England’s Lacklustre Performance Leaves Tuchel with Much to Contemplate Ahead of World Cup

Thomas Tuchel is set to challenge England’s underperforming players in Tuesday’s friendly against Senegal, acknowledging that their lacklustre 1-0 victory over Andorra highlighted the need for improvement ahead of the World Cup.

Tuchel’s team faced jeers during Saturday’s World Cup qualifier in Barcelona, struggling to impress against a nation ranked 173rd globally.

Harry Kane’s goal in the 50th minute marked Tuchel’s third consecutive win since taking charge.

However, following subpar victories against Albania and Latvia in March, the Euro 2024 runners-up fell short of expectations in a disappointing performance that left Tuchel lamenting his players’ uninspired attitude.

“I was not pleased with the last half hour at all; we lacked everything you’d expect in a World Cup qualifier,” Tuchel remarked.

“There’s plenty of room for improvement. Right now, this is a learning phase, and we are more knowledgeable than before.”

“We’ll discuss this openly and directly and strive for better performance.”

Ranked 19th in the world, Senegal will provide the toughest challenge for Tuchel since his appointment at the start of the year.

With limited international breaks remaining before the 2026 World Cup, Tuchel plans to keep the pressure on his players, despite their apparent fatigue after a demanding domestic season.

“I won’t forget, as there are few matches left,” he stated.

“It’s crucial to analyse our performance thoroughly and to show the players in detail what we didn’t like, using video sessions to highlight areas for improvement, what our standards should be, and what we executed well.”

‘We got away with it’

Kane has netted in all three of Tuchel’s matches, with his latest goal pushing his England tally to 72.

However, the England captain took little satisfaction from his achievement, echoing Tuchel’s sentiments that the Andorra match should serve as a wake-up call.

“It’s up to us now to analyse, reflect, and learn from this because the conditions will be quite similar next summer – dry pitch, warm weather, humid,” he remarked.

“We struggled with quality and appeared fatigued both physically and mentally. We were fortunate to escape without punishment from a couple of half-chances they had. Ultimately, it wasn’t good enough.”

Tuchel aims for England to adopt a more dynamic style reminiscent of the exciting football played by many Premier League teams.

However, he acknowledges the difficulty of implementing his tactics with so few opportunities to work closely with the squad.

“Absolutely. This is only our second camp. I believe we can all perform much better, myself included,” he asserted.

“It takes collaboration, but we need to improve at breaking down opponents that sit deep. We’ve faced a 5-4-1 formation three times now, but that’s no excuse.”

“The lack of counter-pressing, the inability to win the ball, and a lack of aggression in duels are basics in football.

If we neglect these aspects, it turns into the type of match we just witnessed—unattractive and lacking the quality we aspire to display.”