“It makes no sense” – Tuchel names one aspect of England win over Latvia he was unhappy with

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“It makes no sense” – Tuchel names one aspect of England win over Latvia he was unhappy with

England manager Thomas Tuchel got off to a steady start with wins over Albania and Latvia in their 2026 World Cup qualifiers. The Three Lions sealed a comprehensive 3-0 victory over the latter yesterday to make it two from two for the German tactician.

Tuchel is the first permanent manager to win his first two competitive games in charge of England since Fabio Capello in September 2008. England have not been flashy, but they got the job done against a Latvia side that was difficult to break down.

England needed a free-kick from Reece James for the game to spark into life. The 25-year-old Chelsea captain curled in a brilliant effort to give the Three Lions the lead on his first start in almost three years.

Harry Kane doubled the lead against Latvia as he did in the game against Albania before Eberechi Eze scored his first goal for England after unlocking the defence with excellent mazy dribbling.

Despite the win and the overall performance, Tuchel was unhappy with one aspect of the game. He reiterated that they needed to up the tempo and movement, which they failed to do until late in the game.

Speaking to ITV, Tuchel said: “I guess (we were better). It was not an easy match. We had to unlock it. We had a good result. Created a lot from set-pieces. We needed a free-kick to unlock it, but, in general, I am happy with attitude and energy.

“There was better acceleration in the second half. We slowed the game down too much. It makes no sense to play without movement.

“The second goal we had acceleration. It came from one of the sixes, and we encouraged people to do it. We struggled a bit until the goal, but you also saw the goal gave us freedom, and everything felt a bit easier.”

Unfortunately, Tuchel and England have not met a top side they can test themselves against. Andorra and Senegal (June international break) do not offer the kind of threat the Three Lions will face in the latter stage of the 2026 World Cup.

England are still finding their mojo under Tuchel, but as he mentioned, they will need to play at a better tempo to achieve better results and take down giants like Argentina, Spain, Brazil, and France.

England’s next set of fixtures will provide further opportunities for Tuchel to refine his tactics and instil his high-intensity philosophy. While results have been positive so far, the true test will come when they face elite opposition capable of punishing them.

For now, it is two wins from two, but the road to 2026 remains long, and Tuchel knows there is still plenty of work to do.

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