Frozen” England: Tuchel and the Historic Defeat Against Senegal

Tuchel Acknowledges “Frozen” England Performance in Defeat to Senegal

England’s coach, Thomas Tuchel, admitted that the team felt “frozen” during the 3-1 friendly defeat against Senegal. Despite the loss, Tuchel insisted that there is no reason to panic, as the World Cup is still a year away. The match, played at Nottingham Forest’s City Ground, saw Harry Kane open the scoring for England in the seventh minute. However, goals from Ismaïla Sarr, Habib Diarra, and Cheikh Sabaly gave Senegal the victory, becoming the first African team to beat England. Tuchel made ten changes to the team that narrowly defeated Andorra the previous weekend. The English team was booed for the second consecutive time, despite trying to equalize in the final minutes with a goal by Jude Bellingham, which was disallowed for a handball by Levi Colwill after the VAR review.

This is Tuchel’s first defeat as England’s coach, after three consecutive victories in the World Cup qualifiers. The 51-year-old coach commented: “I’m not sure if we deserved a little more in terms of the result. We felt a bit frozen, not active enough for much of the match”.

“But we lost a test match, so there’s no need to panic. We’ve played three qualifying matches, we have nine points and we haven’t conceded. We will be competitive in September and we will go for two more wins, 100% we will”.

Thomas Tuchel

Tuchel added: “We know more now, we are smarter. It’s difficult at the moment. I’m the first one who doesn’t like and hates defeats like nothing else.” The coach continued: “We are not going to the World Cup next week, we are going in a year.” Tuchel also mentioned the expectations that come with success and the results obtained by the team, alluding to the previous stage under the direction of Gareth Southgate. “I feel how rivals face the matches against us, what it means for them to beat us and compete with us.” Tuchel’s defeat comes after criticism for the lack of rhythm against Andorra, which rekindles the concern that some players may feel inhibited when playing for their country.

Tuchel reflected on the reaction of the Senegal dressing room after the victory and compared the possible response of his own players. “I wonder: would my players be so happy and excited about it? Maybe because they demand more of themselves.” “We have to win, we have to win with style and we have to win comfortably, we have to beat everyone and it has to seem easy, we have to be exciting and everything mixed together seems to hold us back because I see the smile, I see the joy in training.” Tuchel concluded: “We have to win, we have to win with style and we have to win comfortably, we have to beat everyone and it has to seem easy, we have to be exciting and everything mixed seems to hold us back because I see the smile, I see the joy in training.”