England manager, Thomas Tuchel was “not happy” with the Three Lions’ narrow win over Andorra to top 2026 FIFA World Cup’s UEFA Qualifying Group K.
Harry Kane’s 50th-minute winner from Noni Madueke’s low cross ensured that England stay top of their qualifying group in an otherwise awful performance.
“I am not happy with the performance, of course,” raged Tuchel in a post-match interview about the display “We can admit it is not what we expect from us. We need to do better. We have time to look at it in detail and address it clearly and directly to be better on Tuesday.”
Tuchel however was pleased with how they started the match on the dominant attacking front foot, which he described as “the only part” where he believed they could score before they dipped in the last 20 minutes of the opening half.
“We created a lot of half chances and a lot of set pieces and I had the feeling it was a matter of time we would score and keep on going.
“We lost completely the momentum [and] couldn’t get it back through the whole first half. We got a little bit of it back in the first 15 minutes of the second half and then ended up in a period that was by far not good enough.”
The ex Chelsea boss though was not amused with the second-half attitude once ahead – particularly in the last 20 minutes which lacked desire to be urgent in their play.
“I was most worried in the last 20 minutes because I did not like the attitude with which we ended this game. It felt almost like we have to play until the 93rd minute. I didn’t like the lack of urgency, I felt it did not match the occasion.”
Tuchel however found enthusiasm to praise Madueke for his performance as he considered the 23-year-old as the main player to had met his expectations, of which he admitted that only a “few” players had matched his pre-match hopes.
“He was maybe over the course of the match the most dangerous,” explained Tuchel. “I could feel his hunger, his desire and determination to do what was the plan to do. He was one of the few who met expectations.”