Thomas Tuchel ready to let England off the leash against Senegal | OneFootball

Friendly in Nottingham offers a chance for attacking players to impress

The City Ground has been well accustomed to hosting fast-paced, well-drilled football this season, thanks to a Nottingham Forest team who stunned the Premier League to qualify for Europe. As England pitch up Trentside, they must not let the side down.

Thomas Tuchel’s side were so disappointing in Barcelona, a lethargic and confused performance producing only a 1-0 win against the nation ranked 173rd in the world.

Playing against a low block can be frustrating, but England ought to have unlocked the semi-professionals’ defence with much more ease than they did.

England laboured as they beat a stubborn Andorra side 1-0 to continue their unbeaten start to qualification for the 2026 World Cup

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The good news is that in facing Senegal, ranked inside the top 20, they know their opponents in Nottingham should come out and attempt to play toe-to-toe with them at times, leaving space to exploit and, hopefully, to entertain.

It is true that England have yet to sparkle since Tuchel took over, but it is equally true that the opposition so far has limited the extent to which they could. Albania, Latvia and Andorra all had the same game-plan: to contain and restrain England, rather than to take risks themselves.

This is why the meeting with Senegal, though a friendly, is an opportunity to impress, an opportunity England’s attacking stars must not allow to simply pass through their fingers.

Tuchel will unleash Bukayo Saka for the first time after the Arsenal man missed the March camp through injury and was left out against Andorra as a precaution.

If Saka can combine with Harry Kane, who the manager hinted may feature again, England could be in business. Indeed, when they faced Senegal in the last 16 at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, both players were on the scoresheet in a commanding 3-0 win.

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Tuchel flooded his starting line-up with creative players against Andorra and, just like when Gareth Southgate did the same in a 1-1 home draw against Hungary in 2021 and Lee Carsley the same in last year’s 2-1 home defeat to Greece, it backfired.

Tuchel has promised a more balanced line-up against Senegal, but insists his players will be given “more freedom within the structure” for a game he appreciates will be “more physical and more demanding” than Saturday.

Tuchel has also promised “new faces”, and that could mean a debut, potentially from the bench, for Chelsea centre-back Trevoh Chalobah. It may also mean a first appearance under the new manager for Ivan Toney, though Kane is likelier to start up front and Toney come off the bench.

Forest fans will hope their talisman Morgan Gibbs-White is handed a start on familiar turf, while Declan Rice is expected to come into the midfield, where he will be tasked with stopping Senegal at source while also getting England moving - crucially, faster than they moved on Saturday.

England know they cannot afford a morale-sapping defeat with the World Cup now just a year away.

Though Tuchel insists England should “absolutely not” have any inferiority complex, the performances of France, Portugal and Spain over the past week in the Nations League have set the standard and shown England just how many more gears they must find if they are to truly challenge next summer.