Thomas Tuchel hammered his England stars for ‘playing with fire’ in Saturday night’s lifeless World Cup qualifying win over Andorra, saying they were fortunate they did not get burned in Barcelona.
Harry Kane scored the second-half winner, though the Three Lions were booed at half-time and then again at full-time. England supporters also took aim at Keir Starmer, chanting that the prime minister was a ‘****’ and a ‘w****r’ in between expressing their frustration with the football on show.
While Tuchel said he did not hear those songs towards Starmer, he admitted he could not blame the fans for jeering the performance, likening it to the favourites in a cup competition arrogantly acting as if they had no reason to worry.
‘I think in the end, we played with fire, honestly,’ Tuchel said. ‘I felt it almost like in a cup game where the favourite does not smell the danger. I didn’t feel a team that was aware it was only 1-0 in a World Cup qualifier. Step by step the energy dropped when we needed exactly the opposite.
‘But we couldn’t deliver and so we got away with a win. I think we still deserved the win and we’ve got three wins and three clean sheets. We will not stop encouraging them and make clear after we have a proper look at the match what we want from them.
Thomas Tuchel lambasted his side’s ‘attitude, body language and lack of urgency’ vs Andorra
The Three Lions were only able to beat the 173rd-ranked side in the world 1-0 on Saturday
The travelling England fans booed their team off the pitch in only Tuchel’s third game in charge
‘I didn’t like the attitude how we ended the game. I liked the attitude how we started, the first 25 minutes, but I didn’t like the last 25. I think we lacked the seriousness and the urgency that is needed in a World Cup qualifier. I think we played with fire. I didn’t like the attitude in the end. I didn’t like the body language. It was not what the occasion needed.’
England will face Senegal in a friendly at Nottingham Forest’s City Ground on Tuesday next, and Tuchel added: ‘The booing is OK. First of all, the support was amazing, unbelievable, it created a fantastic atmosphere for a match like this. When I came out, straightaway I was excited.
‘They were underwhelmed and not happy with our performance, especially with how we ended the first half. I don’t think we can blame them for that. We cannot even blame them for how we ended the match.’
On the singing against Starmer, he added: ‘I did not hear anything about abusive songs or chants. If it happened, it’s of course not acceptable, but I did not hear it.’
England captain Harry Kane added: ‘It’s not one that many will remember and we had good spells but we take the three points and move on. Noni (Madueke) was a constant threat and we need more of that. We have amazing players and we need players who are going to take on players and keep doing it. He played really well. We need to be better, for sure.’
