England manager, Thomas Tuchel criticised his squad for failing to “match our own standards” in their 1-0 win over Andorra.
Harry Kane’s 50th-minute winner saw England stay top of UEFA Qualifying Group K and on course for automatic qualification for 2026 FIFA World Cup, as the Three Lions scraped past Andorra on Saturday (7 June).
Tuchel post-match was “not happy” with the performance and in his preview for their friendly against Senegal tomorrow (10 June), he once again iterated that the team fell below the standards expected of them.
“We as a team simply didn’t match our own standards and like I said, I didn’t like the last ten minutes because I felt at the sidelines that we didn’t play serious enough to win it in the end and what we needed to do in a World Cup qualifier.”
Tuchel however spoke of his belief that the team is capable of handling and responding to criticism, as he defended his players for at least having “wanted” to be involved in the game at the end of a long season.
“We can handle criticism and I strongly believe that a group of football players can speak honestly to each other. I always include myself – it’s always a ‘we’ message that we try to give.
“Everybody wanted to be there and everybody wanted to be involved and everybody wanted to start and they wanted to play this game. We take our analysts from this and try to do better.”
Turning his attention to the Senegal game, he praised his team for their improvement within training, whilst there was a friendly atmosphere as the whole camp gathered to watch an epic five-and-a-half hour French Open Men’s Singles Final then Portugal’s Nations League victory over Spain.
“The attitude towards training, the attitude in camp and the commitment of the players was outstanding. What we did yesterday was excellent in performance and excellent attitude in training.
We watched tennis together and we watched football together. We’re ready to go again on Tuesday and we’re ready to have a good training session.”
Tuchel was asked about the prospect of Ivan Toney starting the friendly but he spoke of this camp having been a chance to “… get to know him as a personality and how he interacts with the group and what he can show us in training which is pretty clear what he can do.
“He’s a goal scorer, he’s a player that loves to play in and around the opponent’s box and preferably, in the box with one or two touches to finish the attacks off.”
The ex Chelsea boss consequently refused to give a definitive answer on Toney’s involvement as he instead put focus on their final training session, before he then decides on the starting eleven for the friendly.
“Let’s see what the game brings, let’s see what the demands are but has every chance to play like everyone else. We have one more training session and he did very well with the others yesterday and we have all the options.”
