It’s simple to promote something when prospects are looking up, but currently, England is opting to embrace Thomas Tuchel’s focus on teamwork.

Come Thursday, it’s Wales, who won’t easily back down, even if the match is a friendly. Managed by Craig Bellamy, Wales promises a challenging opponent.

For England, Tuchel is facing the match without stars like Jude Bellingham, Phil Foden, and Cole Palmer. Jack Grealish will be absent as well, relaxing at home; only Palmer is sidelined by injury. Harry Kane, having practiced on his own yesterday, will not participate due to an ankle issue.

Can major teams succeed in significant matches without their top players? Though we won’t find the answer facing teams ranked 30 and 137 globally, Tuchel aims to stockpile proof to back his claims nonetheless.

Recently, unity has become a central theme. Steven Gerrard, the ex-England captain boasting 114 caps, shared his podcast insights this week on the difficulties encountered during his time representing the national team.

The sentiment of “We didn’t like each other and it showed” was echoed in Gerrard’s tales of his tenures under Sven Goran Eriksson, Fabio Capello, and Roy Hodgson.

Current England defender Marc Guehi listened intently as this version of England was put to him yesterday. Suffice to say, it’s not an England he recognises.

‘There isn’t any animosity between anyone here,’ the Crystal Palace defender said. ‘We are, as we put it when we’re here, “Team England”. Whatever has gone on in the past or whatever is going on in the season, you leave that behind.

‘You come here, these are your best friends, these are your team-mates, these are the guys that you go to war with for however long you’re here.

‘The atmosphere is always great when we’re here. The FA, previous managers and the players themselves, the staff, have done a fantastic job at creating an atmosphere.

‘But then again, it comes down to the players to actually buy into that. I think every single person has done that brilliantly, because I enjoy so much coming here and I know the rest of the lads do too.’

The concept of international bonding is always an interesting one. Not all international teams have needed it. Spain, represented largely by sworn enemies of Real Madrid and Barcelona, won a run of trophies between 2008 and 2012 without much cordiality.

On the whole, it is accepted that it helps even if the idea of players fresh from weekly Premier League battle coming together as friends three or four time a season at St George’s Park may not always seem as simple as it sounds.

On occasion it has boiled over. Joe Gomez and Raheem Sterling, for example, played in a heated Liverpool and Manchester City game six years ago and then convened with England the next day and promptly had a fight in the canteen.

Asked whether relations between England players endures outside of the confines of international meet-ups, Guehi was revealing.

‘A lot of the boys do keep in touch,’ he said. ‘Whether it’s myself and some of the other lads, or whoever. You know, friends off the pitch as well as rivals on it, or team-mates on it.

‘The fact that we’re kind of rivals when we go back to clubs but you’ll see each other at some point and catch up then. A lot of the lads definitely keep in touch all the time.’

This will be the central defender’s 26th England cap and the partnership between him and Aston Villa’s Ezri Konsa is Tuchel’s preferred one with next summer’s World Cup in mind.

Quietly spoken and considered, he is somewhat reflective of an England group short in alpha males. The players selected to speak to the media this week have pushed back hard against the narrative that Bellingham’s presence threatens team spirit but Tuchel’s own messaging on the issue has been clear through his actions.

A personal opinion is that it makes no sense to approach fixtures in a World Cup season without your most talented players. Tuchel insists there is ‘no proof’ that games can’t be won without them but having top players on the field undoubtedly increases probability.

Tuchel stood in the dressing room after the 5-0 win in Serbia last month and thanked his players for their work and told them they were in pole position to be selected next time. He wasn’t lying. The only change he has made from that squad – Bukayo Saka for Noni Madueke – has been driven by a knee injury suffered by the latter.

The England manager has placed an awful lot of faith in what he saw that night in Belgrade. He believes he witnessed a team clicking in to gear, a corner being turned in terms of application, performance and attitude.

It’s worth recalling here that the game before that saw the same players labour to victory against Andorra at Villa Park. Prior to that was a defeat to Senegal and an even less impressive win against the Andorrans in Barcelona.

So, yes, that win in Serbia is responsible for a heck of a lot already, for good or for bad. Guehi said on Wednesday that to him the World Cup feels like a long time away.

It really isn’t though. England can’t afford many missteps between now and next May. Tuchel’s team really must speak up for their manager over the next five days.