Thomas Tuchel has hit out at ITV over their post-match interview with Jude Bellingham after England's World Cup quarter-final win against Norway, insisting there is no rift between the pair.
Tuchel's Frustration with Media
Speaking to talkSPORT ahead of the semi-final against Argentina, the England manager accused the broadcaster of taking his comments out of context to create a false narrative. Tuchel had described his side's performance as 'sloppy' at times during the 2-1 extra-time victory in Miami, but also praised Bellingham as 'world-class'.
When asked about Bellingham's seemingly dismissive 'yeah, well, whatever' response to being told of Tuchel's criticism, the manager said: 'I wonder who blows these things up, eh? There is nothing to blow up and if it's blown up, it's blown up in the media, of course.'
Tuchel Defends Bellingham
Tuchel defended his player, arguing the question was unfair. 'What do you expect of a player that just played 120 minutes and gave literally everything if you shorten the comment of his coach, if you don't tell him that he was world-class, if you don't tell him he has world-class actions? If you just cut all this and tell him, 'your coach said you were sloppy', what do you expect?'
He added: 'We come from the same place, we come from being competitive. I am a competitive coach. I push this team to the limit and that was my assessment. I think the question was unfair in this moment to Jude because he cut all the compliments out of my assessment and just asked about the critical points.'
Team Unity Ahead of Semi-Final
Tuchel insisted the squad remains united. 'We're as close as ever, and closer than ever before. You can see that on the field. The energy and mentality in camp is excellent, and we are ready to go for it.'
He revealed he had already addressed the issue with the whole team. 'I spoke to the whole team. We debriefed. I spoke to the whole team after in the dressing room, which was basically the same message. And I explained it again the next evening to just move on forward. And then we straight away in the talk put on a new direction, put on a new head, which is semi-final and Argentina.'
