Thomas Tuchel claims one area of England’s performance against Latvia ‘made no sense’ – as he gives verdict on his second game in charge

Thomas Tuchel has claimed one area of England‘s performance against Latvia ‘made no sense’ as he analysed his side’s performance on Monday evening.

The Three Lions made it two wins from two under the German at Wembley, with a convincing if uninspiring 3-0 win against the world’s No 140 ranked side.

The likes of Harry Kane and Eberechi Eze were on the score sheet to help the hosts also make it two wins from two in World Cup qualifying for 2026, but they had just eight shots on target from 27 efforts on the night.

Overall, it was a successful first camp for Tuchel, who has made it known he intends to win the World Cup in 18 months’ time – but still wants more from his side.

He will not meet with his players again until June – when the domestic season is over. 

And he was pulling no punches with his assessment of the performance when speaking to ITV after the game, as he admitted his side ‘struggled’ at times and lacked in one key area.

The Three Lions beat the European minnows 3-0 in Tuchel’s second game in charge

Captain Harry Kane was on the scoresheet, netting his side’s second goal of the night

Tuchel was also full of praise for defender Reece James, who fired in a fine free-kick

‘I guess (we were better),’ he sighed. ‘It was not an easy match, we had to unlock it.

‘We had a good result, created a lot from set pieces. We needed a free-kick to unlock it, but in general I am happy with attitude and energy.

‘There was better acceleration in the second half. We slowed the game down too much, it makes no sense to play without movement.

‘The second goal we had acceleration, it came from one of the sixes and we encouraged people to do it, we struggled a bit until the goal but you also saw the goal gave us freedom and everything felt a bit easier.

It was Reece James who broke the deadlock for the Three Lions – a player who was playing for his country for the first time in two-and-a-half years due to injury struggles and falling out of favour under former boss Gareth Southgate.

The Chelsea captain fired in a fine free-kick in the first half, and Tuchel’s smile was wide when speaking about his defender post-game. 

‘I know Reecey and I know the foot and quality he has,’ Tuchel said. ‘He has every right to be proud and happy and satisfied.

‘He is in excellent shape, not so many games we not due to injury, he has had consecutive weeks in training, he looks sharp and the quality is not in doubt.’

On Jude Bellingham, who was substituted in the second half after narrowly avoiding a second yellow card, Tuchel said: ‘Was the first yellow a yellow? I’m no so sure

‘We were a bit lucky and took straightaway the decision to take him off.’