England manager Thomas Tuchel says he wants to harness Jude Bellingham’s passion and intensity to the team’s advantage rather than let it become a disruptive force.
Tuchel, who took charge of England earlier this year, suffered his first defeat as manager on Tuesday as Senegal recorded a historic 3-1 win — becoming the first African team to beat the Three Lions. The friendly, played at Nottingham Forest’s City Ground, saw Bellingham’s late equaliser controversially ruled out before Senegal scored a third in stoppage time.
Bellingham, clearly frustrated, had to be calmed by Tuchel at full-time after protesting the decision.
“He has a certain something and brings an edge. It’s needed if we want to achieve big things,” Tuchel told talkSPORT. “It needs to be channelled towards the opponent and towards our goal, and not to intimidate teammates or be aggressive towards referees — but always on winning.”
Tuchel, a Champions League winner with Chelsea and former league champion with PSG and Bayern Munich, acknowledged the fine line between passion and disruption.
“He has the fire — I don’t want to dim that, he should play with that as that’s his strength,” he said. “But the fire comes also with some attributes that can intimidate teammates. Sometimes you see the explosion towards referees and the anger in his game.
“If he can channel this in the right way, he has something that we need — and that edge is hard to find.”
Tuchel was hired to finally lead England to major silverware after decades of near-misses. Under his predecessor, Gareth Southgate, England reached two European Championship finals and the later stages of consecutive World Cups, but fell short each time.
Despite a talented squad, Tuchel’s start has been mixed. His side won three unconvincing World Cup qualifiers against Albania, Latvia, and Andorra before the loss to Senegal.
“I already have an idea of what to do,” Tuchel said, with just over a year until the 2026 World Cup. “We did some experiments in the second camp, not everything was bad. It was a good learning and it brings clarity. Each game is a learning situation and helps us mould the team and find solutions.”
