THOMAS TUCHEL urged “amazing” England to use their 5-0 demolition of Serbia as the standard they must maintain on the road to the World Cup.
Tuchel’s side finally delivered the first eye-catching performance of the German’s reign as Serbia were swatted aside in Belgrade.
Goals from Harry Kane, Noni Madueke, Ezri Konsa, Marc Guehi and Marcus Rashford moved England closer to qualifying for next year’s World Cup.
The Three Lions sit top of Group K after five successive victories, with 13 goals scored and none conceded.
They need a maximum of five points from their last three games to book their spot at the tournament in the United States, Canada and Mexico.
Criticised for a series of lacklustre displays in his first five matches, Tuchel was relieved to see England produce the kind of vibrant show he had promised after succeeding Gareth Southgate.
“I told you! Yes, you need a bit of trust in what we’re doing. We tell you what we feel, and we see what we see in camp. I don’t lie to you. If I didn’t see it I would say we’re not there yet,“ he said.
“We’ve only had three weeks of training and that’s normally half a pre-season. It takes time and in between there are weeks of pause.
“Today is a statement victory against a difficult opponent in a difficult environment. There was no negative attitude on the pitch. For me, it was teamwork in it’s purest form.
“Then we played football to a high level. The players did excellent. The credit goes to them, they did amazing. That’s the bar.”
After successive runners-up finishes in the European Championship under Southgate, former Bayern Munich and Chelsea boss Tuchel has been tasked with winning England’s first major trophy since the 1966 World Cup.
England’s drab 2-0 win against minnows Andorra in Birmingham on Saturday had raised questions about Tuchel’s ability to extract the maximum from his talented squad.
– ‘We made them look average’ –
But their impressively mature effort in the hostile Rajko Mitic Stadium provided evidence that Tuchel is on the right track, although much sterner tests will lie in wait.
“I’m more than happy for the team and staff. We had an excellent week from start to finish. We’ve just proved what I’ve seen every day in this camp and this makes me very happy,“ Tuchel said.
“We played with a lot of intensity, a lot of work in teamwork and we showed our quality.
“We kept Serbia to no shots on target and you have to put in a lot of work that you do not get praise for. It is good to watch.
“I’m very sure that everyone, staff and players feel what this means. This camp was the benchmark.”
England captain Kane has thrived since Tuchel took charge and his 74th international goal set the tone for the rout in Belgrade.
Kane was impressed with the way England took the attack to Serbia right from the start.
“I spoke a lot yesterday about how we wanted to play, being on the front foot and being aggressive, and I think we showed our level today,“ he said.
“We scored five and made it look comfortable. Serbia are a good team, and we made them look average tonight.”
Hitting back at the critics of England’s underwhelming form prior to the goal spree against Serbia, Kane added: “We felt we had a good performance a few days ago.
“I know it wasn’t the performance that everyone was excited about, but we did what we had to.
“We can be proud of ourselves. It has been a great camp and we are in a great position.” – AFP
