By Martyn Herman
LONDON (Reuters) – Thomas Tuchel finally ended his long wait to take the reins as England coach for the first time and duly began his tenure with a 2-0 victory over Albania on Friday but got a quick reminder of the conundrum the high-pressure job throws up.
The German was appointed in October and officially began his 18-month contract in January and crucially he earned his first three points on the road to the World Cup finals.
There were positives, most notably a stunning debut for teenager Myles Lewis-Skelly whose 20th-minute goal was the standout moment from the Wembley clash.
Harry Kane’s record-extending 70th England goal made the result safe late on, but Tuchel sounded like he will be doing lots of analysis over the next few days to work out why his side made heavy weather of seeing off Albania despite dominating.
“OK-ish.
Difficult opponent. I knew before it can be hard to create chances,” was Tuchel’s assessment of the Group K clash, before which he opted not to sing the national anthem.
“They (Albania) came here to play in front of 80,000-plus at Wembley.
They did everything to make life hard. We struggled to implement a high-rhythm.
“Second half, we lost confidence in our structure and everyone tries it on their own and it becomes slower.
I can understand it’s not the most exciting watch, but we needed to do what we needed to do.”
England topped 90% possession in the first 20 minutes of the match but had not created a clear chance until Jude Bellingham split the Albania defence and Lewis-Skelly fired home a low shot past Albania keeper Thomas Strakosha.
Tuchel said on the eve of the game that he wanted his players to play with the aggression of a Premier League team but too often his players opted for easy passes.
England accumulated 437 passes in the first half, the most data analysts Opta say they ever recorded in any first half.
Tuchel, however, seemed unimpressed and appeared to aim some criticism at Marcus Rashford, making his first England appearance for a year, and Phil Foden — both of whom were substituted in the second half.
“I think both of our winners who started were not as impactful as they normally can be, as they are normally in club football,” Tuchel, who became England’s third foreign coach when he was chosen as Gareth Southgate’s successor, told reporters.
“I need to review why it took us so long to get the ball to them.
I think we lacked a little bit of runs off the ball. Too much passing, not enough dribbling and driving with the ball.
“In the last 20 metres we failed to find solutions and needed to take more risks with balls behind the lines.”
It could be a similar situation on Monday when Latvia will likely ‘park the bus’ at Wembley in England’s second qualifier and Tuchel is expected to rotate his squad.
“I think we had some heavy legs so we will take the opportunity, of course, to check who’s available,” Tuchel said.
“We have some good players on the bench who came on today or did not even play.
So we have all options. I did not look into the Latvia folder yet, but what we have to take care of and what they play. This will start, maybe tonight but I trust in all the 22 players and the four goalkeepers.”
(Reporting by Martyn Herman; Editing by Christian Radnedge)
