Kane: No panic, but England not good enough

NOTTINGHAM, England — Captain Harry Kane said England must improve quickly if it is to contend for next year's World Cup after slumping to a 3-1 home friendly defeat by Senegal on Tuesday.

A first ever defeat against African opposition has put England boss Thomas Tuchel under pressure just four games into his reign.

After struggling past minnow Andorra 1-0 in World Cup qualifying on Saturday, Tuchel's 10 changes had little effect as Senegal ran out deserved winner in Nottingham thanks to goals from Ismaila Sarr, Habib Diarra and Cheikh Sabaly.

"Not good enough. We had moments, but with and without the ball things aren't clicking, we're not finding the right tempo," said Kane, who opened the scoring with his 73rd international goal.

"We've lost that aggressive nature that we had."

Former Chelsea, Bayern Munich and Paris Saint-Germain boss Tuchel was hired with the task of taking England one step further to major tournament glory after losing in the last two European Championship finals.

Kane believes his side is going through a transition period since Gareth Southgate's departure after Euro 2024, but said there is little time to get things right with the World Cup now just a year away.

"We're not going to panic but we know we need to be better," added the Bayern Munich striker.

"New ideas, there's new players coming into the team that don't have experience at international level. It's a mixture of things but no excuses.

"We need to find it quick, the World Cup is going to come around really fast so every camp is really important right now."

England is at least in pole position to qualify having won all three of its qualifiers to date against Albania, Latvia and Andorra.

Tuchel under pressure

Tuchel was scathing in his criticism of his side's dreary display in beating Andorra just 1-0 in World Cup qualifying last Saturday.

The German, who was appointed with the task of ending England's wait since 1966 for a major tournament win, suffered his first defeat in four games in charge.

"We need to see the players under these kinds of conditions against one of the top 20 teams in the world to be smarter," said Tuchel.

"We don't go next week to the World Cup. We go in one year."

Tuchel responded by making 10 changes, with Kane the only player to retain his place.

It took just seven minutes for the Bayern Munich striker to maintain his record of scoring in every game since Tuchel took charge.

Former Chelsea goalkeeper Edouard Mendy should have done better when he could only parry Anthony Gordon's shot into the path of Kane, who tapped in his 73rd international goal.

Dean Henderson was given a rare chance to impress in the England goal as Jordan Pickford was relegated to the bench.

The Crystal Palace stopper made impressive saves from his club teammate Sarr and Idrissa Gueye.

But he was helpless when Sarr made the most of a lack of concentration from Kyle Walker to meet Nicolas Jackson's cross and fire into the bottom corner.

AFP