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Thomas Tuchel was hoping for more impact from Phil Foden - Danehouse/Getty Images/Alex Livesey
Thomas Tuchel warned his England players they must do better and singled out wingers Marcus Rashford and Phil Foden for criticism, despite getting off to a winning start as head coach.
Goals from Myles Lewis-Skelly and Harry Kane secured a 2-0 World Cup qualifying victory over Albania in Tuchel’s first game in charge at Wembley Stadium, but the German was far from satisfied.
“We can do better, we have to do better,” Tuchel said. “We started well, we had seven to eight minutes with 100 per cent ball possession with a lot of passes and high energy. Second half, I felt we were too slow and in general not enough runs off the ball to get behind the line.”
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Marcus Rashford was unable to reproduce the form he had shown at Aston Villa - Getty Images/Robin Jones
Rashford made his first England appearance for a year on the left, while Foden started on the right, but Tuchel made it clear that he expects more from the pair, who were replaced by Anthony Gordon and Jarrod Bowen.
Gordon suffered a hip injury towards the end of the game, which Tuchel admitted “does not look good”.
On Rashford and Foden, Tuchel said: “We hope for more impact in these positions. More dribbling and more aggressive runs towards the box. In general that was missing. The chances come from the little runs behind the line. There was a bit missing, they were not as decisive as they can be.
“I think both of our wingers who started were not as impactful as they normally can be, as they are normally in club football. At the moment, I’m not so sure why we struggled to bring the ball quicker to them and to bring the ball into more open positions to them. I’m not so sure why it took us so long.
“I think we lacked a bit runs off the ball, so it was too much passing, not enough dribbling and not enough carrying the ball and driving with the ball. Not aggressive enough towards goal. They trained very well and they were decisive in training, that’s why they deserved to start and they were good in the last weeks in their clubs. We will keep on encouraging them and make sure to create a structure for them to show their potential.”
On Foden specifically, who also came in for criticism from Roy Keane on ITV, Tuchel added: “We will encourage him to do what he does best, to go at defenders, to go into dribbling. We played him today from the right wing.”
Tuchel has made it clear that his target is for England to win next summer’s World Cup and will start preparations for Monday night’s qualifier against Latvia on Sunday after his players have been given a recovery day on Saturday.
Asked how much better his team will need to be, Tuchel replied: “We will get better, we will get more rhythm, I will understand the players better. Where do they feel confident, where do they struggle, why is it hard to find more runs and to find more aggressive movements into the very last third. From there, we will get better to implement a higher rhythm and look more dangerous, also in front of goal.
“But it’s step by step. It was a complicated opponent, they play an unorthodox style and, individually, we can have more impact from the wingers and we can play more diagonal through the gaps and not always around the block, but I need to have a look at it.
“We struggled to find chip balls and to understand the timing of the runs, but we will get better at this, I’m sure. We will have video sessions and find solutions for it [in time] for Monday.”
Arsenal defender Lewis-Skelly became England’s youngest player to score on his debut, aged 18 years and 176 days, and Tuchel said: “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.”
Lewis-Skelly added: “I’m lost for words. I am so grateful for the manager to put trust in me. I am so happy. The fans made me feel at home so thank you to them.”
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