• Kane’s goal secures 1-0 win over minnows Andorra

• ‘We lacked seriousness. I didn’t like the body language’

Thomas Tuchel admitted England had “played with fire” in their 1-0 win over Andorra, risking the concession of an equaliser and a draw that would have registered as perhaps their greatest humiliation since defeat to the USA in 1950. “I felt it was like a cup game where the favourites don’t see the danger,” he said.

England won thanks to Harry Kane’s 50th-minute goal, leaving them top of the group on nine points without having conceded a goal. No previous England manager has ever begun with three successive victories to nil, but Tuchel was clearly very unhappy with the performance.

Tuchel’s target is to win the World Cup and a scintillating performance would not have made lifting the prize in New Jersey any more likely

How bad was it? Bad enough to be England’s worst result in seven games against Andorra. Bad enough for players used to operating at the highest of levels for the best clubs in the world to find themselves unable to weight simple passes or deliver crosses with precision. Bad enough that Andorra’s 37-year-old left-back Marc García nutmegged Noni Madueke in injury time. But, beyond the potential problems it may cause with goal difference, it doesn’t matter at all in terms of the main issue: the winning of the World Cup next summer.

England could have played scintillating football and beaten Andorra 10-0 and it wouldn’t have made them any more likely to be lifting the prize in New Jersey next July. That’s not to excuse a dismal performance, just to say it’s irrelevant. The game was won, the box ticked, and Thomas Tuchel hopefully learned something from the training sessions.

Thomas Tuchel had demanded a convincing win and a performance without doubts. The England manager wanted to suffocate Andorra in this World Cup qualifier; to see his team attack cohesively, to unpick the low block of the nation that sits 173rd in the world rankings. So much for the wishlist.

This was the end-of-season game that Tuchel had tried to talk up, mainly because he has so few matches to drill his players before the finals next summer. He was keen to see some energy. And yet his words failed to stir very much. Yes, England won, as they always do against Andorra. Yes, they did so without conceding, as they always do against Andorra. And yes, it is now three wins out of three for Tuchel, with no goals against. But it was not possible to get excited.

• ‘The tournaments are played after a long season’

• Head coach preparing for Andorra World Cup qualifier

Thomas Tuchel is determined to find the answer to England’s physical problems after gruelling Premier League campaigns, having noted that the team were “most comfortable” in terms of recent tournaments at the mid-season Qatar World Cup in 2022.

The head coach, who is preparing here for Saturday’s World Cup qualifier against Andorra, wants to harness the traditional virtues of the English game – namely pace, strength and aggression. But he is aware that searing temperatures await at many of the venues for the finals in the US, Canada and Mexico next summer and, as such, it will be vital to be able to play in different styles.