No panic, but England 'not good enough', says Kane
NOTTINGHAM, UNITED KINGDOM: Captain Harry Kane has said that England must improve quickly if they are to challenge for next year's World Cup, following a 3-1 home defeat to Senegal in a friendly on Tuesday.
A first-ever loss to African opposition has put England manager Thomas Tuchel under pressure, just four matches into his tenure.
After labouring to a 1-0 win over minnows Andorra in World Cup qualifying on Saturday, Tuchel's 10 changes made little impact as Senegal emerged deserved winners in Nottingham, courtesy of goals from Ismaila Sarr, Habib Diarra and Cheikh Sabaly.
"Not good enough. We had moments, but things aren't clicking with or without the ball — we're not finding the right tempo," said Kane, who had opened the scoring with his 73rd international goal.
"We've lost that aggressive nature we used to have."
Former Chelsea, Bayern Munich and Paris Saint-Germain boss Tuchel was appointed to take England a step further towards major tournament success after back-to-back runners-up finishes at the European Championship.
Kane believes the team is in a transitional phase following Gareth Southgate's departure after Euro 2024, but stressed there is little time to get things right, with the World Cup just a year away.
"We're not going to panic, but we know we need to be better," added the Bayern Munich striker.
"There are new ideas, and new players coming into the squad who lack experience at international level. It's a mix of things, but no excuses.
"We need to find our rhythm quickly — the World Cup will come around really fast, so every camp is crucial now."
England are at least well placed to qualify, having won all three of their qualifiers so far against Albania, Latvia and Andorra.
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