Thomas Tuchel resists ‘madness’ of calls to rest England players despite longer window

Thomas Tuchel says it would be “madness” to allow his England players or the clubs to pick and choose their matches during the elongated Nations League window as he promised to go full throttle for victory against Czechia in Prague on Tuesday.

The manager did accept that Declan Rice needed to rest and could not be part of the squad in light of the Arsenal midfielder’s heavy workload across a number of seasons and well-documented fitness issues. Rice was at Wembley on Saturday to watch England lose 3-2 against Spain in their opening Nations League game.

But now that Tuchel has his group, he says there is no room for compromise and certainly not to speak to club managers who might want to make deals over their players’ minutes. Tuchel does not want to rotate his starting personnel, although he does accept it could be impractical. After Prague, England go to Rijeka to play Croatia on Saturday before returning to Wembley to face Czechia next Tuesday.

“I don’t take calls from Premier League managers,” Tuchel said. “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. I knew as a club coach … if I would call a coach in Brazil or Argentina, they would not know what I am talking about. The players would not know what I am talking about.

“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. I would love not to rotate but I am not sure if it’s possible. An ideal scenario would be to go again and go again and go again. With six or seven players minimum that start again – to put the responsibility on them and for them to feel the trust.”

Tuchel accepted the Spain defeat had increased the pressure for the trip to Prague but he was unconcerned. “It’s nothing we can’t handle,” he said. “We need to be proactive and go for it. There is no room for managing [the players] or an economic style. It’s how the team want to play, how we want to play so let’s go.”

Tuchel was asked whether Jude Bellingham, who was at his rampaging best against Spain, could sustain his all-or-nothing style for another three England games in quick succession. “It’s the only style he can play,” Tuchel said.

“That’s just his game. It’s not an economic game. Let’s see. I would love to have him four times on the pitch. The concern is that he hasn’t done it this season in this tight period. We will need to check with the physios. We will not put Jude at any risk.”

Bellingham created a game-high five chances against Spain, including the assist for Anthony Gordon’s equaliser for 1-1. He won the penalty that Harry Kane missed to give England a 3-1 lead. His running with the ball repeatedly stretched the world champions. There was also the moment on 35 minutes when he clashed with his Real Madrid teammate, Marc Cucurella.

“Jude likes that, he gets better if that happens,” Tuchel said. “It’s better if he plays with a bit of rage. It’s what he does. I think sometimes he is looking for these moments to get his fire going. He doesn’t know any [Madrid] teammates [during an international game]. He is still friends with them but not for the 90 minutes.”

It was a wild game against Spain. England conceded early and could have been four or five down by the 35th minute. Their defending was loose. They rallied to lead 2-1 at half-time and the match turned after Kane’s penalty miss in the 54th minute when he felt his standing foot give way. Tuchel insisted his team was not far away from beating the very best.

“If Harry doesn’t slip we win the game,” Tuchel said. “If Harry doesn’t slip we go two goals up. We were clearly the better team until that moment. Of course, Spain never panic. How far away are we from that? One small slip from Harry.

“If we had won, we would have deserved it but it wouldn’t have made us favourites for the Euros. We need to go step by step. They came with their strongest team. We had some key players missing. I am fine with this performance. We could have won the game and didn’t.”