Thomas Tuchel impressed by England attitude and vows they will ‘get stronger’ | OneFootball

Thomas Tuchel was impressed and enthused by England’s effort, attitude and willingness to adapt during his winning start to life in charge.

Having been announced Sir Gareth Southgate’s successor in October, the 51-year-old began work on New Year’s Day and on Monday ended his first camp with two World Cup qualification victories in four days.

Tuchel admitted he wanted more after opening with a 2-0 Wembley win against obdurate Albania on Friday and England responded with flashes of quality as Latvia were overrun 3-0.

There remain plenty of kinks to iron out on the road to next year’s World Cup, but the German head coach says watching them has helped him to get a greater understanding of his squad.

“We need this to learn from each other,” Tuchel said. “For the first time I coach most of these players, so I need to understand how they behave, what they’re like, how they behave under stress, what they do out of position, in position and out of possession and in possession.

“This is pretty normal overall and this is what I said to team. I’m very happy with the effort, the attitude and, of course, with the results because, you know, it’s not a lot to win here for us.

“We expect a win, everyone expects a win from us. But you have to do it, you have to put in a lot of work.

“Against Albania we conceded, I think, 0.1 xG (expected goals), it was 0.3 (against Latvia) and it does not come by itself because you see the quality if you give any opponent space.

“Nowadays in football it can always be an early cross, it can always be difficult moments, but we reduced it to a minimum with a lot of invisible work.

“The team is ready to put the effort in and we will get stronger from camp to camp.”

England continue their World Cup qualification campaign away to Andorra in June before welcoming Senegal to Nottingham Forest’s City Ground for a friendly in what should be Tuchel’s toughest test since taking charge.

The West African side sit 17th in the FIFA world rankings and will be more like the level of side England could face at next year’s World Cup than those they will have played up until that point.

Tuchel acknowledged the likes of Albania and Latvia, ranked 65th and 140th respectively, pose different problems to the nations they hope to face in North America, but progress is the only focus right now.

“I’m just focusing on what we have and to get the team to grow together and to build a strong group,” the England boss said.

“I think we’re on a good way because the players make the effort, which is the most important. The players are very proud to come to camp and play for England. This is good and from there we go.

“We cross the river when we’re at the river, so first of all full focus to the qualification.

“The next one comes in June and then comes the most intense period in September, October, November, where we need to be ready and that’s what we do step by step.”