Thomas Tuchel says he retains unwavering belief in England’s World Cup capabilities despite going through a “tough learning” experience a year out from their bid for glory.
Having kicked off his reign, and the road to North America, with a pair of Wembley wins in March, the honeymoon period came to a crashing end as the German coach’s side were booed for the second time in four days.
Tuchel’s men were jeered off after just edging past 173rd-ranked Andorra 1-0 in Saturday’s stultifying World Cup qualifier, which was compounded by an alarming friendly display against Senegal on Tuesday.
The City Ground witnessed history as England lost to African opposition for the first time, with the visitors, ranked 19th in the world, bouncing back from Harry Kane’s early opener to deservedly win 3-1.
“The result is absolutely not the result that we wanted, and we hate to lose, of course, but not everything was bad,” Tuchel said. “We had a lot of changes, playing against number 19 in the world with a lot of quality.
“You can see in the joy, the celebration of Senegal in the dressing room, on the pitch, what it means to them. This is what it is at the moment, so everyone plays against us like it is a knockout game, like it’s a cup final.
“We had a lot of changes, we had many players who don’t have so many caps playing together, because I wanted to see them in exactly these situations.
“It is the second camp, there’s a lot of learning going on for all of us. It’s in the moment a tough learning (experience) but, yeah, we need the same calm.
“It’s not what we expect from ourselves result-wise and in the moment we need to accept the criticism and get better.”
Tuchel feels England’s internal expectations are “holding us back at the moment a little bit”, pointing to the fact the side played with more freedom after going behind against Senegal in Nottingham.
That is one of a variety of issues the head coach has to look at with just four camps to go until he makes his World Cup selection – assuming there is no qualification collapse from a group that retains his confidence.
Put to Tuchel he has a plenty to mull over before Group K resumes in September with a home game against Andorra and tough trip to Serbia, he told BBC Radio 5 Live: “Yes, of course, and I will.
Defeat for the #ThreeLions against Senegal in Nottingham. pic.twitter.com/fzMJ6kew2u
— England (@England) June 10, 2025
“But the World Cup is not next week, and World Cup qualifiers we won all three matches, and we have two more in September.
“Players will have a break now and will be in shape, and then we meet again in the World Cup season. And of course I’m still confident.
“We need these kind of matches and to learn, get better, even me as a coach.
“It’s a hard learning today. I would have liked it the other way. It would have been possible, we had enough chances to win this match and from there we go. We take our conclusions and it will get by nature more competitive in September.”
