Thomas Tuchel hopes England can learn from their 1-0 loss to Japan but admits the setback ‘hurts’.
A poor performance from England saw the Three Lions beaten in their final warm-up fixture before Tuchel names his squad for this summer’s World Cup.
In the absence of Harry Kane, who withdrew with a minor injury, an experimental England lineup featuring Phil Foden as a false nine failed to convert their chances. England had 70% of the possession and 19 shots on goal without scoring at Wembley.
A first-half goal from Brighton winger Kaoru Mitoma handed Japan the win, as the visitors punished England with a rapid counter-attack.
Tuchel said the defeat was ‘painful’ for his team but outlined his hope that England can learn from their experimentation. He added that any side in the world would miss the number of key players that England were without, particularly record scorer Kane.
“For sure, it hurts,” he said.
“It’s always painful to lose, and to lose at home hurts a lot. I think we got punished for not a lot, for one counter in the first half.
“We need these matches. It’s a tough opponent. We had several players not available, so it was a new formation again. We tried stuff, and we need to learn.
“Why would Argentina not rely on Messi, or Portugal not rely on Cristiano Ronaldo? That’s totally normal.
“Key players left camp for us, key figures, and we saw that a bit. We lacked the punch in the last 20 metres, maybe in both matches.
“We encouraged the players. It was difficult for us. I think today in the first half, we played way too narrow. We didn’t want that, but we made the pitch ourselves way too narrow.
“In the second half, we had more width. We were more dynamic over the wings, using our full-backs more, which we wanted to do the whole time. We took more risks and then had chances but couldn’t convert.”
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