Thomas Tuchel admitted he was disappointed with an Arsenal player after England’s 2-0 win over Andorra.
Declan Rice’s header from an inch-perfect Reece James cross and an unfortunate own goal from Christian Garcia were enough to secure three points, though a more commanding scoreline was expected against the fourth-lowest-ranked European nation.
Thomas Tuchel believed there were more positives to take than negatives, insisting England carved out enough opportunities to win by a bigger margin, however there was an acceptance that some players didn’t quite perform at their best. Arsenal’s new signing Eberechi Eze was named as an example by the England boss; the midfielder lacked cutting edge in the final third.
Tuchel disappointed by Arsenal star
Deployed as a number 10 just in behind Harry Kane, Eze got in some great positions to register three shots on target at Villa Park. The 27-year-old wasn’t as innovative in possession as Tuchel hoped he would be, though, with not enough service provided for his attacking counterparts.
“I think Ebs had not quite the quality,” Tuchel explained during his post-match press conference. “He didn’t find the creativity that he found in training to free up spaces and to have maybe the surprising last pass to free up Harry (Kane) or Noni (Madueke) on the side. Marcus (Rashford) tried hard together with Declan (Rice), but it’s not always as easy as it looks.
“But I think, when we took the right choices in the right moments, we created chances and half chances. I think we created enough to find comfortably and much higher. It will come with time when we do things repetitively – the players will understand more where to maybe unlock it, when the moments are to take the risks.”
Elliot Anderson earns highest praise
From one midfielder to another, Elliot Anderson had a contrasting evening to Eze. The Nottingham Forest man, thrown in for an immediate bow after receiving his first senior call-up only last week, enjoyed a dream debut as he clinched the Player of the Match award in front of 39,202 fans in Birmingham.
It was a mature display from the ‘Geordie Maradona’, who looked as if he had made half a century of caps before this one. Anderson completed 107 of his 114 passes and he won two tackles. Anderson was only just short of breaking the record for the most successful passes from an England player in a single competitive match; John Stones managed 116 against Iran during the 2022 World Cup.
It could have been even better for Anderson, too, as he missed a glorious chance - worth 0.79xG - to cap his debut with a goal. Had that gone in, only the level of opposition would have denied Anderson a perfect 10/10 score in our player ratings.
Tuchel was thrilled with how Anderson got on and hopes the former Newcastle United star can kick on from here. “He’s just a very, very good football player,” Tuchel said. “He has the physicality, he’s a very mobile six. He loves to defend, he loves to put his body inside, he loves passing, he loves to break the lines.
“He’s just very mobile in his game. It was a pleasure to see. It was a bit of a nervous start to the week, which is also nice to see that not everything is normal for the guys. They’re still nervous to come to camp and are not afraid to admit it, but very quickly he adapted to the quality.
“We thought, why not give him his debut straight away? I think the team around him made it as easy as possible and he had a very strong performance.”
Continue Reading