Thomas Tuchel praised his England players for the speed with which they adapted to a changed approach to beat Wales 3-0 at Wembley, even if he was left slightly disappointed that a 78,000 crowd – or at least the home supporters in it – did not hit the same heights.

The Thursday friendly left the Three Lions with little preparation time for the game, and although they had the positivity of a 5-0 win in Serbia to roll off, the visitors' more front-footed approach meant they had to play in a slightly different way.

But a team with four changes from Belgrade rose to the occasion superbly, killing the game with three unanswered goals in the first 20 minutes from Morgan Rogers, Ollie Watkins and Bukayo Saka.

"We played with a lot of effort, we played very smart, we had only one-and-a-half days to prepare," said Tuchel.

"They're a very complicated opponent because they're very well drilled and very well coached but we still wanted to play with high pressing.

"Full credit to the team because they bought into the ideas in the last one-and-a-half days and the changes we had to make because until now we'd only played against deep blocks.

"Our defending and high pressing was excellent in the first half. It takes a lot of effort to shut Wales down like this because we saw what they did against Canada and in Belgium. It takes a lot of selfless work, a lot of teamwork.

"We were very quickly 3-0 up, we could have scored more in the first half especially.

PROUD: England coach Thomas Tuchel (Image: Mike Hewitt/Getty Images)

placeholder image — PROUD: England coach Thomas Tuchel (Image: Mike Hewitt/Getty Images)

"We could have scored in the first 15 minutes of the second half. It was a little bit difficult to understand the last half-hour – they made a lot of changes, we made a lot of changes – but overall it was absolutely a step in the right direction. I'm very pleased with the performance."

Rogers was one of England's best performers in Serbia but the fact he was effectively chosen ahead of Jude Bellingham – and arguably Phil Foden – put pressure on him against Wales and his response was outstanding.

"Morgan was excellent like the whole team, he's very humble, he's very physical. He has the ability to score and to assist," said Tuchel.

"He had a fantastic season (in 2024-25) and was deservedly voted as the young player of the season in the Premier League.

HUMBLE: Morgan Rogers celebrates his goal (Image: Julian Finney/Getty Images)

"Morgan was one piece of the puzzle but it is a team effort."

Tuchel was critical of the Wembley atmosphere, but careful to keep the England fans onside.

"I am 100 per cent sure we will have fantastic support in the tournament, we will have top support in Latvia. We had excellent support in Serbia," he said.

"But today we were 3-0 up after 20 minutes, we had ball win after ball win after ball win and I thought, 'Why is the roof still on the stadium?'

"It's nothing big but it could have helped us in the second half in some moments to regain energy and rhythm but it was not like this today. No problem."

Craig Bellamy said England had made his team suffer, but was happy to have such a test ahead of their qualifier at home to Belgium on Monday.

"The first 20 minutes were tough," he admitted. "It's a very difficult place to come without starting the way we did. We made it very difficult for ourselves against – as we know – a very good opposition.

"With their intensity and physicality they were able to push through that.

"It was a tough period in the game. We had to suffer a lot of pain. It was difficult."

Ollie Watkins was England's only injury on the night, but Tuchel revealed it was no more than an impact injury, albeit a very painful one, after he clattered into the post in missing a chance late in the first half.

England's next game is on Tuesday, a World Cup qualifier in Riga.