Thomas Tuchel praised Elliot Anderson for an “excellent performance” on his senior international debut as England beat Andorra on Saturday.
The Three Lions opened the scoring midway through the first half when Christian Garcia put the ball in his own net, but were made to wait until the 67th minute to score again when Declan Rice doubled their lead.
Despite not turning their dominance into more goals, Tuchel said he was pleased with how his side played during the victory at Wembley, which keeps them top of Group K.
“I liked the performance,” the German told BBC Radio 5 Live. “It was a good performance, a solid performance against a low block. The second goal came too late to play with maybe 100 per cent freedom that is needed to score more. We created a lot of chances but didn’t convert them.
“We had to wait a long time for the second goal and then we had from the substitutions good energy and then we had the second goal and felt freedom. It was also a signal to the opponent that the game was over.
“In general with the effort and attitude I am totally satisfied and it was a much better performance than in June. It would have be deserved to win 4-0 or 5-0.”
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Thomas Tuchel singles out Elliot Anderson following ‘excellent’ England debut
In a surprise move, Tuchel handed Anderson his first start for England in order to see if he would be ready to feature in Tuesday’s qualifier against Serbia. The Nottingham Forest midfielder passed the exam with flying colours.
“That was the test for him,” Tuchel said. “We want to have all the options for Belgrade, we thought ‘let’s try today and see if he is ready’.
“To give him a debut in Belgrade would maybe be unfair because we expect an emotional game and emotional crowd. An excellent performance overall.”
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