Three Lions face tougher test against Serbia in Belgrade on Tuesday
England coach Thomas Tuchel insisted his side are moving in the right direction despite an unconvincing 2-0 victory over Andorra in Saturday’s World Cup qualifier at Villa Park.
England needed an own goal to break the deadlock against a team placed 174th in Fifa’s rankings, before Declan Rice sealed the result in the second half.
The win kept a perfect record for Tuchel’s side in the qualifiers, with four wins from four matches, but the performance drew a muted response from the home crowd at Villa Park.
“I’m absolutely convinced we are on the right path,” Tuchel said afterwards. “It was a good performance and a deserved result. We should have won with more goals but I’m okay with that. We take more positives than negatives.”
England had an overwhelming 83 per cent possession but struggled to create clear chances against Andorra’s deep defensive block.
The breakthrough came shortly before the half-hour mark when Noni Madueke’s cross was diverted into his own net by defender Christian Garcia. Rice then doubled the lead in the second half, heading in from Reece James’ delivery to settle the contest.
Tuchel promised that his team would “prove a point” in their next game against Serbia on Tuesday. They are England’s toughest opposition in Group K and like the Three Lions they are yet to lose a game, having taken seven points from three. England travel to Belgrade to confront the central European team.
“The way is to win and to be tough,” Tuchel said. “In the circumstances we expect a very emotional stadium, we expect an emotional crowd.
“We don’t know what the pitch looks like. We’ll make no excuses. And then we come up against a very physical team.
“We have to step up and adapt to the circumstances, adapt to the opponent and then prove the point we are a strong group and we are on the right way.”
