Media 'making things up' as Thomas Tuchel 'bristles'

‘The last thing Thomas Tuchel wants is for outsiders to stir up tensions and cast doubt over his relationship with a player who is so vital to his and England’s fortunes,’ writes a man doing exactly that.

Jude Bellingham has got people writing some absolute nonsense…

Guess who?

“The players know what Jude is like as a person and as a player. He is a world-class player and a world-class person, and he makes the England team, when he plays, even better because of the type of player that he is,” said Jordan Henderson this week.

“The perception outside…they don’t know. Do you know what I mean? They are guessing. They are making things up, ultimately. From the outside, you can never listen to noise or media or things like that, because a lot of the time it can be untrue or it can be misinterpreted.”

Talking of ‘making things up’ and ‘guessing’, we bring you this absolute bull from the Mirror:

Inside Thomas Tuchel’s ‘fallout’ with Jude Bellingham after mum dragged into row

Alarm bells are immediately rung by ‘fallout’ in quotes. Who are they quoting? Nobody obviously as there has been no ‘fallout’. Can you go ‘inside’ a ‘fallout’ that does not exist? It’s a question for Jean-Paul Sartre, who would have been even more miserable had he lived through an international break.

Thomas Tuchel caused quite a stir by leaving Jude Bellingham out of his latest England squad. The Real Madrid midfielder was one of several big names overlooked, alongside Manchester City’s Phil Foden and his Los Blancos team-mate Trent Alexander-Arnold.

The latter is literally injured but carry on…

However, it was Bellingham’s omission that drew the most attention, especially given the supposed frosty history between him and Tuchel. Granted, the 22-year-old has spent much of the season sidelined with a shoulder injury and only recently returned to action.

That’s a pretty big ‘granted’; he has literally played about two hours of football this season.

Lost in all this is that Tuchel has actually admitted that “it’s very likely” that he would also have left out Bukayo Saka from this England squad, and it was perhaps only Noni Madueke’s injury that saved him.

That’s also entirely overlooked by Rob Dorsett on Sky Sports, who writes that ‘Thomas Tuchel’s relationship with Real Madrid superstar could define England reign as questions remain’.

He writes that ‘ultimately it could have a huge bearing on how far England go in next summer’s World Cup. That’s how important the dynamic is between the national team manager and the country’s biggest star.’

We understand that it is the international break and issues expand to fill the gap but this is genuine bollocks. Tuchel has repeatedly made the point that he wanted to reward the players who beat Serbia 5-0 and that meant there was no space for Bellingham, Jack Grealish or Phil Foden, and might have been no room for Saka either.

Anthony Gordon has spoken openly about how the England camp is a different place, with and without Bellingham.

“You definitely notice when he is not here because he is such a big presence, such a big player,” said the Newcastle winger.

You know what he also said? “I think we all know that if he is playing week in, week out for Real Madrid, he is going to be in the England team.”

He also pointed out the ridiculous amount of football he has played at such a young age and echoed Tuchel in saying he needed “rhythm”. It’s almost like it all makes sense.

He (Tuchel) told us he decided to leave Bellingham at home. It sounded like a snub, but Tuchel insisted it was only right that, following the really impressive 5-0 mauling of Serbia in Belgrade last month, the same squad had earned the right to have another go. And this is where there is an apparent contradiction.

There might have been a ‘contradiction’ had anybody who played against Serbia – and remained fit – been dropped, but Tuchel tried to name the same squad, as close as damn it.

At the moment Tuchel took charge on New Year’s Day, he pointed out that he only had six international camps to get to know his players, work with them closely on and off the pitch, spend time with them, build a philosophy and mould them into World Cup contenders.

That seems at odds with his decision this time to leave out some of the biggest names, who he will surely rely upon next June.

As well as Bellingham, you can include Phil Foden in that assessment for sure, probably Jack Grealish, and maybe Adam Wharton.

We’re not sure how many times Tuchel has to explain this, but we will run through this again for those who struggle to understand: He promised the England players who beat Serbia 5-0 that they would not be discarded for bigger names.

“For this camp we decided that we stick with our straightforward decision to invite the same team,” he said.

But he should have made an exception for a player who has barely played for Real Madrid? Behave.

Dorsett thinks he has a killer argument:

Bear in mind too that Tuchel felt John Stones’ presence was so vital and so sorely missed in and around the England squad, that he invited the Manchester City defender to come along with the group to the summer training camp near Barcelona, even though he was injured and he couldn’t join in on the grass.

Tuchel wanted him around the place, building a bond. No such invitation was extended to Bellingham this time round, when he is training fully.

Because obviously there is no difference between a training camp – designed specifically to test the England squad in the heat – and actual England fixtures.

Tuchel is still adapting to life as an international manager, and he has talked at length about how it is a struggle not having the day-to-day contact with his players that he has always enjoyed at club level.

Why then, when you have such limited time, would you so pointedly drop a generational talent like Bellingham and not include him in your plans?

Because he hasn’t been ‘pointedly dropped’, perhaps? Indeed, you could argue that the opposite has happened: That he has not pointedly included him as an exceptional case.

Not in his plans? Tuchel literally said this last week: “Do I believe we are a stronger team with Jude? Yes? Is he one of the best players in the world in midfield? Yes.”

It’s all rather exhausting and we feel for Tuchel with people like Dorsett relentless on this subject:

This international break was the first opportunity for the two men to sit down and clear the air, discuss what happened four months ago, when Tuchel said his mother is sometimes “repulsed” by Bellingham’s behaviour on the pitch.

Tuchel has since apologised for those comments – both publicly, and to Bellingham in private – and made it clear he absolutely meant no offence, and had chosen his words mistakenly.

He bristled when I brought the subject up again in the latest England news conference. But the fact of the matter is, the two men haven’t been together in person since that flare-up, and whilst a call-up wasn’t possible in last month’s international break as Bellingham was injured, Tuchel has pointedly refused the opportunity to have a face-to-face reunion now.

He ‘bristled’ because it’s old news. And apologising both publicly and on the phone is absolutely enough for any right-thinking person. Tuchel has not ‘pointedly (somebody has a new favourite word) refused the opportunity to have a face-to-face reunion’, he has simply stuck with a promise he made after the Serbia game. We almost wish Saka had been left out so we were spared this relentless nonsense about Bellingham.

Dorsett then questions why Harry Kane was included and not Bellingham. BECAUSE HARRY KANE PLAYED AGAINST SERBIA, Rob. It’s really not hard to fathom.

But this is the best of all the lines:

It is important to reiterate that the England head coach is adamant he has a good relationship with Bellingham. I asked him that question directly at Wembley, and with a steely look in my direction, he gave an unequivocal and pointed response.

The last thing Thomas Tuchel wants is for outsiders to stir up tensions and cast doubt over his relationship with a player who is so vital to his and England’s fortunes.

And yet here we f***ing are.

Maybe Thomas Tuchel’s relationship with a Sky Sports reporter will come to define his England reign…

Old Red eyes is back…

Column writers do not tend to write column headlines so Mediawatch presumes that the i Paper‘s Mark Douglas did not pitch his cautiously optimistic Manchester United piece as ‘Man Utd are back in business – that should worry Ruben Amorim’.

They’re 10th in the Premier League table, FFS.

But we cannot forgive Douglas for this old man nonsense:

One data whizz who works for a Premier League club explains that their “true performance” table, which is based on advanced metrics that dig deeper into displays than just which team wins, had the Red Devils much higher than their eventual finishing place of 15th last season. And this year they are tracking higher than their current position of 10th, too.

Douglas is not an elderly gentleman so why does he sound like a man who has had to ask his grandchild to change his mobile settings because everything is suddenly in Arabic? A ‘data whizz’? It’s 2025, fella, we can all look at Opta’s expected points table and see Manchester United in fourth.

But do you know what that does not mean? That Manchester United are ‘back in business’. Shall we save that for when they leapfrog Sunderland in the table?

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