Thomas Tuchel has spoken to Phil Foden and Marcus Rashford about poor display
Thomas Tuchel has spoken to Phil Foden and Marcus Rashford about their ineffective displays in his first match as England boss but stressed the pair retain his full belief.
Sir Gareth Southgate’s successor began his reign with a 2-0 victory against Albania at a sold-out Wembley, where Myles Lewis-Skelly scored on his debut before captain Harry Kane extended his record haul to 70 goals.
It was a winning start to World Cup qualification but Tuchel still wanted more, including hoping Foden and Rashford would be more “impactful” on the flanks.
“I think they know (what more I want from them),” head coach Tuchel said ahead of Monday’s qualifier against Latvia. “I’ve spoken to both of them, also in front of the group.
“They know that I appreciate the effort, I think especially off the ball.
“Marcus had a lot of runs when we had the ball where we did not see him, where we did not use him. He was a little bit unlucky maybe with the timing and from time to time we oversaw him.
“Phil is just maybe not finding the momentum at the moment that he can have but both of them are very positive, they have every right to be positive and know exactly what we want from them.”
Tuchel wants to provide them with more one-on-one situations and get them playing with the kind of confidence that had been lacking in Rashford’s game before he joined Aston Villa on loan from Manchester United.
As for Foden, he linked up with England on the back of a challenging campaign with Manchester City, having last season been crowned PFA Player of the Year and FWA Footballer of the Year.
The 24-year-old has rarely shone for England and punti Roy Keane said he “won’t have that problem coming up of where he wants to play because he won’t be playing” after Friday’s