Thomas Tuchel has given a damning assessment of England’s performance at the European Championship last summer, saying they lacked “identity” and “hunger”.
England reached the final last July but Tuchel, after succeeding Gareth Southgate, says there was a fear in the squad and no excitement during a campaign in which fans turned on the manager.
After qualifying for the knockout stages with one win in Group C, England defeated Slovakia, Switzerland and Holland before losing to Spain in the Berlin final. When asked by ITV whether England had a clear playing style last summer, Tuchel said: “Not last summer, no.”
Asked what was missing, he added: “The identity, the clarity, the rhythm, the repetition of patterns, the freedom of player, the expression of player, the hunger. They were more afraid to drop out of the tournament in my observation than having the excitement and hunger to win.”
Tuchel is preparing his squad to face Albania on Friday and Latvia on Monday in his first World Cup qualifiers and admits the squad he inherited lacked “excitement”.
“That people feel ‘that is the team to beat’ [was missing],” he added. “That we arrive with a group to beat, that we know when we arrive after qualifying that everyone knows this is the team to beat.
“We want to be open to adapt and this will start tomorrow.
“That was my feeling watching on TV, long before I knew I would be in charge. It was a pretty clear statement and I want us to play with a hunger to win and we want to implement the togetherness and joy to win, rather than the fear to lose.”
Tuchel has been given a good first impression of his squad after meeting up on Monday at St George’s Park.
“It is a crash course for me and learning about the rhythm of international football,” he said. “The players reminded me immediately in the first meeting about why I am so excited about this job. We have had very sharp training sessions with good energy.”
