Several paper airplanes took a sharp flight down towards the dugouts at Wembley Stadium as England drifted a little during the second half of their 3-0 thrashing of Wales. It was perhaps at this moment, with some fans distracted in a game long since settled, that Thomas Tuchel became irritated by a lack of energy from supporters. The German had emphasised how it was “silent” despite their breathtaking display. He had seen Morgan Rogers dazzle, Ollie Watkins strike in relief of the injured Harry Kane and Bukayo Saka deliver a rasping strike into the top corner of the net to turn cheers into gasps of admiration.
“We could have been 5-0 up at half-time,” Tuchel claimed, and he wasn’t wrong after Saka’s one-on-one was repelled by a desperate Joe Rodon lunge and Watkins contrived to miss from a yard. “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.”
