Thomas Tuchel has a new Jude Bellingham problem | OneFootball

Thomas Tuchel has a new Jude Bellingham problem. This, at least, is a different one. After his misguided comments last summer that his mother found the Real Madrid player’s behaviour “repulsive”, after omitting Bellingham in October, after seeming to prefer Morgan Rogers to him, this may be the right kind of problem.

Tuchel has already faced questions in this World Cup 2026 if England are too reliant on Harry Kane. The evidence of their tournament so far is that they are too dependent on both the captain and Bellingham. They have scored five of England’s six goals. Bellingham has got the two most important, the strike to restore a lead against Croatia and the volley to break the deadlock against Panama. For good measure, he assisted Kane’s third of the World Cup five minutes later.

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Thomas Tuchel knows the importance of Jude Bellingham (Getty)

Can’t live with him, can’t live without him? Not quite, but it might seem that Tuchel’s brand of tough love is working. “I’m not sure if it’s a reaction,” said the England manager. “But it is what we want from him. He was very positive from the first day in camp. He buys fully into all the things we demand as a team player, and then he brings his own individual quality to decide football games.

“That’s what you see in World Cups now, and what you see from other teams and other big players. We have it in him and he’s a key player. He buys fully into all the things we demand of him as a team player. So well done until now. He needs to keep going.”

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Harry Kane and Bellingham have been England’s main men (Getty)

The concern, however, is that England look short of creativity and quality, hoping that Bellingham’s capacity to produce something out of nothing will provide salvation. If Tuchel needs more from others, he could also do with the team looking as though they can combine for goals, rather than leaving it up to individuals.

“Yes but we had six players in the attacking area today to break down a back five and ask a few more questions,” Tuchel countered. “If you look carefully, sometimes it’s just a run from someone else to open the space up for Jude so that he can shine. They work in units. If you see the chance in the first half where Jude is free and does the run into the box, we have a run from Nico O’Reilly who does this run to just take an opponent out.

“We have to work in patterns and we have to work in units to have a higher amount of attacking threat, to have a higher repetition. If we all just play freestyle, no one knows what the other one is thinking. So we want to play more in patterns and more in units, and I feel that we get the understanding better and better and better. And Jude is a part of it.

“It’s not only about patterns, it’s about the quality in the pattern. We want to be consistently finding players in these spaces, and then they should take advantage, and of course they take advantage with quality. That’s just what happens.

“And that’s basically what we need and what we demand. On a certain level, we want these guys in a key moment to show up. And I am convinced that Nico O’Reilly almost did it against Ghana. Harry did it. Jude did it. And I am sure Morgan Rogers, Anthony Gordon, Noni [Madueke], Bukayo [Saka] will do it when the time is there, and we need that.”

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Tuchel is keen for players other than Bellingham to contribute (Reuters)

A couple of Tuchel’s wingers are off the mark for the World Cup in different respects. Marcus Rashford scored the fourth goal against Croatia. Saka has two assists, for Rashford and then with the corner Bellingham converted in New York on Saturday.

Saka has been eased into the tournament. Rashford began it on the bench and looked bright when he started against Panama. But one of the paradoxes of Tuchel’s gameplan is that it seems based around wingers and yet England have had too little threat from the flanks.

Gordon’s fortunes have declined in the World Cup, from forcing his way into the starting 11 with his display in the friendly against Costa Rica to being displaced by Rashford. Madueke has flattered to deceive, which he often does.

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Tuchel’s system requires more from wingers such as Marcus Rashford (Getty)

Rogers, who looked fundamental to Tuchel’s blueprint, has been leapfrogged by Bellingham and is now in search of a role: it will be intriguing to see if the German, as Unai Emery does for Aston Villa, uses him as a nominal winger.

England missed Declan Rice’s attacking thrust against Panama. That said, the man who took his place, in a way, was Bellingham.

Tuchel said he operated as a central midfielder when England did not have the ball and a No 10 when they did. For much of the past year, Bellingham has not seemed Tuchel’s perfect 10. Now he is getting closer to it.