After England defeated Andorra 1-0 at Villa Park on Saturday, Thomas Tuchel stated: “We’ve learned a lot and I’m glad for the players. Now we will prove a point in Belgrade [against Serbia].”
Despite coming off the back of a fourth straight competitive win as England boss, the atmosphere around the Three Lions felt somewhat flat, and in need of a statement win to alight his tenure.
Tuchel’s first match back in March saw them defeat Albania 2-0 at Wembley, but only after a 77th-minute Harry Kane goal made the game safe. A more comprehensive 3-0 victory over Latvia followed it, with Reece James, Kane and Eberechi Eze on the scoresheet.
The window in June, though, prompted questions for England’s new coach. The Three Lions struggled away to Andorra in a match they only won 1-0 and entered half-time level.
Three days later, a lacklustre display resulted in a 3-1 friendly loss to Senegal. After that reverse, Tuchel said his players were “a bit frozen” and “not active enough”, as England slumped to just a third non-competitive defeat since 2017.
While that much-changed side reverted to a more familiar line-up for the visit of Andorra last weekend, England still struggled to break down a side they sit 170 places above on the FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking. A Christian Garcia own goal broke the deadlock after 25 minutes, before Declan Rice made sure of the points in the second half.
Tuchel was, once again, frank in his assessment of another victory where England failed to excite against a side many thought they would beat handsomely. His side “missed the little moments to accelerate the game”, as 83 per cent possession yielded only 11 shots.
While England went into their bout away to Serbia on Tuesday evening boasting a perfect points tally and a spotless defensive record, it felt like a potentially campaign-deciding fixture. A trip to Belgrade posed the nation’s biggest test in Group K, but was also an opportunity to extend their lead over the No2 seeds in the pool to eight points.
With their boss wanting his side to prove a point, England started brightly and took the lead in the 33rd minute, as Kane headed home a Rice corner.
Following the recent Andorra win, Tuchel stated his side needed to score a second goal earlier to give them more “freedom”. He got exactly that in Belgrade as, just two minutes after Kane’s goal, Morgan Rogers flicked a ball around the corner for the onrushing Noni Madueke to burst into the box and dink home.
For the first time of Tuchel’s fledgling reign, England had netted two before the break, but they weren’t done there.
Ezri Konsa stole in seven minutes after the restart to smash in a third. A Nikola Milenkovic red card just under 20 minutes from time opened the game up further, with Marc Guehi prodding home almost immediately. Marcus Rashford capped a five-star display in added time from the penalty spot.
For Tuchel, the result showed what this England side are capable of, and confirmed what he sees behind the scenes.
“I’m more than happy for the team,” he told the England website. “We had an excellent week from start to finish in which they proved what I see every day in this camp, and that makes me very happy.”
Guehi, fresh off the back of scoring his first international goal, described this as the “standout” performance from Tuchel’s early days in charge, and it’s not hard to see why.
England peppered Serbia’s goal with 24 shots – their highest number in a match on foreign soil since June 2016 – with half of those on target. At the other end, Guehi and Co continued to keep an air-tight rearguard, as they afforded Serbia just three shots and none on target. Of sides to have played more than two qualifiers, they are the only one to remain unbreached.
The performance in Belgrade, according to Tuchel, is the standard he expects as his side look to punch their World Cup ticket during October’s internationals.
“We started new, we started fresh after the first two camps,” he continued. “The first camp was very good, the second camp was so-so.
“We did our learnings and started new, gave the players clarity about their roles in the structure that we are playing. And from this, we gave them the responsibility to bring it to life, and they did excellent, so the credit goes to them. They did amazing. That’s the bar.”
