Thomas Tuchel has highlighted the challenges in England’s task to find a quality striker alternative in the absence of Harry Kane and insisted it is normal for the “top teams to rely on top players”.
Talismanic captain Kane was a late withdrawal from England’s last outing before Tuchel decides his World Cup squad, with the Three Lions subsequently looking toothless in a dismal 1-0 home defeat to Japan.
Phil Foden operated in the false nine but failed to make much of a difference, being replaced by Dominic Solanke before the hour mark.
But when asked if he was concerned of the drop in quality when his team are without Kane, the country’s all-time record goalscorer, Tuchel responded by saying that an alternative of equal quality does not exist.
“In the absence of Harry Kane, we don’t have the same threat,” Tuchel said. “Bayern Munich, in the absence of Harry Kane, they don’t have the same threat. No team in the world has the same threat. It’s just normal. Top teams rely on top players and top nations rely on top players.
“On top of it, Harry dropped out so we lost him not only as a player but also as a personality. It’s always a bit disrupting if the captain leaves the last training after 15 minutes and is out of the squad.
”Of course it affected us but of course it’s normal, it’s a reality. We can win games without Harry, we will win without, we have won without Harry. But it’s easier to win with Harry, of course.”
He added: “We didn’t change the system against Uruguay and we played with a number nine. Today we played with just a different number nine with Phil Foden and later with Dom Solanke. But I am not looking for a second Harry Kane; there is just not second Harry Kane.”
Tuchel was keen to put the result into perspective, with Kane’s withdrawal taking England’s casualty list to eight during the March international break.
He also emphasised that his top stars understandably had an eye towards their club campaigns, saying: “Our players are heavily invested in club football, they’re heavily invested in European football in the toughest league there is.
“We played against two top-20 teams, well drilled, very good opponents who arrived with their best line-up. We had a big change in the middle of the camp, suddenly after the match we had seven or eight injuries who had to leave camp.
“It’s not an excuse, it’s just an explanation why things are not perfectly smooth.”
Tuchel called on his team to learn from a winless camp which “will not define us” and said that despite his failed experiments that he had “more clarity” over who he will select in his squad for the World Cup.
But after seeing his roster ravaged by injuries this month, he admits he will be watching the season run-in with bated breath as he prays his players avoid any untimely fitness problems.
“It will be scary to watch this weekend on TV because from now, any muscle injury can mean that a player misses out,” he said.
“The next eight weeks, I’m concerned and I hope that everything goes well for the players, that they stay healthy.”
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