Thomas Tuchel appeared to take a swipe at Jude Bellingham when praising the attitude of his England team – and insists he will be brave enough to leave out star names.
The German enjoyed his best night yet as Three Lions boss during Tuesday’s 5-0 win in Serbia, achieved without the likes of Bellingham, Phil Foden, Bukayo Saka and Cole Palmer.
But it was the togetherness of his players that pleased Tuchel most. He has previously stated that Bellingham can ‘intimidate’ his team-mates and it felt like he had the Real Madrid star in mind when he said: ‘There was no attitude after a mistake, there was no frustration, there was no waving, there was no eyeballing, there was no bad words. It was just a team ready to work and put 90 minutes effort in.
‘This is a team sport. They have the quality to play for us and the hunger to play for their country and everyone gets his chance.
‘If a big player misses out on a tournament, we need to have solutions. If he misses a camp, we need to have solutions. We have to focus on the guys who are available and who are ready to be the best versions of themselves and the best team-mate possible, and this is what we did.’
He added: ‘The teamwork, the effort we put in to help each other out, the intensity. We never stopped running. We didn’t concede a shot on target. We didn’t allow any big chances. We need to do the little things right. I felt that the team was ready and I am just very happy that they proved it.’
Thomas Tuchel took what appeared to be a thinly-veiled swipe at Jude Bellingham after his side’s 0-5 thrashing of Serbia
Noni Madueke, Harry Kane, Ezri Konsa, Marc Guehi and Marcus Rashford scored the goals in Belgrade
England’s German boss has admitted that he won’t be scared to leave big names out of his side
With Morgan Rogers stepping up in the absence of the injured Bellingham and Noni Madueke also shining in place of sidelined club-mate Saka, Tuchel knows he has some big decisions to make going forward. Is ready to leave out the big names?
‘I am always brave. You know that,’ he said. ‘But I don’t talk now about hypothetical names that can be left out. Let’s see who’s fit and available. I think we took some brave decisions already. We nominated a squad of only 21 to keep the competition going.
‘The competition is on. If you are in camp, you are in your best behaviour, your best shape, best form and you make the best of it. It’s a privilege to be in camp and then fight for your place. If you can help everyone to be better and to grow and this is what we did.’
