Tuchel admits England ‘frozen’ by Senegal in shock defeat

Thomas Tuchel says his England side felt “frozen” against Senegal after losing 3-1 at the City Ground in Nottingham.

The Three Lions rounded off their international break with a friendly against the African side, who recorded a first victory for the continent against them.

Harry Kane’s early goal was not enough to deny Senegal in the Midlands, who struck twice in the second half to damn Tuchel to his first defeat.

And he gave a bleak assessment of the performance, admitting it was not good enough on the pitch.

Speaking to the press after the game, he said:”Yeah of course, it’s a disappointing result. Not sure if we did not deserve a little bit more result-wise.

“Felt a bit frozen, not active enough for a long time over the match. We defended quite well for long periods in the first half and then our best period came when we were 2-1 down.

“We conceded the first two goals – very easy goals, we need to defend better.

“Would we have expressed our joy the same as Senegal if we won?” 🗣

Listen to Thomas Tuchel’s full post-match interview with @gabrielclarke05 after England’s defeat to Senegal#ITVFootball | #ThreeLions pic.twitter.com/jwf6An8IyX

— ITV Football (@itvfootball) June 10, 2025

“The reaction was good after we were down. We suddenly were more active, more free, more fluent, more aggressive. We had big chances to equalise.”

Jude Bellingham came off the bench late on and thought he grabbed an equaliser to make it 2-2, only for the goal to be ruled out by VAR for an offside.

On the moment, Tuchel added: “I just saw it, it looks more the shoulder than the hand. I saw it as a goal needs to be checked, it is the first time the referee revisits a goal. So either it is a mistake, so take it away. Or it’s not a mistake, so it’s a goal.”

The German boss was also criticised for taking Harry Kane off but not replacing him with a striker, despite trailing.

Ivan Toney came on for the final moments but it was too little, too late at that point.

Tuchel said: “It was more than three minutes. I think Ivan is a specialist for these situations, we created a lot of chances with Morgan Gibbs-White, Ebs [Eberechi Eze], Morgan Rogers and with Jude [Bellingham] in fluid positions.

“I think Ivan is the strongest when we have a lot of balls into the box, and that was the case so we got him ready at 80 minutes.”