Thomas Tuchel was caught on camera furiously blasting Djed Spence during England’s World Cup stalemate against Ghana. After an exhilarating start to the competition against Croatia last week, the Three Lions struggled in their second group match on Tuesday night.
Spence starts at left-back
Spence started at left-back against the Black Stars in one of two changes made by the England boss, with Marc Guehi also returning to the starting XI ahead of John Stones. In the days leading up to the game, a training clip of Tuchel barking at Spence went viral, with the German telling his player to ‘wake up’ after he hesitated on the ball during a passing drill.
Manager's wrath on the pitch
There was a repeat performance of that on Tuesday night with the Tottenham full-back again feeling his manager’s wrath. During the second-half, Tuchel was seen repeatedly screaming Spence’s name, seemingly irate at his decision not to make an overlapping run down the flank. With Spence shrugging his shoulders in response, Tuchel appeared to bellow ‘give and go’ at his player before walking away exasperated.
England's attacking struggles
England did not register a shot on target until the 57th minute and missed the chance to confirm their place in the knockout stages of the competition. But Tuchel called for calm ahead of the final group game against Panama on Saturday.
“Djed… Djed… DJED!” was the cry captured by ITV cameras, as the clip circulated widely on social media.
Tuchel's message to fans
‘Don’t worry,’ Tuchel said when asked if he had a message for supporters. ‘We will always try to win games. We tried today. I think the intensity, energy and team spirit is clearly there. Everyone tried and pushed.
‘We play in a very difficult group. We had a difficult first match and a difficult second match. I saw other matches that are not at this kind of level in the second group match so this is what it is.
‘Panama will not be easy. They are maybe unknown but they were very, very good against Ghana so it is a difficult group and we knew it. It tests us in many different ways which will help us once we go into the knockouts.’
