Tuchel to follow Southgate's penalty blueprint at World Cup

England manager Thomas Tuchel has revealed that his team will follow Gareth Southgate's penalty shoot-out blueprint at the World Cup.

Tuchel's side face DR Congo in their first knockout game of the tournament on Wednesday, a scenario that opens up the potential for a penalty shoot-out.

The match from Atlanta at 17:00 BST is live on BBC One and the iPlayer.

Prior to Southgate's appointment as England manager in 2016, the national team had a poor record in tournament shoot-outs - winning just one of seven.

But under Southgate, England took their penalty preparations to a new level which resulted in the team winning three out of four shoot-outs.

Tuchel had confirmed the team would continue with the processes established by Southgate.

"The FA has a programme that has been in place for years and we follow the programme," Tuchel said.

"We are prepared. We have a process, the players have a process."

Despite the plan, Tuchel also added a note of caution.

"I think it is difficult to simulate the situation (of a penalty shoot-out)," he said.

"I heard Thierry Henry say he can't remember the walk from the halfway line to the penalty spot in his first penalty shoot out for France - you cannot train that."

Asked if the players will be given the option to take a penalty, Tuchel replied: "We know who takes them and we know the order but we don't know who finishes the game."

Southgate's meticulous planning saw a philosophy that was based on the belief that penalties were not a lottery and that clarity and preparation were key.

The team practiced penalties regularly and sought to replicate, as far as possible, the actual experience in training to help the process become more driven by muscle memory.

Southgate decided the penalty takers well in advance based on the training, and he strove publicly to take full accountability to take any blame away from his players.

He also assigned each player taking a penalty a "buddy" to greet them at the halfway line after the long walk back. This was designed to share the pressure.

Goalkeeper Jordan Pickford also had shoot-out notes from detailed research of the opponents' likely approach written on his water bottle.

In the Euro 2020 loss Southgate brought on Marcus Rashford and Jadon Sancho with seconds to spare for penalties. After that he felt that this didn't allow them enough time to be part of it, so he adjusted the approach to give penalty takers more time on the pitch beforehand.