Tuchel offers encouraging message for Aston Villa player with critique | OneFootball

It was far from a perfect performance for England, and the Aston Villa starters had two different days on the pitch against Albania. In truth, the gameplay didn't bode well for either Marcus Rashford or Ezri Konsa. With the hosts at Wembley enjoying a majority of the ball and facing a low block with all eleven bodies, it was tough to form a good impression.

In the few moments, however, that something was asked of Konsa, the defender stepped up. For Rashford, on the other hand, it was a mostly frustrating evening. Outside players enjoy having space and room to operate from their respective positions. This wasn't going to be easy to come by against Albania.

Teams are often content with passing the ball around and keeping possession for the sake of it. During these types of matches, when the ball is worked up to the final third, there needs to be someone willing to take on an opposing defender. Beating a man one-on-one either leads to an immediate goal-scoring chance for himself or another defender out of position to more easily find a teammate.

Usually, though, passing around the outside or just crossing into a solid block just leads to frustration. Off-ball movement, moreover, usually needs to pick up to catch a miscommunication or poor switch-off by the opposing backline.

Clear message for Aston Villa player

Thomas Tuchel spoke on this aspect specifically after the game. As someone who called Rashford back into the lineup, it's safe to say that he is a fan and supporter of the current Aston Villa attacker. The German manager, after all, is giving him a second life after an international exclusion. Still, the England boss shared a clear point of improvement that he'd like to see moving forward:

This speaks to both sides of the attack, obviously, but Rashford in particular should see these comments from Tuchel as a positive. Rashford has the clear green light from Tuchel to show his creativity and skill. The winger is being asked to take chances and create opportunities.