England manager Thomas Tuchel has voiced clear criticism of his team’s defending in their most recent outing against Spain.
Speaking at the press conference before Tuesday evening's second Nations League match against the Czech Republic, the Germany coach said his side must cut out the serious individual mistakes above all.
"We made individual mistakes when we had the ball, particularly in the build-up deep in our own half. We must not repeat that," said Tuchel, and warned: "Especially at this level. We have to improve these things. Strangely, when we were in possession, we were our own biggest danger."
During the 2-3 defeat to Spain in their opener, two goals by the reigning world champions came from serious individual errors in the Three Lions' back line. For the 1-0, for example, Manchester City's centre-back Marc Guehi lost the ball in the build-up to Lamine Yamal, who ruthlessly punished the mistake and scored the early opener in the sixth minute.
Then England's defence were at fault again for the 2-2, this time through Nico O'Reilly. The left-back, who is also under contract at Man City, needlessly played the ball straight to Dani Olmo. The former Leipzig man then slipped it through to Alex Baena, who made it 2-2 from around 16 metres.
How did England's press react to the poor performance?
England's press were just as scathing about the defensive display. "England find their DNA: Defensively Not Able," judged the Telegraph, while the BBC warned: "England surrender themselves to chaos - but they need control to win the big prizes." According to the Sun, "Guehi's blunder and Kane's missed penalty" were chiefly responsible for the defeat.
On the basic "structure", however, Tuchel said he was satisfied, which is why after just one match he saw "no reason for concern yet". He expects England to defend with far more composure against the Czechs.
After the defeat, Tuchel and England sit third in Group 3 for now. Next up are the Czech Republic on 29 September and Croatia on 3 October, before the return match against the Czechs on 6 October.