Thomas Tuchel has asked his England players to play with a smile on their face in Tuesday’s friendly against Senegal in Nottingham and lift the gloom caused by the weekend’s grim victory against minnow Andorra.
Just a year away from the start of the World Cup in America, Tuchel’s England are struggling under the weight of familiar problems with some players failing to bring their club form to the international stage.
Tuchel insists that England should ‘absolutely not’ have any kind of inferiority complex after seeing heavyweights Portugal, Spain and France play out thrilling Nations League matches in recent days.
But the England head coach also said: ‘I see the structure in our game, I see the control, I see the amount of passes.
‘But we can do better. We can be more fluid. We can be more exciting which since a longer time I feel has been a bit of a problem.
‘I feel we are a bit stuck. I see us train with a smile but not play with a smile.‘It’s difficult to prescribe freedom, to say “play with freedom” and suddenly everyone plays with freedom.
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‘I think we need to get the balance right. We need to get the organisation right, and we need to get the players right together — that they just feel it naturally and that it’s easy, that it comes easy for them to connect. We haven’t done that yet.’
England are top of their World Cup qualifying group after three clean sheet wins against Latvia, Albania and now Andorra. But the national team’s football has been on a wane for too long with suggestions once again that the England shirt is starting to way heavily once again on too many.
‘Yeah, I know what you’re saying,’ Tuchel added.
‘I heard it many times, but what does it mean?
‘Like a heavy shirt? Do we expect too much? Don’t we feel the freedom? Do we not feel the same freedom to express ourselves that we feel like in the clubs? ‘Does Phil [Foden] feel free in his club? Is he really free in his club to express himself? Since many months, he struggles also there.
‘So maybe it’s also a normal thing that’s a bit of up and down. The normal season in football is not there anymore. There’s no more preparation time, there’s so many competitions, so it’s not easy.
‘I do feel we need to increase the rhythm and find the right players that can play together.’
Tuchel will make a host of changes at the City Ground with players such as Crystal Palace goalkeeper Dean Henderson and Forest’s own Morgan Gibbs-White expected to feature. There is, though, unlikely to be a start for reserve striker Ivan Toney with captain Harry Kane likely to retain his place.
But Ivan Toney is likely to find himself on the bench after being an unused sub against Andorra
With Harry Kane, who scored his 72 international goal in Barcelona, leading the line once again
Tuchel’s squad watched Sunday’s Nations League final — won by Portugal on penalties against Spain in Munich — together at their St George’s Park base. But the 51-year-old wants his players to keep their belief high.
‘Our level would increase immediately once we were in Munich at the stadium and playing against Portugal or Spain,’ Tuchel said.
‘We would rise to the occasion. This will come. It will bring out the very best in us.
‘We shall not develop a complex because there is no need for it. Spain qualified for the final four with a very lucky win over the Netherlands. Everyone is beatable.
‘Do we have all the answers at the moment? No. But also it’s not necessary to have all the answers now.
‘We’re figuring it out, we’re taking everything into account. I think the best way to do it is to keep going and encourage everybody. We will try some stuff in this game and once we feel that we have it, we will get going.’
