Thomas Tuchel: Learning is tough right now but there's no need to panic

Times

a day ago

Thomas Tuchel insisted that there was no need for 'panic' to grip his England tenure after his side were booed off having been swept aside by Senegal on Tuesday night.
The England head coach watched his players surrender an early lead and ­then described them as being 'a bit ­frozen' as they succumbed 3-1. The crowd at Nottingham Forest's City Ground were quick to vent their frustration.
Having urged his side to play with a smile after the underwhelming 1-0 World Cup qualifying victory over Andorra on Saturday, Tuchel ended with a grimace as a positive result remained out of reach.
Despite the demoralising nature of the friendly loss and the dreadful defending that scarred it, Tuchel called for a sense of perspective a year before the World Cup in the USA, Canada and Mexico.
'We lost a test match so there is no need to panic,' Tuchel, who had seen Harry Kane give England an early lead, said. 'We have three qualification games, we have nine points, we have not conceded and we will be competitive in September and we will go for two more victories, 100 per cent.
'We know more now, we are smarter. It is tough at the moment. I am the first one to dislike and hate losses but we don't go next week, we go in one year and I think by nature it will get more competitive in the selection process and in the demands for players to be nominated and to be with us in September, October, November because we are in a World Cup season. This comes by nature.
'We are not happy with the result. It is tough learning at the moment. We hate to lose.
'Again we were a bit frozen. Not active enough. It was very easy how the goals were given away. We need to ­defend better. We conceded two very cheap goals.
'I thought we were more lively when we were 2-1 ­behind. I saw what I see on the training ground. Before we were not brave enough to pass through the gaps.' The game erupted in acrimony at the final whistle, with Jude Bellingham booting the ball across the pitch, kicking out at a drinks cooler and then pursuing the fourth official only for Kane to ­intervene.
Bellingham had been denied a late equaliser at 2-1 when VAR adjudged that Levi Colwell had first used his arm to bring down Noni Madueke's corner.
'It took us a long, long time to get a foot into the duels,' he said. 'When we did we straight away could get dangerous counterattacks, but we were second-best for a long period in the first half.
'We wanted to feel the quality of a top-20 team. It is the right thing to test, the right thing to challenge. Of course we challenge ourselves a lot and I ­demand a lot of myself. We wanted to play better against Andorra, and better today.
'Not everything was bad today but it is a learning situation.'
Ivan Toney was given a late run-out as a substitute and Trent Alexander-Arnold was overlooked entirely, with Kyle Walker playing 90 minutes despite clearly lacking rhythm.
'It wasn't just three minutes [Toney came on after 87 and there were five of added time],' Tuchel added. 'He is a specialist. He's the strongest for the phase of balls into the box. [He is] a presence in the box. It took a while longer to get him on than we would have liked.'