Thomas Tuchel was unhappy with England’s “freestyle” performance in the first half of their 1-0 win over New Zealand but the head coach was pleased with Jude Bellingham’s impact as a substitute in Tampa.
Harry Kane’s goal just before half-time was the difference in a forgettable encounter at Raymond James Stadium and there was plenty for Tuchel to ponder after his side failed to capture the imagination in their penultimate warm-up game before the World Cup.
“I’m OK with it,” was the German’s forthright assessment of England’s display. “I’m not super-happy about it. I like the second half more than the first half. We played more from our positions and that’s why we played with more speed and off the ball we played with a bit more bite. The first half we were out of positions and it was a bit too much freestyle.
“That slowed our game down and made it difficult for the counterpress because we were not in the positions that we wanted to be when we started attacking. That’s basically the story of the match.”
Tuchel explained that his “freestyling” comment mainly related to positional awareness. “We were lacking width so players were coming inside and narrowing ourselves down and slowing ourselves down and changing positions for too long,” he said. “We were taking crosses, a lot of long-range shots, normally not our style of play. We played a lot of long balls, we played a lot of long passes. That was not part of training in the last four days.”
There were other factors behind England’s lack of flow. They fielded different XIs in each half, the pitch was awkward and the heat was difficult to master. “We had one training in the sun and now this match felt really, really odd,” Tuchel said. “But it’s good that we’re exposed because that’s why we’re here. We wanted it that way and we need to get used to it because it will come at some point.”
Bellingham was handed the captain’s armband after replacing Morgan Rogers at half-time and the Real Madrid midfielder pressed his case to start in the No 10 role when England open their campaign against Croatia on 17 June.
“Jude has the decisiveness and he has the bite,” Tuchel said. “This is a key characteristic. You can see that he comes back from an injury and is full of energy and happy to be back on the pitch. He had his break, unfortunately, in a decisive part of the season. But you can see now that he is actually in a sweet spot. He comes back, he’s fresh, he wants to play and he’s in top shape.”
Kane’s 79th goal for England, who head to Orlando to face Costa Rica in their final warm-up game on Wednesday, underlined the captain’s importance to the side. “He’s always there to score,” Tuchel said. “It’s a decisive goal. Harry is in top shape and I think that when the pressure comes and the tournament starts, that will bring the best out of all our players.”
“Playing for England is my favourite thing to do,” Kane said afterwards. “I wear the shirt with immense pride, I wear the armband with immense pride, trying to set the right example for my team-mates, the staff, but also the fans and the country.”
“To be able to lead another group of guys into another World Cup is obviously a special feeling,” Kane added. “We go into it with high expectations … I feel as good as I’ve ever felt and it can’t come soon enough.”