'Not part of our training' - Thomas Tuchel critical of 'freestyling' England after narrow win over World Cup minnows New Zealand

Tuchel did not hold back in his assessment of England's narrow victory over New Zealand, expressing frustration with the team's lack of structure during the first 45 minutes at the Raymond James Stadium. While Harry Kane's goal eventually secured the result, the performance left the head coach concerned about his side's tactical cohesion heading into the tournament in North America.

“I’m OK with it,” said the former Chelsea and Bayern Munich boss. “I’m not super-happy about it. I like the second half more than the first half. We played more from our positions and that’s why we played with more speed and off the ball we played with a bit more bite. The first half we were out of positions and it was a bit too much freestyle. That slowed our game down and made it difficult for the counterpress because we were not in the positions that we wanted to be when we started attacking. That’s basically the story of the match.”

The primary source of Tuchel's irritation was the players' failure to implement the drills worked on during their training camp. He noted that the squad strayed into a style of play that focused on long balls and individual decisions rather than the collective patterns he has been trying to instil since taking the reins as the Three Lions' manager.

Detailing his complaints, Tuchel added: “We were lacking width so players were coming inside and narrowing ourselves down and slowing ourselves down and changing positions for too long. We were taking crosses, a lot of long-range shots, normally not our style of play. We played a lot of long balls, we played a lot of long passes. That was not part of training in the last four days.”

One bright spot for the Three Lions was the second-half cameo from Jude Bellingham. The Real Madrid superstar, recently returning from an injury lay-off, replaced Morgan Rogers and immediately improved England's tempo. Tuchel was quick to praise the midfielder's impact, suggesting he is finding his peak form just in time for the opening group game against Croatia on June 17.

“Jude has the decisiveness and he has the bite,” Tuchel explained. “This is a key characteristic. You can see that he comes back from an injury and is full of energy and happy to be back on the pitch. He had his break, unfortunately, in a decisive part of the season. But you can see now that he is actually in a sweet spot. He comes back, he’s fresh, he wants to play and he’s in top shape.”

Regarding his match-winner Kane, who bagged his 79th international goal, the coach said: “He’s always there to score. It’s a decisive goal. Harry is in top shape and I think that when the pressure comes and the tournament starts, that will bring the best out of all our players.”

The conditions in Tampa also played a role in the sluggish performance, with the intense Florida sun testing the players' physical limits. However, Tuchel viewed the struggle as a necessary hurdle, insisting that the squad must adapt to the environmental challenges they will face during the World Cup. England now head to Orlando for a final friendly against Costa Rica on Wednesday.

“We had one training in the sun and now this match felt really, really odd,” Tuchel admitted. “But it’s good that we’re exposed because that’s why we’re here. We wanted it that way and we need to get used to it because it will come at some point.”