Sports

Changes possible but Thomas Tuchel keeps England options open

Thomas Tuchel says he is likely to make some changes for England’s second World Cup qualifier against Latvia on Monday.

Tuchel’s reign as England boss got off to a winning start with a 2-0 victory over Albania on Friday night.

The German could rotate his squad with the likes of Levi Colwill, Marc Guehi, Morgan Rogers and Dominic Solanke pushing to be involved.

Newcastle winger Anthony Gordon is already ruled out due to a hip injury, and asked if there would be changes to his starting line-up, Tuchel said: “Yes and no.

“We have reasons to let all of them play again and say ‘let’s do better’, but we also have reports from the physical department of some concerns.

“So let’s see. It’s only the second day after the match and we need to be cautious.

“Maybe it will be a mix between both. We have two or three players who felt their legs after the match but let’s see. We have quite some time.”

Debutant Myles Lewis-Skelly scored England’s opening goal against Albania and all-time top scorer Harry Kane grabbed the second.

The performance received mixed reviews and afterwards Tuchel admitted his new side could do a lot better.

But speaking on Sunday, the German added: “No one will be dropped from a performance point of view but if we have fresh legs available we are not afraid to do it.

“The game was a little bit strange. When the opponent tried to slow the ball down, it’s sometimes difficult to maintain the level of focus and excitement.

“There were ups and downs. We lost a little bit of structure. We were more vulnerable to counter-attacks in the second half. But focus on the positives, we have a first win, a well-deserved win and a clean sheet against an unorthodox opponent.

“We are clear favourites in the next match. I think it will be difficult to predict what Latvia will be doing.

“We were able to push Albania back. I think we need mentally to adapt to that role and then implement our structure on the ball.”

Declan Rice revealed the impact Tuchel has already had in his short time in charge.

“The theme of the whole week has been the energy. It’s been really, really good,” said the Arsenal midfielder.

“Obviously it’s my first time working with Thomas and he’s really energetic. He cares so much about his players.

“We have one goal, to get to the World Cup and then get the second star on the shirt. I think he’s been massive on that. We’re all on the same page and we’re all together in that.”

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