Thomas Tuchel ‘impatient' for improvement with England

South Wales Guardian

5 hours ago

Tuchel will take charge of his fourth England game at the City Ground in Nottingham, where he will look to keep up his 100 per cent winning record since taking over as head coach in January.
England came under criticism on Saturday after they only managed to edge a narrow 1-0 World Cup qualifying victory over Andorra, courtesy of Harry Kane's 50th-minute goal.
Certain sections of fans made their feelings known at the break and full-time with boos and Tuchel was thinking about giving the players more freedom in their midweek friendly.
Asked when England would be playing the style of football he liked, Tuchel replied: 'I'm very impatient, which is not always a good thing.
'I'm always impatient because when you step out into the stadium and even if the fixture itself for the players is after a big season, after big finals, European finals, fighting for Champions League places in a big league, it might not be the most exciting fixture.
'But for me personally, once I step into a stadium, see the grass, smell the grass, see 7,000 English supporters there ready to go, I'm instantly expecting something from myself and from the players and it will be the same tomorrow.
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— England (@England) June 8, 2025
'Of course, I'm impatient and want to do better. We are thinking about giving the players a little bit more freedom in the structure – let's see.
'Tomorrow we face a more physical and demanding team. On paper it might not look as offensive as we were against Andorra but will give the players more freedom to express themselves and hopefully we see that on Tuesday.'
The Senegal game will give Tuchel another opportunity to look at his squad, some of whom have not played under his stewardship so far.
Tuchel admitted Saturday's performance did not match the standards he has been trying to set and announced there would be changes.
He added: 'We as a team didn't match our standards.
'I didn't like the last 10 minutes. We didn't play seriously enough to win it in the end and what we needed to do in a World Cup qualifier.
'Everything I say here I say to the players – why should I sugar coat? There is no harm done, we can have criticism and I believe a group of players in football can speak honestly to each other. I always include myself in that – now it's on us to do better.
'There will be some changes, I won't let you know how many but there will be. We want to reward players who kept their level up. We will see some fresh legs, new faces.'
One player who has not featured yet under Tuchel is Bukayo Saka. The Arsenal winger missed the German's first camp in March through injury and was not included in the squad on Saturday because he had only completed one full training session during the week.
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— England (@England) June 9, 2025
Saka said: 'It's been a bit of a frustrating year through injuries and (I'm) looking forward to tomorrow.
'After the last game of the season, I had a little strain. I was only able to do one or two sessions in the week so the manager said he'll leave me out and have me involved tomorrow.
'If I speak about Thomas, he has been quite demanding, intense on the pitch, but off the pitch relaxed and lets us enjoy ourselves and created a nice environment for all the players to enjoy.'