England civil war nonsense exposed as Kane offers insight into Tuchel v Bellingham situation | OneFootball

The time for talking is over.

At least hopefully that’s the case for intrepid ITV documentarian Gabriel Clarke after his curious overstep in the aftermath of England’s World Cup quarter-final win over Norway.

Clarke plays an important and necessary role as the official national team camp’s mood gauger, speaking over footage of training sessions before cutting back to a quick and almost entirely inane chat with whichever player is available. But rarely if ever before has he actively decided to try and personally influence that atmosphere quite so brazenly and unnecessarily.

Whether chastened by his opening question being called out for inaccuracy by anti-suffer merchant Thomas Tuchel, or astonished by the concept of an England manager deciding not to flat-bat some post-match soft balls, Clarke chose to poke at a wound some refuse to let heal.

The only shock is that Tuchel’s mother has not been hastily approached for comment.

But there was nothing vaguely repulsive about a healthy difference in opinion – or even just an understandable variation in perspectives – between an ultra-perfectionist coach and an absurdly elite player.

Tuchel was right to say England “made life difficult for themselves” against Norway, that there were some “sloppy, technical mistakes” throughout, that luck played a part. They did, there were, and it did. For lengthy periods in the game the pre-match favourites struggled and at no stage were they really in control.

He was also absolutely justified in calling out the preposterous notion that he was criticising the “mentality” of a team which had just reached, at the very least, a fourth semi-final in five major tournaments.

Bellingham was valid in quite calmly defusing that potential bomb, highlighting the “great shift” put in by his team-mates – something Tuchel himself praised – and even pointing out that the manager “maybe doesn’t know what it’s like to play in those conditions against Erling Haaland, Odegaard, Nusa, Sorloth”.

Without venturing too far into Never Played The Game territory – which would be unfair anyway as Tuchel made it further than most before being forced into retirement – it was a fair rebuttal: this was a World Cup quarter-final (something only France have made look straightforward this summer) against a strong opponent, in an environment not particularly conducive to relentless brilliance over 120 minutes.

But as Tuchel said, “I’m also a football coach and I think we can play better”. And only a fool or optimist would realistically suggest otherwise. The ‘shameful’ Harry Kane, in a slightly less preposterous voice, noted that “it wasn’t our prettiest performance” and “there’s another level we can reach”.

“[Tuchel] just said there in the changing room, massive congratulations, we should enjoy it and celebrate, but he knows we can do better,” the captain added.

“In a way, that’s a good thing. If we are in the semi-finals of a World Cup and knowing we can still improve and find another level, we have to take that as a positive.”

The attempt to spin some sort of negative out of it is predictable and tiresome. But really this was just a case of Tuchel and Bellingham disagreeing to agree: a manager focusing on the visibly improvable technical aspect of a performance, a player directing attention to the team’s almost unparalleled strength of spirit and attitude, and both being asked provocative, deliberately misleading and decontextualised questions about the thoughts of the other.

That England have adults on the touchline and the pitch capable of sensibly rising above that pearl-clutching noise to put their points forward cogently and respectfully before coming together to lead them into a World Cup semi-final, is remarkably refreshing.

For Clarke, England awaits a time when he and similarly daft folk stop trying to engineer controversy or manufacture a story where there really shouldn’t be one.