Roy Keane not impressed by Phil Foden and Masrcus Rashford as England beat Albania.
Phil Foden started on the right against Albania (Bradley Collyer/PA)
Tuchel took charge of his first game against Albania on Friday, when debutant Myles Lewis-Skelly justified his selection with the opening goal and a man-of-the-match display.
England’s all-time top scorer Harry Kane completed a 2-0 victory as the road to next summer’s World Cup got off to a winning start that England look set to continue when Latvia, ranked 140th in the world, head to Wembley on Monday.
Manchester City’s Foden has endured a challenging season with his club and that form continued on the international stage, with former Ireland captain Keane criticising his performance on ITV Sport.
"I think he might be lacking in confidence, and he’s definitely off it, his club form is not great, but we know he’s got that quality,” said Keane.
“Usually when Foden’s at his best, you’re sitting there going, something’s going to happen, even when he cuts in, he’ll pick a pass out, get a shot away, he’s done none of that tonight.
“And every time he gets the ball now, I’m looking at him going, ‘I don’t expect anything from Foden at the moment’.
“Wherever he’s playing, you affect the game, you can affect the game in different ways, and he didn’t do that tonight.'
“Listen, Foden won’t have that problem coming up about where he wants to play \[out wide or at No 10\], because he won’t be playing. That’s a bigger problem for him.”
Keane broadened his criticism of England’s performance to include Marcus Rashford, who also struggled on his return to the team.
“You’ve got a new manager, you want to make a good impression, and Rashford and Foden certainly didn’t do that,” he added.
“If you’re one of them attacking players, you come off the pitch and you’ve dominated a game like that against a poor Albanian team, and you’ve not scored a goal, you’ve not had a shot on target, you’ve not tested the goalkeeper, you would be disappointed, because you’re there to affect games.”
Tuchel hinted Foden and Rashford were "not as impactful" as he would have wanted and hinted he will shake up his team for the Latvia game.
“We will encourage him to do what he does best – to go at defenders, to go into dribbles,” Tuchel said of Foden.
“We played him from the right wing. I think both of our wingers who started were not as impactful as they normally can be, as they are normally in club football.
“I’m at the moment not so sure why we started to bring the ball quicker to them, to bring the ball in more open positions to them. I need to review the match. Not so sure why it took us so long.
“I think we lacked a little bit runs off the ball, so it was a bit too much passing, not enough dribbling, not enough carrying the ball and driving with the ball and not aggressive enough towards goal.
“They trained very well, they were decisive in training. That’s why also they deserved (to start). They were very good in the last weeks in their clubs.
“We will keep on encouraging them and make sure to create a structure for them that they can show their potential.”