Thomas Tuchel on England substitutes vs Spain following Leeds United striker Dominic Calvert-Lewin outing
Leeds United striker Dominic Calvert-Lewin got seven minutes off the bench for England in Saturday evening’s Nations League clash against Spain at Wembley.
England boss Thomas Tuchel gave a thumbs up to his substitutes after Saturday evening’s Nations League defeat to Spain which included seven minutes off the bench for Leeds United striker Dominic Calvert-Lewin.
Calvert-Lewin’s fine early season form for Leeds to another England recall and the 29-year-old was named on the bench for Saturday evening’s Nations League visit of Spain as Harry Kane again led the line upfront.
With England 3-2 down, Calvert-Lewin was finally brought as Tuchel’s second double change with seven minutes left, the Leeds striker replacing Kane and Nottingham Forest’s Morgan Gibbs-White also coming on for Arsenal’s Bukayo Saka.
The two earlier changes after 70 minutes had seen Chelsea’s Morgan Rogers and Everton’s James Garner replace Barcelona’s Anthony Gordon and Arsenal’s Myles Lewis-Skelly - at which point the game was tied at 2-2.
Mikel Oyarzabal then netted what proved the game’s winning goal four minutes later and England were unable to provide any further response, Calvert-Lewin struggling to get involved as he replaced Kane upfront.
Tuchel, though, declared that he had “no worries” about any of his substitutes who he said all deserved to play and were brought on in difficult circumstances.
“There is no blaming and no worries about the subs”
"It was difficult. It was a difficult moment for them to come on,” said the England boss at his post-match press conference.
"We needed to get a of energy back and a bit of legs back, especially against the ball to be able to push out from the middle block which is difficult because they had their momentum back.
"Everyone on the bench deserves to play, they are always desperate to play, everyone tries their best.
"It's difficult, we play against the best team in the world - to make a difference.
"But there is no blaming and no worries about the subs.
"I felt us a bit tired then from all the effort, that's why we made the subs. I think Spain used all their subs, we used all our subs. Normal stuff."