Thomas Tuchel insists England’s lack of threat without Harry Kane is ‘normal’

Evening Standard

Thomas Tuchel says it is natural England do not have the same threat without Harry Kane but is not overly concerned by a disjointed March meet-up that “will not define us”.The back-to-back European Championship runners-up followed Friday’s stop-start 1-1 draw against Uruguay with an underwhelming 1-0 loss to Japan, via Kaoru Mitoma’s first-half goal, that led to boos from what remained of the Wembley crowd.

Transcript

00:00What do you think of Harry Kane?

00:05In the absence of Harry Kane, we don't have the same threat.

00:08Bayern Munich, in the absence of Harry Kane, has not the same threat.

00:10No team in the world has the same threat.

00:13It's just normal.

00:16If top teams rely on top players and top nations rely on top players,

00:21that's just absolutely normal.

00:24On top of it, Harry dropped out, so we lost not only him as a player,

00:30but we lost him as a personality.

00:32It's always a bit disrupting if the captain leaves the last training

00:36after 15 minutes and is out of the squad.

00:41We lost Bukayo, Noni, Declan Rice, John Stones,

00:47who are normally the core and the drive of this group.

00:53It affected us because it's normal.

00:56They are the players to carry the quality,

01:00carry the momentum on their shoulder.

01:05Of course, it affected us, but it's just normal.

01:08It's a reality.

01:09We can win games without Harry.

01:11We will win without Harry.

01:12We have won without Harry,

01:14but it's easier to win matches with Harry, of course.

01:17Yeah, we didn't change the system against Uruquay

01:20and played with a number nine.

01:21Today, we played with just a different number nine,

01:24and we played also with a nine with Phil Foden

01:26and later with Tom Zolenke.

01:29But I'm not looking for a second Harry Kane.

01:31There's just no second Harry Kane,

01:32and there's also not an excuse.

01:34We were ready to beat Japan.

01:36We were ready to find solutions

01:38and to offer solutions to the team,

01:40but it was difficult.

01:41We struggled.

01:42And I hate losing like no one else,

01:45and it will take a while to digest,

01:47but it will not affect us massively now

01:50for when we arrive in the U.S.

01:52We talked about the front desk,

01:52Now, what are you guys here?

01:53No, what are you guys here?

01:53Just because you've got to set up good stuff.

01:53We have to listen.

01:53We're trying to get a feedback.

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