Marcus Rashford & Phil Foden: Thomas Tuchel has spoken to England forwards

England head coach Thomas Tuchel says he has spoken to Marcus Rashford and Phil Foden after they struggled during Friday’s win over Albania – and that they know he “appreciates” their effort.

Rashford and Foden failed to make a significant impression in the German’s first game in charge of the Three Lions, with Tuchel saying immediately after the 2-0 victory they were “not as impactful as they can be”.

England face Latvia at Wembley on Monday in their second 2026 World Cup qualifier.

“I have spoken to both of them and in front of the group,” Tuchel told BBC Sport. “They know that I appreciate the effort, especially off the ball.

“We can see in the numbers how much effort they put into defending high and in the counter-press.

“Marcus had a lot of runs when we had the ball where we did not see him, where we did not use him. He was a little bit unlucky maybe with the timing and from time to time we oversaw him.

“Phil is just maybe not finding the momentum at the moment that he can have. But both of them are very positive, they have every right to be positive and know exactly what we want from them.

“But off the ball, the effort was there and that’s what counts.”

Forward Rashford, on loan at Aston Villa from Manchester United, was making his first England start in more than a year, while Foden has endured a difficult season with Manchester City.

Tuchel, who will be without Newcastle winger Anthony Gordon because of a hip injury, says he is “not afraid” to make changes for the Latvia game – but that nobody would be dropped “from a performance point of view”.