“Biggest danger for ourselves”: Thomas Tuchel tears his own team apart
England head coach Thomas Tuchel has strongly criticised his team’s defensive play in their most recent outing against Spain.
Speaking at the press conference before Tuesday evening's second Nations League game against the Czech Republic, the Germany coach said his side above all had to cut out the serious individual errors.
"We made individual mistakes when we had the ball, especially in building play from deep. We must not repeat that," said Tuchel, warning: "Particularly at this level. We have to improve these things. Strangely enough, when we were in possession, we were our own biggest danger."
In the 2-3 defeat to Spain in the opener, two of the reigning world champions' goals came after serious individual blunders from the Three Lions' back line. For the 1-0, for example, Manchester City's centre-back Marc Guehi lost the ball while playing out from the back against Lamine Yamal, who ruthlessly punished the error and fired the visitors ahead in the sixth minute.
For the 2-2, England's defence again came up short, this time through Nico O’Reilly. The left-back, who is also under contract at Man City, needlessly played the ball straight to Dani Olmo. The former Leipzig man then eventually fed the ball on to Alex Baena, who scored the interim equaliser from around 16 metres.
How did England's press react to the poor performance?
England's press were equally scathing about the defensive display. "England find their DNA: Defensively Not Able," judged the Telegraph, while the BBC warned: "England surrender to chaos – but they need control to win the biggest prizes." According to the Sun, "Guehi's blunder and Kane's missed penalty" were chiefly responsible for the defeat.
On the basic "structure", though, Tuchel said he had still been satisfied, which was why after just one game he saw "no reason for concern yet". Against the Czechs, he expects a much more composed display at the back.
Following the defeat, Tuchel and England sit third in Group 3. Next up are the Czech Republic on 29 September and Croatia on 3 October, before they face the Czechs again in the return fixture on 6 October.
