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Thomas Tuchel has delivered a scathing assessment of England’s performance under Gareth Southgate at Euro 2024, saying they lacked “hunger” and “identity” last summer.
England fought their way to a second consecutive Euros final before losing 2-1 to Spain but Tuchel felt the side were afraid of losing and played without any excitement during a campaign in which Southgate faced fierce criticism from supporters and pundits.
The new head coach was forthright when asked by ITV whether he thought the team had a clear playing style before his appointment. “Not last summer, no,” said Tuchel, who takes charge of his first game when England open their World Cup qualifying campaign by hosting Albania at Wembley on Friday night.
Asked what was missing, Tuchel said: “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.”
The German believes that getting the excitement back into England’s play will be crucial. “That people feel ‘that is the team to beat’ [was missing],” Tuchel said. “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…
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