We have to do better: Thomas Tuchel urges England to improve on winning start

LONDON – Thomas Tuchel admitted that lacklustre England must “do better” after the Three Lions boss started his reign with a spluttering 2-0 win against minnows Albania on March 21.

The German had hoped to mark his debut with a dynamic display in their opening World Cup qualifier at Wembley.

But England struggled to deliver the wow factor he had demanded earlier in the week, when he claimed they were “afraid” to lose during their inconsistent run to the Euro 2024 final under predecessor Gareth Southgate.

Myles Lewis-Skelly repaid Tuchel’s faith as the teenage Arsenal left-back put England ahead with a composed finish in the 20th minute of his debut.

England captain Harry Kane then finally wrapped up the win with a clinical strike in the 77th minute.

But there were long spells of tedious sideways passing from the hosts as they laboured to prise open Albania’s massed defence, prompting Tuchel to concede they had performed well below his expectations.

“We can do better, we have to do better,” he said. “The opponent was hard to wear down as they defended in a deep block. But in the second half I felt we were too slow.

“In general we did not make enough runs off the ball to get behind them. We had some heavy legs. I felt we were a little bit tired. We will get better, we will get more rhythm. I will understand the players better, why do we struggle to get more runs in the final third.

“It is step by step. We will look at it. We will have video sessions and make sure we find solutions.”

Tuchel had urged England to emulate the intensity and attacking intent of the best Premier League sides rather than letting the fear of failure influence them as it had at times in Southgate’s eight-year reign.

Instead, he found that getting the team to change their ways will take more than a rousing speech.

The Three Lions topped 90 per cent possession in the first 20 minutes but had not created a clear chance until Jude Bellingham split the Albania defence and Lewis-Skelly fired home a low shot past Albania goalkeeper Thomas Strakosha.

Too often they opted for easy passes. England accumulated 437 passes in the first half, the most data analysts Opta say they ever recorded in any first half.

“We wanted to increase the rhythm and risk in the second half. But we were not disciplined enough in the structure. We tried to do too much individually, and it slowed our game down,” Tuchel added.

“You want to see an open match. I can understand it’s not the most exciting watch, but we still needed to do what was needed to do.”

Tuchel, England’s third non-British manager, also highlighted the lack of impact from wingers Marcus Rashford and Phil Foden as symptomatic of his team’s malaise.

“I think both of our wingers who started were not as impactful as they normally can be, as they are normally in club football,” said the German, who saw Newcastle forward Anthony Gordon suffer a hip injury that did not “look good”.

“They didn’t have the influence that we expected from them. We lacked runs off the ball and I need to review why it took us so long to get the ball to them. There was too much passing and not enough carrying the ball. We were not aggressive enough towards goal.”

As he looks ahead to the visit of Latvia on March 24, Tuchel hopes Lewis-Skelly’s milestone moment – the 18-year-old is the youngest player to score on his England debut – can serve as inspiration to his teammates.

“Amazing player. Amazing personality. He came into camp and showed straight away that it’s normal to fall in love with him. It is well deserved,” he said. AFP, REUTERS