Roy Keane hit out at England after a miserable end to an underwhelming June international camp by saying “something is missing” from Thomas Tuchel’s side.
Having laboured to a 1-0 win over 173rd-ranked Andorra on Saturday, the Three Lions were beaten by African opposition for the first time in their history at the City Ground on Tuesday night.
Though Senegal’s 3-1 victory in Nottingham earned nothing more than pride, it dented England’s significantly given the manner of the performance from the hosts.
Tuchel named a much-rotated – though still capable – side with 10 changes from the win in Barcelona, but fringe goalkeeper Dean Henderson emerged as one of few to impress given the amount of work he was given to do by his colleagues.
England were booed off for the second time in three days having been soundly beaten on home soil, and though Keane urged the Three Lions not to panic, he questioned the character of Tuchel’s squad in their response to Senegal’s bright performance.
“Senegal played with freedom, enjoyment and a bit of quality,” Sky Sports pundit Keane told ITV. “They were gifted a couple of goals but the last one was excellent on the counter-attack.
“England, on the one hand you don’t want to overreact but the signs aren’t great. It’s been a bad couple of days for them. They had the dream start, go 1-0 up, made some good changes but it won’t be a good summer break for the manager.
“He’ll be concerned. We’re on the outside looking in, but there’s something missing. They don’t look like a happy group.
“Not in the sense of being disappointed with the result, are they all in it together? Is there that proper spirit in the group? I’m not so sure.
“England were off it in every aspect of the game, physically, mentally, hunger – every aspect of the game.”
Keane unimpressed with Walker over Senegal opener
Keane was particularly unimpressed with England’s reaction to the first two goals, singling out 96-cap Kyle Walker for his sluggish attempts to avert Senegal’s equaliser, as well as the defence’s general response to falling behind with the visitors’ second.
“If this is a young right-back starting out in the game, you’re thinking inexperience,” he said. “People talk about a lack of concentration, I think Walker is being lazy. He’s a vastly experienced player, and he can’t be bothered getting back in.
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Sky Sports’ Rob Dorsett gives his verdict following England’s lacklustre 3-1 defeat to Senegal that gave Three Lions boss Tuchel his first defeat in charge
“He’s on his heels. He’s had a difficult few months but for a vastly experienced player, you can’t be doing that.
“Both of the first two goals [England] conceded tonight, I don’t see them getting hold of each other. You don’t throw each other under the bus but you start shouting at each other, telling them to do their job.
“For the second goal, they are having a chat like they are in Starbucks. ‘Maybe I should have gone for that.’ Do your job! That is what good team-mates do. Do your job or we are in trouble.”
Tuchel defended his decision to select the out-of-form defender in his press conference, pointing to his previous international performances and his professionalism during the camp.
“It counts what he did in the first camp,” he said. “Both matches were good, he was a regular player for a long time at AC Milan then broke his elbow. He came back early and struggled to get that rhythm back.
“He trained at the highest level in camp, he took responsibility and helped everyone out and pushed the standards and the level. He deserved to play.
“I see the lack of rhythm clearly, in misjudgements in duels and anticipation, of course. That’s the nature of a June camp and a player who has not had every minute in his legs lately.”
Kane: England must improve quickly with World Cup on horizon
Captain and goalscorer Harry Kane struck a similar note of caution as Keane about overreacting given Tuchel has managed only four matches across two international camps since taking over at the turn of the year.
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Tuchel discusses Kyle Walker’s inclusion and Ivan Toney’s late cameo during their 3-1 loss to Senegal and insists that the Three Lions fans shouldn’t panic as the next World Cup looms
But even the normally upbeat skipper admitted things must improve quickly with next summer’s World Cup only five camps away.
“Again, it’s not really good enough,” he told ITV. “We had moments, but with and without the ball we’re not quite finding the right passes and tempo.
“We’re not going to panic but we know we have to be better. There’s some ideas which are new, some new players coming in who don’t have experience internationally.
“There’s no excuses, we have to find it quick. We’re not meeting for a couple of months, the World Cup comes round really fast – so every camp is really important.
“One-vs-one we’re losing duels, we’re losing that aggressive nature we’ve had. Again, it wasn’t good enough today.”
Tuchel ‘unsure’ what weight of England shirt means
The pressure associated with playing for England has long played its part as in the role dubbed the ‘impossible job’, with the Three Lions manager tasked with building a team which can play with freedom.
That has rarely come to fruition despite the number of high-profile names to sit in the hot seat down the years. Tuchel, though, questioned whether it was anything more than an inevitable side-effect of a side who have reached three semi-finals and two finals across the last four major tournaments.
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Back in March, ahead of his first England camp, Tuchel criticised Gareth Southgate’s approach at Euro 2024 – but was he right to do so?
“I’m not so sure what it means, the weight of the shirt,” he said. “I think the expectation comes from results and the success Gareth had with the group and England.
“England was a regular in semi-finals and finals, that comes with it. You feel how the opponent approach matches, what it means to them to beat us.
“I heard it, because my changing room was next to the changing room of Senegal. I asked myself if we would have celebrated in the same manner, being the first in the dressing room and screaming about beating England and knocking my fists on some boxes?
“Would the players have joined in or thought I need to calm down? I don’t think the players would be so happy or excited about it, because they demand it from themselves.
“Maybe the latest history brings with it that they think everything is normal, and we need to win in style, comfortably and beat everyone. It feels like that holds us down, because I see the smile, I see the liveliness in training and I tell you all the time I am excited about what I see.
“We’re missing that translation to the pitch. We had our best phase at 2-1 down and that shows me that maybe some players thought they nothing to lose any more, nothing to hold onto. Then we found gaps, found turns and found one-on-ones offensively.”
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