Harry Kane makes 'average' verdict as Thomas Tuchel name drops two England stars

Harry Kane dubbed England's opponents as "average" following the Three Lions' 5-0 thumping of Serbia in World Cup qualifying. It was a five-star showing from the 1966 world champions, who took full control at the top of Group K with the statement victory.

Kane got the scoring up and running midway through the first half with a tricky header, before Noni Madueke made it two ahead of half-time. Goals from Ezri Konsa, Marc Guehi and Marcus Rashford capped off a stellar showing in the second period, meaning England maintained their 100 per cent competitive record since Tuchel's arrival.

Speaking after the contest in Belgrade, Kane told the BBC: "I spoke a lot yesterday about how we wanted to play - being on the front foot and being aggressive, and I think we showed our level today. Even in the other games, we did well, but we didn't reach top form.

"We scored five and made it look comfortable. We can be proud of ourselves. It has been a great camp and we are in a great position. They found it difficult to play. Whenever they did break, we recovered quickly. Overall, we can be pleased with the whole week and we will take this into the next camp. The energy has been higher and the level has been higher.

"We felt we had a good performance a few days ago. I know it wasn't the performance that everyone was excited about, but we did what we had to. Serbia are a good team, and we made them look average tonight."

Elsewhere, Thomas Tuchel highlighted the performances of two standout stars during his post-match debrief. When quizzed on the showings of Elliot Anderson, the German tactician responded: "I discovered Elliot [Anderson] with his performances for Nottingham. He played well against Andorra, he deserved to play again and made another fantastic performance.

"Every game is different. We had a meeting in the beginning of the week. We've only had three weeks of training and that's normally half a pre-season. It takes time and in between there are weeks of pause. The players did excellent. The credit goes to them, they did amazing - that's the bar."

Whereas, when pushed for comment on Madueke, he added: "He has the speed and the ability to win 1vs1 duels. I'm so happy he scored today because this is something he needs to add to his game. He played with the hunger and the directness, on top of that he needs to stay focused. I'm most happy with his attitude."

It will likely take a monumental disaster for England not to top their qualification group and secure a stress-free spot at next summer's World Cup from this point on. Their next outing is a friendly clash against Wales in October, before they face Latvia in Riga for matchday six of qualifying.