Thomas Tuchel believes Noni Madueke can be a ‘very important’ player for England but says the Arsenal star is guilty of ‘falling asleep’ on some of his defensive duties.
With Bukayo Saka sidelined with a hamstring injury, Madueke took his place on the right of Arsenal’s attack in their game before the international break against Liverpool.
Having acquitted himself well in his natural role, the former Chelsea star was named in the England starting XI in the World Cup qualifier against Andorra on Saturday night, joining his Gunners teammate Eberechi Eze in the side.
Madueke was arguably England’s brightest attacking outlet in what was a tame 2-0 win over the European minnows, creating three chances with his first-half cross leading to the goal that opened the scoring.
While pleased with the winger’s performance, Tuchel revealed Madueke still has the habit of ‘losing concentration’ in his counter-pressing duties.
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‘That’s what he needs to give,’ Tuchel told ITV Sport.
‘He sometimes has a lack of concentration or falls asleep in counter-pressing but if he pushes himself he can be a very important player.
‘Bukayo at the moment is injured for Arsenal and us so that is what he needs to do.’
Tuchel has demonstrated over the years he is not afraid to call his players out.
Having conceded England were not direct enough on the day, the German singled out Madueke, Eze and Marcus Rashford for not being clinical enough in their decision-making, passing and finishing.
‘We were not direct enough,’ Tuchel continued.
‘We missed the little moments to accelerate the game. Maybe Ebs didn’t have his very best day in the no10 position.
‘He trained so well in the decision making but struggled a little bit.
‘The last pass from Noni was not clinical enough, Rashford had some good moments but was not clinical and couldn’t finish them. We should have scored the second goal earlier.’
England are back in action against Serbia in Belgrade on Tuesday night.
