Thomas Tuchel confident England are ‘on the right path’ ahead of Serbia test

Thomas Tuchel is convinced England are on the right track ahead of the World Cup but stressed there can be no complacency about qualification as they seek to take “another step” in Serbia.

The back-to-back European Championship runners-up are among the favourites to win next summer’s tournament and on course to qualify, having won their first four Group K matches without conceding.

Saturday’s 2-0 win against minnows Andorra was the latest in that run, with Elliot Anderson named man of the match after impressing on his England debut at Villa Park.

Tuchel says other players have the chance to break into the squad right up until next May, but he is not taking qualification for granted as attention turns to Tuesday’s tough trip to Serbia.

“It’s always a possibility,” the England boss said. “If you show the quality and the attitude in your club, you have always (a chance). The door is always open for young players, old players, whatever. Every age.

“If the quality is right, the mentality is right and if it’s a fit to our squad, everyone has the chance until the last day.

“The thing is I know the focus, like the goal, is the World Cup, but the goal right now is the qualification first.

“We always think we are already qualified and we are not, so we are first in the group and we have to make another step on Tuesday.

“We want to make another step on Tuesday and this is where the focus is at the moment.”

The trip to the cavernous Rajko Mitic Stadium is set to be England’s toughest group assignment, with Tuchel ready to face some top players and a hostile atmosphere in Belgrade.

The German coach is also expecting to have to break down a low block in Serbia as they had to against Andorra, who restricted the hosts to a Declan Rice header after Christian Garcia’s own goal.

But Tuchel saw more positives than negatives in Birmingham, with England performing better than in June’s unconvincing 1-0 win in the reverse fixture and the 3-1 home friendly loss to Senegal.

“We’re getting there,” the England boss said. “We’re getting there. It was a lot of learning, for me also. International football so different from club football, but we’re getting there.

“I’m very positive about the group that was in camp now and how they presented themselves, how they behaved, how they trained and how we played (on Saturday).

“I’m absolutely convinced that we are on the right way and on the right path. It’s always on us to prove it of course.

“We have now three camps, very condensed, to show that we are on a way to create an identity and who has a good connection with whom.

“And that we make it more clear for the players how our game should look like, that we have clarity. Intensity will come, accuracy will come. This will follow.

“But, first of all, it’s important that it’s clear how we want to attack, it’s clear how we want to defend and this was a very good first step.”