Thomas Tuchel makes pledge to Jude Bellingham and urges more discipline from England stars

Evening Standard

·22 March 2025

Thomas Tuchel makes pledge to Jude Bellingham and urges more discipline from England stars

Thomas Tuchel’s tenure as England manager began with victory over Albania on Friday night

Thomas Tuchel has urged more positional discipline from his England players and pledged to help Jude Bellingham “channel his emotions”.

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Tuchel’s tenure as England manager began on Friday night as England won 2-0 in front of more than 82,000 at Wembley in their first qualifier on the road to the 2026 World Cup.

Debutant Myles Lewis-Skelly and captain Harry Kane scored either side of the break in a match England deserved to win but which also offered room for improvement in terms of performance.

Real Madrid star Jude Bellingham assisted the opening goal and put in a tireless display against Albania, and Tuchel was quizzed on how he can get the best out of the 21-year-old.

“I think he is a key player for us and will be a key player, and is happy to take the responsibility,” Tuchel said. “He’s a team player and is absolutely open to giving everything for the team.

“He is always able to make the difference, so we need to find the structure and the space to make the most of it. It’s a pleasure to work with him.

“We need to help him within a structure [so] that he can play more economically and still have the same impact or maybe even more impact. We need to make sure that the leaders and the main players walk in the same direction and help each other out, play a bit more disciplined to save some energy for decisive moments.”

Bellingham has been sent off in La Liga and earnt a suspension in the Champions League this season for picking up too many yellow cards. The attacker is seen as someone who plays close to the edge in terms of emotion.

Tuchel said: “He loves to talk to the referee and the linesman! He’s a very emotional player. I think you can see that he hates to lose. He does everything that it takes. You see his hunger and desire to win. I think he will keep this hunger and learn to channel his emotions a little bit.”

Jude Bellingham impressed in England’s win over Albania

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The England head coach was asked whether he felt his side had lacked a decisiveness in the final third against Albania.

“Absolutely,” he said. “I’m not so sure why we struggled to have more impact with the wingers, not so sure why we could not deliver quicker to them. We didn’t have enough dribbling and penetration without the ball.

“Both wingers [Phil Foden and Marcus Rashford] struggled a little bit to have the impact that we are used to. I think Marcus passed a little bit too much.

“In general, we struggled with where to take the risk. Against a block like this, we should have relied more on chip balls and runs off the ball, because every time we did it was a half-chance.

“In my opinion, we need a bit more discipline in the positions. If we change too much the positions like we did in the second half, it turns our game down.

“I’m not the most patient guy in the world, but I will learn and push the players.”