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Thomas Tuchel has encouraged his England team to play as they train – with smiles on their faces.

The German was critical of the performance as England laboured to a 1-0 win over minnows Andorra in Saturday’s World Cup qualifier.

Former Chelsea boss Tuchel says the players have trained very differently, however, so he has urged the Three Lions to play with freedom, take heed of instructions, and “just go for it”.

Tuchel began work as England head coach in January and Tuesday’s friendly against Senegal in Nottingham will be his fourth game in charge.

“I see us train with a smile, but not play with a smile,” Tuchel said.

“We need to improve, for sure. We need to improve in connections, in support, in interactions in the group.

“I feel we are too isolated on the pitch. We have not clicked yet.

“We have a lot of positives to take away in training and in the sessions I see a lot of it, and it will obviously take a little bit to translate it to the pitch.”

Tuchel added: “The best thing is to focus on the principles of the game, to give clear instructions to the players, [on] what we expect from them in their role.

After Tuesday’s game at Nottingham Forest’s City Ground, nine members of Tuchel’s squad are set to travel to the United States to play in the Club World Cup.

Chelsea and Manchester City are the only Premier League teams taking part and Tuchel said the tournament’s expanded format will “have a huge impact and will give Liverpool and Arsenal a huge advantage next season to not be there”.

“I think it will be a very nice experience for the players who are there to play this [expanded] tournament for the first time, so I have mixed feelings about it,” Tuchel said.

“I decided not to worry too much, because why should I? It is a given, and no-one knows what will be the outcome of it or the effect.

“We will deal with the effect when the effect comes and let’s see.”

The Club World Cup means many players will have a reduced break between domestic seasons.

They could then be playing in another expanded tournament next summer, with the 2026 World Cup being held in the US, Canada and Mexico.

Tuchel said: “There is not one player [with England] who says ‘by the way, I would like to be on the bench and save myself for the Club World Cup’. They are hungry to play.

Not much seems to faze Lennon Miller.

Not making his international debut at 18 on Friday or his first start on Monday, nor talking about it to a gaggle of journalists afterwards.

The 18-year-old stood, one hand in a pocket, talking about his big moment as if he was recounting what he had for his lunch.

“It’s a good night’s work, a proud moment to make my first start and to pop up with an assist is always nice,” the Motherwell midfielder told BBC Scotland.

Yes, it was against Liechtenstein, one of the worst sides in international football, but Miller’s mature performance was one of the highlights of the friendly win.

He played a crucial part in Che Adams’ second goal, following his man and hassling him before pinching the ball and laying it to the striker to finish.

Then there were the piercing forward passes, one in particular into John McGinn which set the midfielder free, and other fired for George Hirst to again get Scotland on to the front foot.

A flick, followed by a pirouette and pass into Adams was another highlight.

All those individual moments were impressive, but overall it was just the calmness Miller exuded which suggests he is undaunted even among older and higher profile peers.

“His variation of passing is exceptional, he’s played at the top level for two years now and you can see the maturity in his game and the understanding as well, whether it’s playing in a two or a three [in midfield],” former Scotland captain Scott Brown said on BBC Scotland’s Sportscene programme.

That’s high praise from a man who knows what it takes to play in the Scotland engine room, as well as lead Celtic to scores of trophies.

Miller is only one behind his dad Lee in terms of Scotland caps already.

Seeing pictures on the wall and his dad’s cap serves to inspire him, but having a family member who knows the ups and downs football can bring must have helped mould him into the calm and confident player he is.

Miller was given an example of how things can trip you up when he said he wanted to be Scotland’s best player in a few months’ time back in March.

The reaction was over the top, a case of Miller slightly misspeaking, when actually showing confidence and ambition in the unforgiving world of football is nothing to be ashamed of.

The teenager now has an interesting summer ahead.

With his deal at Motherwell running until the summer of 2026, the Fir Park club are likely keen to cash in on another successful academy player before his deal runs out.

The intrigue around his next move will intensify as the summer progresses.

Will he follow the lead of so many other Scottish players and ply his trade abroad?

One thing is for sure, he will have options.

“Motherwell have given him the opportunity at 16 years old to go and showcase how good he can be and they will go and reap the benefits within the next couple of months if I’m honest,” Brown said.

“I think, teams are now looking at him seeing assists as an 18-year-old, and now they’ll see how high he can go as well – so people will want that in their team.”

Not that you’ll catch Miller talking about a move. When asked about what’s next for him his response was simple.

Holiday. Pre-season. Go again. With the depth Scotland have in midfield, it is far from certain whether Miller will see lots of game time when the world Cup qualifiers start.

However, if Clarke does call on him again, your best bet would be to back him to be ready to take on bigger challenges.