Jude Bellingham made headlines for his reaction after he was subbed off by Thomas Tuchel during England’s win over Albania – but John Barnes does not buy the headlines
Former England star John Barnes claims the saga involving Jude Bellingham and Thomas Tuchel is a “storm in a teacup” as he poured cold water on talk of a feud between the two figures.
Bellingham returned to the Three Lions camp for the latest set of internationals, having been left out of recent squads, but made headlines on Sunday during the win over Albania. The Real Madrid star was hauled off in the latter stages, just after England had made it 2-0.
Bellingham looked less than impressed at coming off as Tuchel opted to bring on Morgan Rogers. His reaction became the main talking point post-match with the England boss claiming he would review what happened.
There has been talk of the Real star and Tuchel not always seeing eye-to-eye, although the England boss insists there is no issue between the pair. Barnes believes the situation has been blown up and backed Tuchel for making tough decisions.
He told the No Tippy Tappy Football podcast: “It’s a storm in a teacup. I think it’s been exaggerated. No player is happy to come off, but I don’t think he overreacted. People are saying he was being petulant when he came off, I never saw that.
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“The manager is right. When you talk about finishers now, rather than substitutes, they’re all equally as worthy. You’re part of a squad, and if you’re coming on for Jude Bellingham, then you must be a very good player. Jude has to understand that, and he does.
“He’s a great player and very important to England, but so are all the players. Tuchel is trying to lay the law down to say I’m in charge and I make all the decisions, which is good because at times I think Gareth [Southgate] took easy decisions. If you take Jude Bellingham or Harry Kane off and you don’t win, then you’re going to get criticised.
“Tuchel is not like that, he’ll make decisions that he thinks are right, winning or losing, which managers have to do. All this is very good if you’re winning. If you’re not winning, and you make a substitution, that’s when it becomes a bigger issue.”
Tuchel has said that “behaviour is key” with the ex-Chelsea boss taking an approach that puts the team first, not star names. He has already claimed that Bellingham, Harry Kane and Phil Foden would not be able to start in the same team, given it would upset the balance.
On Sunday when Bellingham was subbed off the Champions League winner had already been booked. Tuchel said before the game that he would speak to his players about avoiding any needless red cards following Cristiano Ronaldo’s dismissal on Thursday, which means he could miss Portugal’s opening two matches of the World Cup.
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