Thomas Tuchel insists he can handle the pressure and the scrutiny of the England job and indeed the questions that come with it.
It’s perhaps just as well, because the fall-out from four dismal days of international football will now follow him through the summer.
If England were dire in beating Andorra 1-0 on Saturday, they were worse in losing here. The flaws were different this time but ran deep and wide and obvious.
England as potential World Cup winners a year from now? That just sounds like a very bad joke.
Porous and disorganised at the back, England were unable to control the direction and rhythm of this game in midfield. Senegal were simply better in those key areas. At times the African team were lovely to watch.
As for Tuchel and his attacking options, the verdict on Ivan Toney appears to be in. Overlooked at the weekend, the Saudi-based forward was given just a handful of minutes at the end of this game. For periods of the second half, England played with Morgan Rogers and Eberechi Eze up front. Remarkable.
Senegal picked up a deserved victory over England at the City Ground on Tuesday night
Thomas Tuchel suffered his first loss as England boss after another awful performance
England were booed off by their own fans on a humiliating evening for the Three Lions
At the end, as the boos tumbled down from the City Ground stand, Jude Bellingham chased a fourth official to the tunnel and lashed out with his foot at a case of water bottles.
The great refereeing crime? To disallow what appeared to be a Bellingham equaliser with five minutes left. The handball from Levi Colwill that had preceded it was clear to see, though.
Bellingham simply needs to grow up. He is no leader. Equally, he is the least of England’s problems right now. It’s the football that is killing them.
They led here after seven minutes, Harry Kane the scorer. But Senegal played the better football and looked hungrier and more athletic. They deserved the equaliser that came from Ismaila Sarr in the 40th minute and the two goals they scored on the counter in the second period. The first came from Habib Diarra in the 65th minute and the clincher was scored by Cheikh Sabaly in stoppage time.
Tuchel may rue the decision to disallow Bellingham’s goal but the truth is that — four games in to his reign and now reflecting on his first defeat — the England manager is painfully light on mitigation already.
There was a stubbornness about Tuchel’s team selection that feels as though it may become a pattern. Ten changes from the weekend but no Toney, no Trent Alexander-Arnold and no Morgan Gibbs-White. Conor Gallagher didn’t even make it on to the bench in Barcelona but here found himself in the team.
Unlike against Andorra, here England were facing an opponent that wanted to engage. That made this a much better spectacle and also offered England space in which to work when they carried the ball forwards.
Senegal were ambitious, dextrous and dangerous. The African side had the game’s first shot inside the first minute and its first real chance four minutes later as Everton’s Iliman Ndiaye slipped in Chelsea’s Nicolas Jackson, who shot low against Dean Henderson’s legs when he should have scored.
The night had started well when Harry Kane scored from close range after Anthony Gordon’s shot was saved
Ismaila Sarr equalised for Senegal shortly before half time as the visitors grew into the contest
Kyle Walker was caught out for Sarr’s equaliser and had a difficult evening
It was a let-off for England and they took advantage of it two minutes later when they scored with their first proper attack.
Tuchel had set England up almost in a 4-4-2, with Eberechi Eze playing centrally in the vicinity of Kane. And it was Eze who started the move by winning the ball and feeding Gallagher, who was able to switch it to Anthony Gordon on the left. The Newcastle player’s shot was straight at Edouard Mendy but the former Chelsea goalkeeper made a mess of the save and Kane was able to run the ball in from four yards.
For a while England were comfortable. Indeed Gordon should have doubled the lead, only to shovel a low Kyle Walker cross wide of the far post after a lovely move involving Gallagher and Bukayo Saka.
But Senegal had remained dangerous throughout. Henderson saved well from a header by his Crystal Palace team-mate Sarr and then dropped low to his right to deny Idrissa Gueye. There was simply too much space for the visitors in the final third.
And when England fell asleep completely five minutes before half-time they were punished.
Trevoh Chalobah was culpable twice as a ball was chipped over the top from the halfway line. Firstly he should have played Jackson offside as he ran beyond him, and then he failed to stop the hooked ball back across goal from the byline. Kyle Walker, meanwhile, hadn’t anticipated the danger and was on his heels as Sarr stole in front to score.
Tuchel had criticised his team for allowing their levels to drop towards the end of each half on Saturday and the truth is it had happened again here. England had become invisible as an attacking force once Gordon missed that chance in the 25th minute and as such a Senegal equaliser had been on the cards.
There were no substitutions at half-time — they didn’t come until the hour — and there was no uptick in England’s football. Indeed — just like the first one — the second Senegal goal had been well signposted by the time it arrived in the 62nd minute.
England’s football was simply too passive and reactive at that stage. There was too little energy. All the smartness and all the clever midfield interplay came from Senegal and a super flowing move almost brought them the lead in the opening minutes of the second half, only for Diarra to half-volley a great chance over the bar after England had been cut open easily.
England’s substitutions — when they came — were telling. Kane went off but still Toney didn’t arrive. It seems the verdict on that one is well and truly on. With Gibbs-White given a go down the left, England’s front pairing was now Eze and Morgan Rogers.
Habib Diarra put Senegal in front as he slotted the ball through Dean Henderson’s legs
Cheikh Sabaly wrapped up the win for Senegal with a third goal in added time
None of which immediately mattered as Senegal took the lead. The left side of England’s defence was caught in a line that was anything but square and Diarra ran clear to cut inside to beat Henderson at his near post when the former Forest goalkeeper really should have done better.
There was a reaction from the crowd as some boos could be heard. But there was also a reaction from England on the field as Mendy was forced to save from Gibbs-White after a sublime Eze flick and then low from Saka to his right. That one really was a fabulous save.
There was some energy back in the stadium on the back of that and Tuchel sought to capitalise as he sent on Jude Bellingham and Noni Mudueke. England now had fifteen minutes to save themselves from the first defeat of the Tuchel era.
With six minutes left, Bellingham thought he had saved his team, volleying from a knock down after a corner. But VAR indicated Levi Colwill had handled the ball and after several looks at the replay, it looked as though he probably had.
