Thomas Tuchel unhappy with England display in World Cup quarter-final win over Norway – but reacts with Jude Bellingham: “Whatever” | football news

Thomas Tuchel admitted he was not satisfied with England’s performance in their nervy World Cup quarter-final win over Norway – admitting the Three Lions were “numb, lucky” and “in every sense” not good enough.

However, England’s matchwinner Jude Bellingham appeared to be somewhat taken aback by Tuchel’s comments when they were put to him, replying: “Yeah, well. Whatever.”

England put the country through the mill again with their comeback win which was taken in extra time. After falling behind, Bellingham’s double three took the Lions to their third World Cup semi-final since 1966 – but there was more to it than that.

Norway dominated the second half, with a second goal disallowed for an Erling Haaland foul and Kristoffer Azar hitting the bar. Tukhel was far from impressed.

“We made life very difficult for ourselves today,” he said ITV Sport. “The result is great, we’re in the last four. It’s amazing. I’m not happy with the performance.

“In every sense. There’s promise but the way we played, we made life very, very difficult with the way we played. Sloppy, tactical mistakes, not quick enough. Not repetitive enough. We were lucky enough.

“We’ll get better, we have to get better. Now it’s celebration. Now it’s taking everything. We need everything to perform better.”

Giving the players’ perspective, Bellingham added: “It’s tough out there. It’s a tough shift. All the players are putting in a tough shift. So my thoughts and gratitude go out to the players who have had a good shift out there.

“Maybe he doesn’t know what it’s like to play in these conditions against Erling Haaland, (Martin) Odegaard, (Antonio) Noosa, (Alexander) Sorloth. It’s not easy to play against this team.

“So, I think we’ve tried to create a positive atmosphere. Going to the Final Four should keep us going. I can’t say too much about the guys.

“You’re not going to win every game, popping the ball and making a thousand passes. Sometimes you have to win dirty, and we did that again tonight.”

England are lucky that when asked if he agreed with Tuchel’s assessment, he replied: “No comment.”

Tuchel: We have to play better

Told that Bellingham felt the players had made a good change in challenging conditions, the England boss said: “Of course, no one disputes that. I’m impressed with the shift they’ve put in.

“The effort, the team spirit, the belief and finding a way to overcome adversity and dig in and win is at the highest level. They can’t get enough praise for that.

“But I’m a football coach and I think we can play better. In general, I think it wasn’t a high-level game. I think we had a better game in general.”

He continued: “We had a lot of pace swings for both teams, so, yeah, full credit to the team. We found a way. We’re in the last four.

“Obviously, that’s the most important thing but my head of analytics and the football coach in me still think we can and must play better football.”

England were playing in sweltering heat in Miami where the “feel” temperature was said to be over 40C. And while Tuchel was unhappy with the performance, he denied claims it was down to a lack of mentality.

“Attitude?” said a shocked Tuchel. “Now it’s pure mentality. Now how can you talk about mentality? It’s pure mentality.

“It’s not a mindset problem. You can bottle it and sell it. Why are you talking about mindset?

“It’s our quality of play (that’s the problem). We have to play better.”

Asked about Tuchel’s displeasure, captain Harry Kane said: “He just said in the changing room; massive congratulations, you should enjoy it and celebrate.

“There still seems to be a part of him that knows we can do better. Which is a good thing in a way. If we’re in the semi-finals of the World Cup and can still improve, we can take that as a positive.

“We had the most important elements as a team. If we can start ticking a little bit better with possession, we’ll have some good games ahead.”

Neville: Big pride is a good thing for England

Gary Neville of Sky Sports on ITV:

“That’s why England brought in Thomas Tuchel – a manager who doesn’t just settle for winning a World Cup quarter-final. He wants more.

“What they did was they took him too close to the edge for his liking. You saw Messi cry the other day when they took him too close for the other day.

“Tuchel is going; why are you putting me through this? You’re better than that. We’re high quality. It’s great to watch. I love both interviews. Thomas Tuchel’s was great. Jude Bellingham’s response was absolutely brilliant.

“Since the start of the tournament we haven’t looked like a cohesive unit, a cohesive unit in terms of passing rhythm in possession. What we’ve got is an exceptional player in Bellingham and Kane.

“What you see in these two interviews is huge egos, world-class players and managers. You have to be exceptional to do what these two have done.

“Among one player in five tournaments for England, I’ve never seen that level of anger. Apart from Terry Venables and Paul Ince who went for each other at half-time in a game at the European Championships. I’ve never seen a manager challenge players or a player challenge managers. It was wonderful. What we saw there was great for England.

“I’ve seen Paul Gascoigne go into a tournament and tear it up, Michael Owen did the same, Wayne Rooney did it in 2004.

“But I’ve never seen a player impact the tournament like Jude Bellingham.

“It’s very special, what we’re seeing. An absolute superstar. He’s giving everything and more for England.”

England’s path to the World Cup final

England’s path to winning the World Cup is now clear.

Argentina await the last four before a date with potential World Cup finals opponents France or Spain.

Wednesday July 15: England Vs ArgentinaAtlanta – Kick-off 8pm (BST)

Sunday 19 July: England Vs France/SpainNew Jersey – Kick-off 8pm (BST)