We weren’t happy – Thomas Tuchel won’t pull punches when criticising England

Thomas Tuchel says England cannot shy away from criticism if they are to make the improvements required to win the World Cup.

After Gareth Southgate called time on his eight-year reign having lost a second European Championship final, the Football Association turned to German coach Tuchel in a bid to take them that last step.

Tuchel’s contract takes him through to the end of next summer’s World Cup, where England will be among the favourites but have plenty of work to do judging by Saturday’s forgettable 1-0 win against minnows Andorra.

Boos from unimpressed fans greeted the half-time and final whistles in Barcelona, where the frustrated head coach spoke frankly about his unhappiness at the side’s lack of “seriousness and urgency” as they “played with fire” towards the end.

Asked if it was a risk being so publicly critical of the team, Tuchel responded: “What risk? You were in the stadium. What should I tell you? That we played a good match and are happy.

“The risk is only that you exaggerate it and make something of it that was not there. Everything I said I said already to the team. There is no harm done.

“We were not happy and no single player will be happy with what we showed today. Why would the coach be? And why would we be shy of saying so?

“If we want to get better, we first need to address that we were not happy with the end of both halves.”

Put to Tuchel that some players can be thin-skinned, the England boss said: “I didn’t name a single name.

“We do this as a team. It’s always a ‘we’ and I didn’t like how the way we ended the match and the way we ended the first half. I didn’t like the attitude or the energy level and how that dropped.

“I liked the beginning of the team. It always includes me. Everything I say I tell the players.”

Tuchel feels he has a “top group” full of players whose quality and character he loves – a side that will attempt to lift the mood by heading into the summer on the back of a promising performance in Tuesday’s friendly against Senegal.

The visitors are ranked 19th in the world, 154 places above Andorra, and will be the toughest test since the 51-year-old took charge, but the honeymoon period could end if they play badly at the City Ground.

“I always feel pressure as I am not happy with myself,” Tuchel said when that was put to him.

“The biggest pressure comes from myself. We have three wins and three clean sheets and we have a friendly match on Tuesday. I have felt more pressure than that.”

Tuchel is expecting a “good test” against Senegal and will look to balance rotation with the need to extract everything from their limited time together, saying: “We worship every training and we worship every match.”

Ivan Toney, called up for the first time since joining Saudi side Al-Ahli, is among those pushing to start after Ollie Watkins withdrew through injury and Harry Kane completed Saturday’s win against Andorra.

“We have opportunities and we will see some changes but I am not going to give you names now because I don’t know the line up,” Tuchel added.

“It’s not the time now to talk about Ivan Toney because now we just played a game and we must analyse the game.”