Tuchel here to make history not friends
Tuchel has a history of falling out with people. And also winning.
“He’s here for a good time not a long time,” confided somebody who worked with Thomas Tuchel in club football. Five minutes in Tuchel’s company privately and you realise he really doesn’t care who he upsets. He doesn’t worry about building relationships which is why he’s fallen out with owners, chief executives, players in the past and now some fans at Wembley, accusing them of being silent.
Thomas Tuchel. Photo: Nigel French/Sportsphoto/Allstar via Getty Images
It’s even less of a problem with England than in club football because he’ll be gone in 283 days, shorter if England don’t make the World Cup final at the MetLife Stadium. Tuchel’s already in full “my way” swing. He’s certainly frank, definitely Sinatra and let’s hope his England career climaxes in Ol’ Blue Eyes’ New Jersey back-yard.
Bit of a diva but a great coach. (Tuchel not Sinatra). Let’s not forget this about Tuchel: he’s very, very good. All the post-match headlines and talk about England fans being quiet drowned out what should really be loud appreciation of what Tuchel has done with England. He thrashed Serbia in the Belgrade. He humiliated Wales in 20 minutes. Tuchel keeps it simple. He uses a formation - 4-2-3-1 – players are familiar with. He plays players in their best position. Even those shifted slightly out of position, such as Ezri Konsa from right centre-half to right-back, have the flexibility to do so.
Tuchel, it needs saying, is also very, very fortunate to have a huge playing pool to draw from. Few – if any - of Craig Bellamy’s Wales players would get in Tuchel’s squad. England will go into the World Cup with one of the strongest squads, even if concerns persist about the starting defence.
Great coach but a bit of a diva. That’s Tuchel. He marches to his own rhythm. He ignores England’s Player of the Year (Jude Bellingham), the Premier League Player of the Month (Jack Grealish), last year’s Footballer of the Year (Phil Foden) and the media’s latest darling (Adam Wharton). He picks a controversial thirtysomething (Jordan Henderson), promotes the untried (Elliot Anderson and Morgan Rogers), the unexpected (Djed Spence) and the unfashionable (Dan Burn), recalls an outcast (Marcus Rashford), and calls out the England fans.
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The irony is that some of what Tuchel does and says echo his perceived issues with Bellingham, Real Madrid’s huge talent. Both are elite performers, demanding high standards of themselves and others and not short of self-belief. There is a “who else?” streak to Tuchel’s personality. Tuchel demands a team ethos but is not a team player in an organisation.
He’s a disruptor, rather like Bellingham, although anyone who knows anything about the 22-year-old knows he is popular with many team-mates. So much stuff is being thrown at Bellingham that it is worth placing criticism in perspective. Bellingham’s so respected that Gareth Southgate made him the spokesman for the younger England generation, making him the fourth member of the leadership group at the Euros. Talk to any of the broadcast reporters who cover England and they all speak highly of Bellingham’s politeness and helpfulness. (He ignores print, an issue unquestionably).
The Football Association must be mindful that one of England’s few acknowledged world-class players doesn’t feel alienated. It’s not about soothing an ego, it’s about sensible man-management. Bellingham will be around England for another 10 years, Tuchel only for another nine months. The “attitude” that some want to tame in Bellingham is actually a winning mentality, one that England will need at the World Cup against far more difficult opponents than Serbia and Wales. Rogers or Bellingham against France, Argentina, Spain?