England returned to winning ways with a 2-0 victory against Andorra at Villa Park.

Having been beaten by Senegal in a friendly in their previous game in June, Thomas Tuchel’s side were determined to respond.

An own goal from Christian Garcia Gonzalez in the 25th minute saw England take the lead.

England are back in action on Tuesday night when they face Serbia away. 

Daily Mail Sport’s Ian Ladyman assesses how the Three Lions performed against Andorra. 

England overcame Andorra with a 2-0 victory in a World Cup qualifier at Villa Park

THE SAME OLD TROUBLE

We frequently hear about how challenging it is for England to play against deep-lying defenses, commonly referred to as the ‘low block’ these days. Yet, despite England encountering this often—four out of five teams that Thomas Tuchel has faced have employed this tactic—why does England continue to perform so ordinarily against it?

At Villa Park, Tuchel did his best to emphasize the positives. ‘We created enough chances to win more comfortably, and this will improve as the players start understanding things better,’ he commented post-match.

However, the reality is that this match mirrored many of England’s lackluster performances in the past, as Tuchel’s squad attempted unsuccessfully to navigate or penetrate the Andorra defense.

Rhythm and precision are crucial in these scenarios, and England lacked both. The concerning part is that this is precisely how England’s early adversaries in a 48-team World Cup in America will play next summer.

The heat will also ensure that much of the football in World Cup 2026 will be played at walking pace. So England need to get better at it – and fast.

England found it challenging to get around Andorra’s low block on Saturday evening

WHO IS ENGLAND’S BEST RIGHT-BACK?

Tuchel is cycling through players rapidly, making it difficult to discern whom he prefers. At right-back, the situation is gradually clarifying. Three months ago in June, Tuchel started Curtis Jones—a midfielder—in that role against Andorra in Barcelona and later brought on Trent Alexander-Arnold for the second half. Following that, he tested Kyle Walker during a friendly loss against Senegal at Nottingham’s City Ground. 

Interestingly, none of these players are part of the current squad, and for this match, Tuchel opted for Reece James in that slot. The England manager is fond of James after their time together at Chelsea, but the 25-year-old historically struggles to maintain fitness over extended periods. It’s crucial for him to remain fit now. ‘At the moment, Reece is slightly ahead in that contest,’ remarked Tuchel. ‘He possesses all the quality but must demonstrate he can play for longer stretches.’

Reece James has a chance to become England’s first-choice right-back if he can stay fit

PAIN WITH KANE

England captain Harry Kane is one of the greatest flat track bullies in international football. The Bayern Munich forward just about always scores against the lower ranked nations that England tend to face in qualifying for big summer tournaments. On this occasion, however, Kane’s influence deserted him to the extent that after 70 minutes of almost complete England possession and territory, he had actually managed only ten touches of the ball. 

Against that background, it’s astonishing that Kane was asked to remain on the field. Kane will certainly start England’s big game in Serbia on Tuesday and as such could have been sacrificed here once the game had gone to 2-0 in the 67th minute. Waiting on the bench was an Aston Villa player Ollie Watkins. Bringing him on would have given the home crowd a lift, given Kane a rest and maybe even helped England discover some creativity against a tiring team.

England captain Harry Kane struggled to make a significant impact against Andorra

SET PIECE PROBLEMS

Tuchel is convinced that set pieces and long throw-ins will be a feature of next summer’s World Cup. He has said so privately and it is one of the reasons that he feels Newcastle’s big central defender Dan Burn will be so crucial to his team’s chances. His thinking on why this will be the case is less clear. 

Maybe it is because he fears the heat at many venues will slow the football down to the extent that goals from free-kicks and corners will become all important. Whatever the case, his team continue to be less than convincing in this area. Too many corners are played short, for example, while it’s hard to recall them even attempting a long throw. Both of the goals here came from headers – one an own goal and from Declan Rice following a brilliant cross from James. The clues as to what England should have been attempting to do from the outset were right there.

Despite the threat Dan Burn provides, England need to improve their set-pieces

ONE BIG STEP FORWARD

It was almost a perfect debut for Elliot Anderson and would have been had the Andorra goalkeeper not been agile enough to claw away his close range shot early in the second half. Nevertheless, Tuchel was delighted with the young Nottingham Forest midfield player. 

Tuchel was impressed with Nottingham Forest midfielder Elliot Anderson on his debut

‘He was a little nervous at the beginning of the training week but then he did good,’ said Tuchel. ‘We’re sure he can become a very good player. This was the test and I think he passed the test.’ The make-up of England’s best midfield is still to become clear and of course Jude Bellingham is due to return from injury. Anderson made an impact, however, and could do no more than that.