Tuchel's Message To Bellingham
Following England's dominant 3-0 victory over Wales, Thomas Tuchel questioned the press if his decision to leave out star players, such as Jude Bellingham, was justified.
Hello and welcome back to The Overlap newsletter! Seven weeks of Premier League football has now passed, as we head into the second international break of the season, and the table looks to be as competitive as ever. There is only a six point gap between 1st and 10th, with a seven point gap between 11th and 20th! It really is all to play for. Arsenal now sit top, albeit with a narrow one point lead, as they swept aside a timid West Ham team in a comfortable 2-0 victory at The Emirates. Declan Rice opened the scoring after 38 minutes, followed by a well dispatched penalty from star boy Bukayo Saka in the 67th, to secure a deserved three points for The Gunners. As for The Hammers, despite appointing Nuno Espírito Santo as Graham Potter’s replacement, positive changes are yet to follow as their four points from the opening seven Premier League fixtures is their joint-worst return at this stage of the campaign, also having four in 2016/17. Liverpool have now extended their losing streak in all comps to three games after their 2-1 loss away to Chelsea. Moisés Caicedo rocketed one in from outside the box to make it 1-0 to The Blues in the 14th minute. Arne Slot’s men dug deep to find an equaliser in the 63rd via Dutch forward Cody Gakpo. However, Maresca’s side weren’t to be deterred as 18-year-old summer signing Estêvão scored a dramatic stoppage-time winner to send Stamford Bridge into raptures and defeat the reigning champions for the first time since a 1-0 win at Anfield in March 2021. Liverpool now drop to second in the table leaving the boss Arne Slot with a bit of an uncomfortable situation to try and resolve. You can see a detailed tactical analysis on Arne Slot’s frustrating start to the season over on The Overlap Breakdown YouTube channel. Manchester City got the job done away to Brentford in a 1-0 victory. The imposing frame of Erling Haaland was of course the only goalscorer in the match, meaning he has now scored at 22 of the 23 stadiums he’s played at in The Premier League - failing only at Anfield. Pep Guardiola joined an exclusive club after claiming his 250th victory from 349 Premier League matches with Manchester City, the fastest to that milestone out of any English top-flight manager ever. Manchester United reached their third win of the season at home to Sunderland. The Red Devils dispatched The Black Cats 2-0 via two first half goals from Mason Mount and Benjamin Sesko, giving head coach Ruben Amorim a little breathing room going into the international break after facing major media pressure on his job.
Who has impressed you after the first seven PL game weeks? Have your say in the comments:
Catch the latest episode of Stick To Football on The Overlap Youtube Channel as this week Gary Neville, Jamie Carragher, Roy Keane, Jill Scott and Ian Wright take the show on the road and sit down in Rome, Italy! Roy shares who he’d like to see as Manchester United manager, their dream Italian 5-a-side teams a lots lots more. Listen to the latest episode of It Was What It Was following the link below as Jonathan Wilson and Rob Draper delve into the decline of Nottingham Forest following their European Cup victories. This final part of a four-part special looks at the financial turmoil, management struggles, and internal conflicts that marked the club’s subsequent years.
Quiz Question:
The fastest goal ever recorded in The Premier League was in 9.9 seconds. Who scored it?
Answer to follow at the end of the newsletter.
Stick To Football Behind The Scenes
HEY JUDE, DON’T TAKE IT BAD. JUST TAKE A SAD SONG AND MAKE IT BETTER
By Rob Draper, co host It Was What It Was
Thomas Tuchel was in a feisty mood on Thursday night at Wembley. It wasn’t just the England fans he wanted to take on. In his press encounters, he was actively seeking out the journalist who had told him last week that he needed to pick his best players to win the World Cup. “So I picked the right team today?” Tuchel asked him. He is very much the anti-Southgate in that he seeks out a confrontation.
And it shows you Tuchel knew exactly what was on the line for what would normally be a low-key friendly against Wales. A 5-0 win against Serbia does not make an England legend, so the manager’s strategy of pointedly excluding Jude Bellingham from this squad this time because he wanted to stick with the players who had served him so well in September was very much in the balance.
There is so little opportunity to judge international managers, with so few games of consequence and the news cycle hangover from one break to the next lingers for a month, with no games to change the mood. So had England produced one of those limp and lifeless performances, as they did against Andorra and Senegal in the summer, then it would have felt like any future Bellingham recall would also imply that Tuchel had been humbled. The sentiment might well have been “The Big Man is Back!”, to use Wayne Rooney’s words on his own return to the England 2006 World Cup squad.
As such, on Thursday night you had to leave aside the fact that this was only a friendly and England ought to beat Wales comfortably. Despite all that, the opening 20 minutes when England raced to a 3-0 lead was a hugely significant passage of play for Tuchel. In reality England should have been 5-0 up at half time, before Craig Bellamy had the chance to fix Wales.
Veteran watchers of England performances know that it’s very hard to make a positive impression against a deep block. What was noticeable on Thursday night was that when Wales retreated, England swamped them. Very often the deepest-lying England outfield player, John Stones or Marc Guehi, was ten metres from the edge of the Wales penalty area. In terms of aggressive pressing, this was the über version of the tactic. Last month Tuchel had claimed that his trademark way of playing, the Stuttgart School pressing game, was dead, so complex had the game become. But this was an old-school Tuchel press organised and executed to perfection.
And yes, it is only Serbia and Wales. Tuchel will be judged on what he can produce in a World Cup quarter or semi-final against France, Spain or Argentina. And hopefully a final. Excellent though he was, Elliott Anderson won’t get the luxury of space to direct the game from his quarterback style midfield role as he did on Thursday. It won’t be this easy when it matters.
And yet, whatever happens against Latvia on Tuesday - and it’s possible that England will confirm their World Cup place in Riga - the mood music feels a little different now. Everyone is assuming that Bellingham will eventually be recalled by Tuchel, but the question is just how will the squad and manager react?
Tuchel has apologised for using the word “repulsive” about Bellingham’s on-pitch behaviour, a mistake he said was made by speaking in his second language in an early-morning radio interview after little sleep the day after a game. And yet even if he admits he got the tone wrong on that occasion, no one now has any doubt that Tuchel is sending a message to Bellingham.
In the pre match press conference this week Tuchel doubled down on his take. “We stick with our choice and the radical statement is that we don’t collect the most-talented players, we collect the guys who have the glue and cohesion to be the best team,” he said.
“Who else?” yelled Bellingham when he scored the astonishing overhead kick against Slovakia in Euro 2024 to save his team-mates from an ignominious elimination. It’s fair to say that’s probably not the look Tuchel is seeking from his players.
Bellingham at Euro 2024 was the man England looked to when they needed an escape route from trouble. And yet the combinations on the pitch never quite worked. Harry Kane and Bellingham have played 35 times together for England and they have one joint goal involvement, which does not exactly make them the Batman and Robin of strike partnerships. Tactically, there also may be times where Tuchel requires Bellingham to be more of a No.8 than a No.10 and that will require a degree of sacrifice where he may not be the main man.
What kind of England squad will Bellingham return to? It will be one where all the players know that Tuchel is quite happy to take on the team’s biggest name and put him in his place. That speaks not just to Bellingham but also empowers the so-called lesser players. Tuchel noted that Bellingham can be “over aggressive” to team-mates and “intimidate” them and he is a notably exacting team-mate, in that he demands high standards. But those in possession of the shirt will doubtless feel a little more confident of their standing and willing to talk back when necessary.
The next time Bellingham checks in at St George’s Park presumably he will have noted what Tuchel expects and will either have adjusted or not. And his World Cup participation will clearly depend on his willingness to bend to the manager because, if there are any cracks in foundational relationships, you can guarantee they will widen to become a chasm under pressure away from home on camp at a World Cup.
Like his pressing game, Tuchel has gone all-in on a high-risk strategy. Either he gets Bellingham back subordinated to the manager and he may well go on to be the best player at the World Cup. Or he has created seismic pressures that will explode in destructive fashion this summer. Fetch the popcorn and enjoy the show. Never has football felt more like a personality-driven reality TV show.
Quiz Answer:
Shane Long.
Isn't it obvious to everyone who is a football fan. The balance of the team is far more important than any individual. Harry Kane a fantastic individual player, was absolutely pathetic for us in the last tournament. I'm not saying this was his fault. But the balance of the team & the way we played. Which was terrible in every game, except 1 half of 1 game. Was there for everyone to see. The manager placed Kane above all others. So much so he wouldn't even substitute him. Even when the whole world of football fans watching the games . Could see it needed to happen. Surely therefore should have built a team around & to bring the best out of his main man. But like every other before him. The manager took the cowards way out. By putting all the big individuals in, except the 1 who would have benefitted Kane massively. Jack Grealish but he has always been the easiest target. Tuchal is doing it the right way, getting the balance right 1st & foremost. Great individuals tend to be good enough. To enhance the balance of any team. If they stick to what the manager wants them to do . I mean personality wise as much as football wise. Bellingham is arrogant, there's nothing wrong with a bit of arrogance when you're very good. But too much arrogance from the gifted ones, always cause resentment. In high stake football games that go against you. This resentment can quickly cause a team to become toxic Ask any Man U fan about that. The players now don't have senior players to keep the young superstars like Bellingham in their place. So it's up to the manager to let him know his pecking order. Well done to tuchel for that.