Thomas Tuchel makes honest admission over England start after World Cup wake-up calls

England manager Thomas Tuchel has no concerns over his side ahead of next year’s World Cup after an underwhelming start to life in the Three Lions hotseat

Thomas Tuchel has insisted England will be ready for the World Cup – but admitted he must improve.

Tuchel confessed it has been a “big challenge”, he is adapting to the job and he is “far from perfect” after England were given two major wake-up calls in the space of four days. The humiliating defeat by Senegal and their unconvincing win against World Cup minnows Andorra has set the alarm bells ringing about England’s chances next summer.

But Tuchel says the job is not as easy as the army of armchair fans think but England must stay calm as he stressed they will definitely qualify and have a year to get better.

The England boss said: “We need to get better. I need to get better. There’s still a long way to go. Next week is not the World Cup. It’s in one year and we’ll be smarter at the next World Cup qualifier.

“I think it’s very important now we stay calm and stay together. I feel this togetherness between the players and the staff from all of us. It’s very important we remind ourselves this is needed if we want to get better.

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“It’s just a learning curve. The job looks always easy from the outside. There are always millions of football coaches who have an answer and better ideas and I’m far from perfect and far away from that I think I do everything right.

“It is a big challenge, I knew this before. I adapt to international football, I adapt to selecting camps, how to influence team and staff in a short period of time, which is then very intense.”

Tuchel won his first three games without conceding a goal but England were poor against Andorra and were thumped by Senegal.

That made the England boss admit that the start to his £5m-a-year job to win the World Cup has been far from ideal.

Tuchel added: “I want to win every match. So it’s not perfect. But I still stand by the decision to select this team and see these players in these combinations and take the responsibility for it.

“If you know me, then you know after a loss I will never say yes it’s a good start. Never. I will never allow that to myself.

“With a job and building an atmosphere and building a group and being a leader it’s about more than just results but of course I’m judging myself also on results.”

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