Thomas Tuchel was not having Gabriel Clarke’s line of questioning.
Following England’s 2-1 win over Norway in the World Cup quarterfinals on Saturday, Tuchel was interviewed by Clarke for his assessments on the Three Lions’ laborious win in extra time.
“We made life very, very difficult for ourselves today,” Tuchel began, after his team were outplayed for large stretches of the match. “The result is fantastic, we’re in the last four, it’s amazing. But I’m not happy with the performance.”
Tuchel acknowledged that his team was “sloppy” and made “a lot of technical mistakes” — but bristled when Clarke asked if his team had a “mentality” issue.
“This is pure mentality. How can you ask about mentality now? This is pure mentality, it’s not about mentality,” a confused Tuchel said.
Clarke then doubled down on his query, asking if the technical issues that Tuchel referenced were in fact down to something mental.
“There’s no mentality problem!” Tuchel said. “This is pure mentality. You can bottle it up and sell it… it’s the quality of our games.”
The German coach went on to compliment the impact of subs Reece James, Djed Spence, Morgan Rogers and Ebereche Eze — but reiterated that his team would need to play better.
England’s semifinal opponent was confirmed to be Argentina after they beat Switzerland 3-1 in extra time later on Saturday night.
Despite another Jude Bellingham brace, England were not at their best against Norway as their opponents controlled most of the second half and hit the crossbar in the 80th minute.
England also looked affected by the halftime departure of Declan Rice, who had been battling an illness leading up to the game.
Bellingham was told by Clarke after the game that Tuchel (who called the midfielder “world class”) wasn’t pleased with the team’s performance – and fired back with some pointed remarks of his own.
“Yeah well, whatever. It’s difficult out there, it’s a tough shift,” he said. “All the players have put in a very tough shift.”
After falling behind against both DR Congo and Norway, and holding on with just 10 men against Mexico, England are into their fourth-ever World Cup semifinal as they look to capture a first trophy since 1966.
They will face Argentina in Atlanta on Wednesday at 3 p.m.
