'Dull England show Tuchel's search for thrills will be no quick fix'

BBC News

24-03-2025

Thomas Tuchel wants England's brave new era to bring thrills and excitement, but he has swiftly discovered that if you have seen one England qualifier you have almost seen them all.Tuchel has been firing off positive messages since delivering a damning verdict on England's Euro 2024 campaign under predecessor Gareth Southgate, which he claimed lacked intensity, identity and hunger.During the routine 3-0 win over a Latvia side ranked 140th in the world, it was clear Tuchel's intended transformation will not be a quick fix - because this was more of the same labouring old England seen so often under Southgate.The Three Lions, as they have done so many times before, finally overcame gallant but limited opposition after struggling for long periods to make the most of their superiority, too often pedestrian and too often failing to transform good positions into goals.There was the traditional Wembley backdrop of paper aeroplanes - with the first hitting the turf after 14 minutes as opposed to 33 against Albania - the Mexican wave and the thousands of empty seats well before the final whistle.And there were even the old frustrations that have surfaced before in this type of attritional fixture, with Jude Bellingham - who was already on a yellow card - fortunate referee Orel Grinfeld took a lenient view of his reckless second-half challenge on Raivis Jurkovskis.England got there in the end, as they always do in these qualifiers, with Reece James illuminating his first international start since September 2022 with a superb free-kick seven minutes from half-time to break the deadlock.Latvia, unsurprisingly, barely left their half after the break, and England put the result beyond doubt with two goals in eight minutes.Captain Harry Kane scored his 71st goal in 105 international appearances with a simple tap-in after 68 minutes and substitute Eberechi Eze added the hosts' third with a deflected shot.All very routine. All very England when it comes to qualifiers - as it should be against a country ranked between Burundi and the Dominican Republic on Fifa's list.
This is not, it must be stressed, a criticism of Tuchel, whose tenure in its infancy.It is simply a confirmation that providing the sort of thrill ride the German coach wants to serve up for England fans is easier said than done in these types of games with this team, and there is no quick fix to change that.If Tuchel thought he could quickly blow away the cobwebs he believed had gathered on Southgate's England, then his first two games in charge will have been a sobering dose of reality.There has been little, so far, to distinguish Tuchel's team from the one that went before it.For long periods this was a deadly dull England performance. Tuchel, in some respects, has made a rod for his own back with his deeply unflattering review of the Three Lions' efforts in Germany last summer and his talk of change.England did do some of the things their new boss demanded. He wants more touches in the opposition box - and that figure more than doubled from his first game against Albania, increasing from 34 on Friday to 69 against Latvia.They put in 36 crosses on a night when they enjoyed 73.5% possession, but the end product was poor. Marcus Rashford improved slightly on his performance against Albania, but Jarrod Bowen could not make the desired impact as a replacement for struggling Phil Foden.England sent in 21 of those crosses in the first half, the most in a game since they played Poland in October 2013 and delivered 25 - but their only goal game from James' free-kick.In a sign of England's complete domination, they had 569 successful passes in Latvia's half compared to the visitors' 26, and must be disappointed such overwhelming statistics resulted in relatively meagre results.Tuchel wants to give England a fresh identity as they try to cross the psychological barrier from a nearly team to winners, but - as so often in the past - the acid test will only truly come when (it is hardly if) they qualify for the 2026 World Cup.Qualifying should be a formality from a group that also contains Andorra and Serbia, so the first high-quality opponents England are likely to meet will be when they get to the World Cup. It is a situation they have been in before - and then been found wanting when it matters.
This a problem for Tuchel to solve and one he will be well aware of.But the 51-year-old will have enjoyed the spectacular strike from James, a player he greatly admires and who was a vital part of his Chelsea team that won the Champions League in 2021.Kane's second was also right up the head coach's street, with pace injected into play as a move reached the Latvia box by Declan Rice, whose drilled cross only needed a simple finish from his captain.What will cheer Tuchel is that he has plenty of raw materials to work with.Bellingham, for all the impetuosity that could - and should - have seen him sent off on Monday, is a generational talent, while Arsenal's Myles Lewis-Skelly once again demonstrated he is a natural at this level.There was more good news from The Hawthorns where another Gunner, Ethan Nwaneri, excelled in a goalscoring performance for England Under-21s - and the return of a third Arsenal player, Bukayo Saka, will offer an added attacking dimension.Tuchel's task is to find the "X Factor", the missing ingredient, to get England's men over the line they have failed to cross since the 1966 World Cup.Two wins from two games is a satisfactory - and totally expected - opening to the Tuchel era, but now he must discover the missing link to enable him to deliver the exciting England side he has promised.And on the somewhat tedious evidence of his first two games, Tuchel will have plenty to exercise his mind between now and the next international camp in June.