his tenure.
After almost not beating the might of Andorra, Thomas Tuchel became the first England manager to lose to an African, as they were soundly and deservedly beaten 3-1 by Senegal, in another dismal display.
A tale of two teams. Senegal were the exact opposite of England at the City Ground in Nottingham. One team went forward with verve and intent, the other was England.
Senegal played like a team that was interested. England like a team that wasn’t that bothered and thought, “hey, it’s only Senegal”. The 10 changes from the side that scraped past Andorra, didn’t exactly stick their hand up and say “I should be a first choice”.
It was the visitors that started the brightest, Henderson in goal was more the busy before against the run of play England took the lead. England were being overrun in midfield, with Tuchel’s two from his 4-4-2 formation not coping with Sengal’s three but Eze won the ball, he squared it to Gallagher on the edge of the box, Gallagher’s miscontrol took it into the path of Gordon, whose shot was saved and spilled, for Kane to nip in for his 73rd England goal.
It was another lucky goal and bar the odd thing here and there, they didn’t put in another decent passage of play for nearly an hour.
Two games in this international break and Tuchel has started four different fullbacks and all have been failures. The first two had excuses, in being played out of position. That’s Tuchel’s fault. Picking the other two, who were playing in their positions, is also Tuchel’s fault.
Contrast compare. Sengal’s left-back Diouf and England’s. Every opportunity Diouf got forward and every time he got the ball, he immediately swung a cross in. A good cross, a dangerous cross. The only time Walker did anything immediately going forward, he put in a cross that Gordon should have scored from at the back post but didn’t. Other than that he just did his usual pass back routine. Funny watching him take a throw, knowing full well that he’s going to throw it back to the keeper but shouting at players further up the pitch.
Southgate had binned off Walker. Pep had binned off Walker, AC Milan have now binned off Walker. But here comes Tuchel to give him another chance, because he had a good training – more on that later. Roy Keane saying Walker was “lazy” makes you wonder if Roy hadn’t noticed before. He’s been lazy throughout his career.
Walker was lazy for the equaliser, when he didn’t track the scorer after Chelsea’s Jackson hooked the ball from going out of play, into the dangerous area. If one moment highlighted the approach of both teams to this game, it was this.
The go ahead goal again was a fullback’s fault. Skelly not knowing where to be, but then he’s always lost if he can’t do that illegal fob off with his arm – yes football is a contact game, but not with hands and arms – the Senegal is through untroubled in his run to goal, before putting the ball through Henderson’s legs. Henderson getting blamed for that, when he didn’t know if a shot of cross was coming. And there was plenty of Senegal players lining up to tap in a cross. Walker, hiding behind one of them, clueless to the other behind him.
The subs made a bit of a difference but were very telling when Tuchel took off Kane and didn’t bring a striker on. Toney left on the bench, not looking best pleased. Tuchel really bristled when asked after why he left it until three minutes until the end before introducing the striker. Acting like no one can read the time, when claiming it wasn’t three minutes.
You add that in with what he said about Walker, “having a good session” in training and you know Toney didn’t. But what someone does on the training ground doesn’t always match with what happens on the pitch, as Walker showed.
Saka cutting in from the right with only one intention, going for personal glory. More subs brought back the greed. Bellingham was in there, not looking to play anyone else in but to do it for himself. It looked like he had his moment, when bundling in a chance from a corner. But it was ruled out due to a handball in the build up, after VAR told the ref to have a look.
With the seconds ticking down England were fannying about. When they weren’t passing it sideways between themselves in their own half, they were doing very little to actually go about scoring. Then with a free-kick wide right, Madueke put in an awful ball, another sub Jones coughed up possession and Senegal were off. Five on three, with Walker last man. Walker hadn’t a clue what to do the perfect cross and it was 3-1. A well deserved 3-1.
Not effort. No creativity. No brains. They’re either playing how Tuchel wants, though he claims he want different, or they’re ignoring his instructions. Keane also said the squad looks “off”…