
Thomas Tuchel called out England fans for being "silent" inside Wembley after a routine 3-0 friendly win over Wales. The German head coach risks a backlash from the English fanbase after making it clear wasn't happy with the atmosphere inside the national stadium. The Three Lions raced to a three-goal lead inside just 20 minutes thanks to finishes from Morgan Rogers, Ollie Watkins and Bukayo Saka but the 7,000 Wales fans were louder than the supporters of the hosts.
Speaking to ITV post-match, a bemused Tuchel said: "We had one and a half training days to prepare against a well-trained team and we did very, very well. We had an excellent first half. We were 3-0 up very quick. We could have been 4-0 or 5-0 up at half-time. Very, very good. We couldn't score the fourth and the fifth ones. The stadium was silent. Silent. We never got any energy back from the fans and I think the players delivered a lot, to get more from the stands. It was difficult to keep everything going in the second half. We did excellent. We deserved to win."
Asked if he expected more from the crowd, the honest 52-year-old did not hold back as he said: "Yeah. What more can you give in 20 minutes than three goals? And the way we attacked Wales and didn't let them escape in their own half, with ball win after ball win after ball win. If you then hear for half an hour just Wales fans, it's a bit sad because the team deserved big support today."
There has already been criticism of the FA of late for England having a German manager rather than a homegrown boss. And that means Tuchel's interview risks him receiving more criticism in the coming days.
Tuchel added, when quizzed about goalscorer Rogers: "He is what he is. He is a number 10 and he fights for his place. He is at the moment ready and an important player. He has everything what it takes and is in a good way.
And asked what he thought of a Harry Kane-less England side, the former Chelsea manager explained: "We are ready for any team effort. Serbia was the next example of teamwork and team effort. We created a lot of chances. We did not convert any chances.
"We could have used Harry, like all the time, but like I said we need to play without Harry and Jude [Bellingham] if the guys are injured. There is no excuse and we will find solutions. Today we had solutions and I think we played an excellent first half. Forgiving the fact we only had one and a half days to prepare, it was very good.
"We had chances in the second half, Morgan and Anthony Gordon had two big chances and we could have scored. You need maybe a goal to keep the whole thing going again. We tried to get some impact from the bench but it was not easy, Honestly the effort was always there so no harm done.
"I can assure you, Wales are a complicated team to play against. They're very well drilled and very well trained. The work we put in in the first half to not let them escape deserves a lot of credit for our players and I'm very happy."
Rogers scored his first England goad and when asked where it ranks among his career milestones, the Aston Villa attacker said: "Right at the top. It's a proud moment to do it at home too in a home nation derby. Yeah, a dream come true. It's a nice feeling.
"The quality of players we've got, the people who are here and the people who are not here, you can never be too comfortable and think you've got a role, or someone will take your place. It's about keeping progressing and performing and showing what I can do."
Fellow scorer Saka added: "It's been a while. I've missed a few camps so I'm really happy to be back and on the scoresheet as well. It's nice. It meant everything to me. We moved the ball quick. The game plan we had worked. We had to be patient and pick our moments and we did."
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