Thomas Tuchel has criticised the home fans at Wembley for England’s 3-0 win over Wales last night, saying the stadium “was silent” except for the away end.
England’s head coach watched his side score all three goals inside the opening 20 minutes, courtesy of finishes from Morgan Rogers, Ollie Watkins and Bukayo Saka.
There were large pockets of empty seats around the 90,000-capacity stadium, while the 7,000-strong travelling support made themselves known throughout the match.
After the friendly, Tuchel told ITV Sport: “We could have been 5-0 up at half-time. We couldn’t score the fourth and fifth ones. The stadium was silent. We didn’t get any energy back from the stands. We did everything to win.”
Asked if he expected more from the fans, he said: “Yes. What more can you give in 20 minutes? We didn’t let them escape. If you hear just Wales fans for half an hour, it’s sad because the team deserved more support today.”
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Later in his post-match press conference, Tuchel praised England fans for their support in his side’s previous away game in Serbia, saying they were “absolutely fantastic”.
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“I love English football fans and support they give,” he added. “[But] the atmosphere did not match the performance on the field today.
“We will have top support in Latvia, we had excellent support in Serbia. But today we were 3-0 up after 20 minutes, we had ball win after ball win and I felt, ‘why is the roof still on the stadium?’ It could have helped us in some moments in the second half.”
The German, who started managing England in January, has seen his side win six of his opening seven games in charge.
The Three Lions sit top of their World Cup 2026 qualifying group on 15 points, with three fixtures remaining.
They could cement their spot with a win in Latvia on Tuesday if Serbia do not beat Albania on Saturday and Andorra on Tuesday.
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The road to the World Cup looks more challenging for Wales, who hoped to build momentum against England before facing Belgium at home in their next qualifier.
Craig Bellamy’s side are third in their group with 10 points, equal to Belgium in second and one point behind North Macedonia in first.
