Senegal became the first African team to beat England in 22 games on Tuesday, winning 3-1 in a friendly at Nottingham’s City Ground thanks to goals from Ismaïla Sarr, Habib Diarra and Cheikh Sabaly.
Senegal stretched their unbeaten streak to 24 games, while England’s loss, which included a disallowed late goal from Jude Bellingham for a handball in the build-up, was their first defeat in four games under new manager Thomas Tuchel.
“Not good enough,” captain Harry Kane told ITV. “We had moments, but with and without the ball things aren’t clicking, we’re not finding the right tempo. We’ve lost that aggressive nature that we had.”
The hosts conceded for the first time under Tuchel when Sarr caught Kyle Walker napping to poke in Nicolas Jackson’s cross in the 40th minute.
The visitors doubled their lead in the 62nd when Diarra latched onto a ball over the top then fired through goalkeeper Dean Henderson’s legs. Sabaly struck deep into stoppage time, prompting boos from England fans after the final whistle.
“We’re not going to panic but we know we need to be better,” Kane said. “New ideas, there’s new players coming into the team that don’t have experience at international level.
“It’s a mixture of things but no excuses. We need to find it quick, the World Cup is going to come around really fast so every camp is really important right now.”
“Disappointing result, not sure if maybe didn’t deserve a little bit more result-wise,” Tuchel said. “But felt again a bit frozen, not active enough for a long time of the match.
