“No excuses” as England “play with fire” in World Cup qualifier, says Tuchel | OneFootball

England’s hard-fought 0-1 win over Andorra left a bitter taste in the mouth of Thomas Tuchel, who revealed he “didn’t like the attitude” of his players during the closing stages of the match.

After a closely contested first half at RCDE Stadium, Harry Kane broke the deadlock and while that could have opened the floodgates, England “lacked the seriousness and urgency that is needed in a World Cup qualifier,” Tuchel said in his post-match press conference.

“I think we played with fire. I didn’t like the attitude in the end, and I didn’t like the body language. It wasn’t what the occasion needed,” the German explained, revealing that he noticed “a lack of energy, a lack of quality in these moments in the end of both halves.”

He accepted that player fatigue could have played a part in the performance, but insisted that there would be “no excuses” because “the window is the window.”

“We can and have to do better for the 90 minutes. We created an xG of 3 and underperformed with one goal. Normally in games like this you overperform the xG because of greater individual quality. But we didn’t. We lacked the energy. It’s the most honest thing to admit it and not talk around it.”

The 51-year-old, who has now become the first Three Lions manager to win their opening three games, also praised Andorra’s resilience. Ranked 173rd in the world, and having not scored in over two years, Tuchel commented that “they defended very disciplined in a low block as we expected.”

“The longer it’s a clean sheet, the more confident they became,” he added, noting that he felt England “were good enough to win the game, and we’re happy about that, but they did well.”