England boss Thomas Tuchel will play his “best team possible” against Andorra tomorrow and not keep his big-hitters fresh for Tuesday’s potentially pivotal game in Serbia.
The Three Lions have made a positive start to World Cup qualifying, at least from a results perspective, with wins over Albania, Latvia and Andorra.
The performances have been largely underwhelming, however, typified by the 1-0 win over tomorrow’s opponents when they met in Barcelona in June.
Serbia are expected to be England’s main challengers for top spot in Group K and the midweek trip to Belgrade represents the biggest hurdle for Tuchel’s side to overcome as they target a place in next summer’s finals in the United States, Canada and Mexico.
No experiments from focused Tuchel
The German has no intention of resting the likes of Harry Kane, Declan Rice and Jordan Pickford at Villa Park and says he will go full strength.
After confirming captain Kane will play, Tuchel said: “There is no balance, the competition is on and it is World Cup season.
“We have a condensed camp and that means we will start with the team that we trust and the best team possible and we will manage the second game. We will not do it backwards.
“We will not get caught up in experiments and everything that counts is today and tomorrow and then we will do our assessment after the match to see who is available.
“The players will start to play two matches a week after the international camp and I do not see a problem why they can’t start that one week earlier and play on a Saturday and a Tuesday.”
Stones ruled out for England
John Stones won’t be available for either game and has returned to his club but, bar the Manchester City centre-half, Tuchel has a full squad at his disposal.
“Unfortunately John Stones just left [the camp], he came with minor muscle issues to the camp and did not progress as we thought and hoped he would so he left the camp this morning because we will not take the risk with him, not against Andorra or Serbia,” added Tuchel.
“Everyone else is available, we had 21 players yesterday in training and 21 players today in training and we just need to make sure everyone is available for tomorrow.”
Tuchel is hoping for a more energetic display than in the reverse fixture when a Kane goal separated the teams.
Andorra will again attempt damage limitation and Tuchel conceded that approach brings challenges.
“I did not like the structure [against Andorra] as it was not ideal and that is down to me,” he admitted.
“We made it too easy for Andorra to find the moments to close us down and to find the moments to slow our game down and we will find new solutions to break down the block a bit easier.
“We always have to balance our expectations because Andorra is a well drilled team, I know it maybe sounds a little silly but that is the way it is, they know what they are doing after 8-10 years with the same coach.
“It can feel a little like chewing gum to break a block down like this but we have to play with more energy and more enthusiasm and I’m sure we will.”
Newcomers have impressed Tuchel
With the likes of Jude Bellingham, Bukayo Saka and Cole Palmer injured and Kyle Walker, Phil Foden and Trent Alexander-Arnold not selected, there is a new look to this England squad.
Elliot Anderson and Djed Spence were handed their maiden call-ups and Tuchel is pleased with how the players have gelled this week.
“The group has impressed me,” he said. “The energy, the quality and the attitude within the group [has been good].
“I’m very happy with how they have welcomed the newcomers and I’m happy with how the newcomers have presented themselves both on and off the pitch.
“It is not the moment to speak about individuals, everyone is doing good and it is a really good atmosphere.”
