themselves. This is the job and this is what I mean, we want to see glimpses of the Premier League in the national team."

Dominic Solanke will be Kane's understudy for this month's World Cup qualifiers against Albania and Latvia at Wembley after Watkins missed out on Tuchel's first squad with a knee injury and Ivan Toney, who is now playing in Saudi Arabia, was overlooked.

"We had the question of do we pick Dominic or Ivan?" Tuchel said.

"I have just much more evidence and more observations live in the matches from Dominic so straight away I made the choice.

"It will be important in the coming weeks to actually visit Toney to watch a game there live and watch maybe training live, to get more of a feeling for him.

"He was on the list, it was a purely sporting decision for Dominic in the end, a very close decision but a sporting decision. It had nothing to do with the fact he plays in Saudi Arabia or that we don’t trust the level of the league there."