Thomas Tuchel has handed the media a back page for every newspaper and a quote for every headline with the claim that his own mother finds Jude Bellingham’s behaviour ‘repulsive’.
Tuchel was asked whether England would be better without Bellingham after his reaction to a disallowed goal in England’s rotten friendly defeat to Senegal, and Tuchel ensured a day of fevered coverage with his quotes.
Not only did he use his mother to make a point about the perception of Bellingham, but he also said his teammates can be ‘intimidated’ by the Real Madrid man.
He was also very complimentary about ‘special’ Bellingham but that will undoubtedly be lost in the coverage of that ‘repulsive’ word.
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“I struggle to see that. I think he brings an edge, which we welcome and which is needed if we want to achieve big things,” said Tuchel when asked whether Bellingham should be dropped.
“(But) the edge needs to be channelled toward the opponent, towards our goal and not to intimidate team-mates, or to be over aggressive to team-mates or referees. He has the fire. I don’t want to dim this down. He should play with this kind of fire, that’s his strength.
“But the fire comes also with some attributes that can intimidate you, maybe even as a team-mate. You see sometimes the explosion towards referees and the anger in his game, so if he can channel this in the right way, and we can help him in this, then for sure he has the something that we need. He has a certain edge that is hard to find.
“But I see that it can create mixed emotions. I see this with my parents, with my mum, that she sometimes cannot see the nice and well-educated and well-behaved guy that I see.
“If he smiles, he wins everyone. But sometimes you see the rage and the fire, and it comes out in a way that can be a bit repulsive, for example, for my mother, when she sits in front of the TV. I see that, but in general we are very happy to have him.
“He is a special boy. He is a nice kid and very open, very intelligent – and very easy (to manage), so far.”
But what is Bellingham’s best position?
“That is a good question that applies to many of our players. From outside, I thought for many years that he could be a No 6/No 8, then he had this amazing season where he played like a false nine for Real Madrid and scored and scored and was involved in chances.
“I still see this hunger. The determination that he has to be on the scoreboard, to have his name there, which is a good thing. But I see this what I normally see only in strikers.
“I think now at the moment he’s more of a No 8/No 10 than a No 6/No 8. Maybe a No 10.”
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