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England manager Thomas Tuchel wants to channel Jude Bellingham’s intensity positively.
England star Jude Bellingham (AP)
England manager Thomas Tuchel is keen to harness Jude Bellingham’s “fire” to benefit his team rather than allow the Real Madrid star to intimidate teammates or rage at referees.
Tuchel faced his first defeat in four games as England boss on Tuesday when Senegal became the first African team to beat the Three Lions, securing a 3-1 friendly win.
Bellingham believed he had equalised late on at Nottingham Forest’s City Ground, but the goal was controversially disallowed before Senegal scored a third in stoppage time.
Tuchel had to restrain Bellingham’s protests at full-time and acknowledged it is a balancing act to retain the 21-year-old’s fighting spirit without it boiling over.
“He has something special and brings an edge. It’s essential if we want to achieve big things,” Tuchel told talkSPORT.
“It needs to be directed at the opponent and towards our goals, not to intimidate teammates or be aggressive towards referees, but always focused on winning.”
“He has the fire—I don’t want to diminish that; he should play with that as it’s his strength.”
“But the fire also comes with an intensity that can intimidate teammates. Sometimes you see the explosion towards referees and the anger in his game.”
“If he can channel this properly, he has something we need, and that edge is hard to find.”
Tuchel, who won the Champions League with Chelsea and league titles with Paris Saint-Germain and Bayern Munich, was brought in to end England’s wait for a major tournament victory since 1966.
Under Gareth Southgate, they reached the final of Euro 2020, as well as a quarter-final and semi-final in the past two World Cups.
Tuchel has a talented squad at his disposal but has yet to find the right blend in three underwhelming World Cup qualifying wins over Albania, Latvia, and Andorra before the loss to Senegal.
“I already have an idea of what to do,” he added, with one year to go until the 2026 World Cup begins.
“We did some experiments in the second camp. Not everything was bad; we did some good things, but the two games were not good enough.”
“It was a good learning experience and brought clarity. Each game is a learning situation and helps us mould the team and find solutions.”
(With inputs from AFP)
Ritayan Basu, Senior Sub-Editor, Sports at News18.com. Has been covering domestic and and international football for nearly a decade. Has played and covered badminton. Ocassionally writes on cricket, having cov…Read More
Ritayan Basu, Senior Sub-Editor, Sports at News18.com. Has been covering domestic and and international football for nearly a decade. Has played and covered badminton. Ocassionally writes on cricket, having cov… Read More
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