Jude Bellingham: Thomas Tuchel says ‘behaviour is key’ after midfielder’s reaction to being substituted
Bellingham was one of seven changes Tuchel made for England’s final qualifiers and showed signs of his best both offensively and defensively.
His final act was to celebrate Harry Kane’s second goal before his number was called up by the fourth official; This led to what former England defender Stephen Warnock described as the Real Madrid man’s “furious” reaction.
Asked about this in the post-match press conference, Tuchel added: “I need to review it. I saw that he was not happy, I don’t want to make a bigger deal of the situation than it is at the moment.”
“My words are valid, we are talking about standards, level, commitment to each other and respect for each other. We will not change or decide just because someone waves their arms.”
Tuchel had previously described Bellingham’s behavior on the pitch as “disgusting” and the German later apologized for it.
Despite his disappointment, Bellingham applauded the fans for doing “the right thing”, according to Warnock, by shaking Tuchel’s hand on the touchline before sitting on the bench.
“There was an element of him thinking, ‘How am I going to deal with this?'” Warnock added on 5 Live.
“There were probably words said to him as he was leaving the pitch. Dan Burn walked towards him, Phil Foden walked towards him because they could see how angry and frustrated he was. ‘Don’t do anything stupid’ – that’s probably what was said to him. Tuchel’s biggest word was respect.
“If you’re going to win a World Cup, sometimes you’re going to have to play in bits and pieces. You may not play every minute you want to play, you’ve got to do what’s for the good of the team. The game has changed.
“Bellingham will have to rise to the occasion and say, ‘okay, I’m going to have to make some changes to adjust.’
Conor Coady was in the England squad with Bellingham at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar and said Bellingham would know deep down that Tuchel had made the right decision.
“When the dust settles, Jude will realize it was the right decision to sack him,” Coady told 5 Live. “What’s Jude’s situation, he thinks he’s trying to play catch-up at that moment.”
“He missed the last camp, he knows Morgan Rogers is doing a really good job. He wants to play every minute he can to show his manager that he can be England’s most important man.
“We saw that tonight with the balls he lost, he was losing simple balls and at times he was trying to be too adventurous in his own half. I think he feels like he’s closing the gap. Rogers is in a great position.”
