‘He just wants to see the best version of us’: Harry Kane accepts Tuchel criticism
Harry Kane has insisted Thomas Tuchel’s strong criticism of England’s performance after their quarter-final win against Norway in Miami was driven by their failure to bring their excellence from the training ground into matches.
The England captain also suggested that Tuchel’s words had been designed to keep the players on their toes before the semi-final against Argentina in Atlanta on Wednesday because “he knows as much as anyone that it’s not as simple as that … he’s trying to drag it out of us”.
Tuchel has been frustrated at various points of the tournament with the lack of cohesion and composure from his team. He did not pull his punches after the Norway game, saying he was unhappy with the performance “in every sense”. The German complained about the high number of technical mistakes, the lack of speed and said the team had been “lucky”.
Tuchel’s analysis drew an irritated response from Jude Bellingham, who scored both England goals in the 2-1 win, which came after extra time and in searing heat and humidity. “Yeah, well, whatever,” Bellingham said, before adding in another post-match interview: “Maybe he doesn’t know what it’s like to play in those kind of conditions against Erling Haaland, [Martin] Ødegaard, [Antonio] Nusa, [Alexander] Sørloth.”
On one level, it was an extraordinary man-management move by Tuchel, coming after one of the finest results in England’s World Cup history. But, on another, it ought not to have surprised anybody given Tuchel’s candour and his obsession with the pursuit of perfection.
Kane was keen to take the sting out of the situation. “When he sees us train and sees the closeness and what we can do, especially with the players we have, the way we attack, our one‑on-ones and the skills … he just wants to see that version of us,” Kane said. “He knows as much as anyone that it’s not as simple as that, we’re playing against good opposition and good teams. He’s trying to drag it out of us and we know ourselves we have another level that we can reach.
“We haven’t seen that yet. We’ve shown it in glimpses. Against Norway it was in glimpses. We haven’t had full control that we would like and I feel we can have. But at this stage of the tournament you are playing against the best teams in the world. We’ll be playing against one of the best teams in the world in the semi-final.
“The most pleasing thing is that we are in a semi-final and we still feel like we can improve. I don’t think it is something to get really over the top about. We are showing a lot of good things – the way the boys defended as a team against Norway, the way we attacked … we still had some really good moments. And Jude stepped up for us with another couple of goals.”
Quick Guide
England v Argentina: previous World Cup meetings
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England 3-1 Argentina, 1962: A group game in Chile, and England comfortably defeated opponents who, as one report put it, employed a “ruthless, massed defensive formation”. Ron Flowers scored an early penalty and Bobby Charlton made it 2-0 from 20 yards just before half-time. Jimmy Greaves poached a third before José Sanfilippo poked home a consolation.
England 1-0 Argentina, 1966: The quarter-final is known in Argentina as ‘The robbery of the century’ and was the beginning of the rivalry. The game quickly spiralled into a kicking contest and when Antonio Rattin was dismissed for a second bookable offence in the 33rd minute for verbally abusing referee Rudolf Kreitlein it all kicked off. The Argentina captain refused to leave the pitch and there was an eight-minute delay before the restart, with coaching staff still remonstrating with officials. The game was settled by a Geoff Hurst header from a Martin Peters cross but, at the final whistle, the Argentinians surrounded the referee, who had to be escorted off by police. England manager Sir Alf Ramsey described the Argentinians as “animals”.
England 1-2 Argentina, 1986: Arguably the two most memorable moments in these matches came within four minutes of each other in a quarter-final in the Azteca Stadium in Mexico City courtesy of Diego Maradona. The first ‘Hand of God’ incident (pictured) involved the midfielder knocking the ball past goalkeeper Peter Shilton with a raised arm. Then he scored what Fifa has called ‘Goal of the Century’, collecting the ball inside his half before weaving his way to goal with 11 touches in 11 seconds past helpless England players.
England 2-2 Argentina (Argentina won 4-3 on penalties), 1998: A high point for a teenage Michael Owen and a low one for David Beckham in the last 16. Gabriel Batistuta and Alan Shearer had traded penalties in the first 10 minutes before Owen scored a brilliant solo goal. Javier Zanetti levelled before half-time and Beckham was sent off for kicking out at Diego Simeone while on the ground two minutes after the interval. Glenn Hoddle’s side held out for penalties, where Carlos Roa to saved David Batty’s must-score fifth spot-kick.
England 1-0 Argentina, 2002: A degree of redemption for Beckham, although it was only a group game. Owen terrorised the defence again and after he was brought down by Mauricio Pochettino a minute before half-time, Beckham blasted home the penalty, prompting a kiss of the shirt and an outpouring of emotion. PA Media
Tuchel said before the Norway game that England “need to play better” and he listed numerous areas for improvement. They included the buildup play, getting through the opposition’s high press, spending more time in the final third and being more effective with their own counterpress.
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Tuchel also said his players were overthinking in possession to the point where they were missing opportunities to penetrate. It has been difficult to ignore the sense that Tuchel knows he must make compromises with the setup of an international team; there is simply not the same amount of time to work with the players as at club level. But he is finding those compromises frustrating.
“I know this is going to be a topic from now until the next game,” Kane said. “We know we can play better but ultimately we are in a semi-final of the World Cup and that has not always been the case for this national team so we have to enjoy it.
“It was tough out there against Norway with the heat and humidity. We can play better on the ball. We know that for sure. But right now we want to enjoy this. The preparation will come for the next game and we will try to improve with the ball as much as possible.
“This has been an extremely successful era of our national team, getting to semi-finals and finals, and we want to get over the line. That is the missing piece now. We’ve been together for six weeks and shown every bit of desire for the badge. We’re going to need an even bigger push now for the last week or so.”
