The England head coach is not looking to soften the international break for the Premier League. Speaking on Monday before Tuesday’s UEFA Nations League fixture in Prague, Tuchel drew the sharpest line yet under the club-versus-country debate.
“I don’t take calls from Premier League managers,” he told reporters.
“I never called any national team coach [when he was in club football]. I cannot manage [the minutes of] the players. It’s just impossible.”
Asked why he would not simply rotate to spread the load on club-owned assets, his answer, reported by Reuters, was blunter.
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“Why would I do this and start giving the players the impression that it’s OK to take a step back or share a half or to rest one match? I would never. It’s madness.”
“We want to win the next match. An ideal scenario would be to go again and go again and go again,” he said, according to the same account of the press conference.
Wembley loss is still fresh
The remarks landed 48 hours after England lost 3-2 to Spain at Wembley on Saturday, an opening Nations League setback in which Harry Kane also struck the bar with a penalty. Lamine Yamal put Spain ahead inside two minutes; Anthony Gordon and Kane replied for England; and substitutes Alex Baena and Mikel Oyarzabal completed the comeback to stretch Spain’s unbeaten run to 39 games.
Tuchel wants a core of six or seven players to start every camp and told reporters that only Declan Rice would be rested against Czechia because of his workload. Every other regular is expected to start again.
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Tuchel stands by Bellingham’s edge
The head coach pushed back at questions about Jude Bellingham’s temperament at Wembley, after the midfielder clashed with Chelsea’s Marc Cucurella.
“It’s better if he plays with a bit of rage. Jude likes that, he gets better if that happens.”
“He is still friends with them but not for the 90 minutes.”
England play Czechia at the Fortuna Arena in Prague on Tuesday, 29 September. Kick-off is at 8:45pm local time.
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