England have secured their place in the World Cup semi-finals, but Thomas Tuchel made clear he was far from satisfied with how they got there.
The Three Lions needed extra-time to defeat Norway in a dramatic quarter-final in Miami, with Jude Bellingham scoring twice to seal a place in the last four.
Tuchel pulled no punches in his post-match assessment, telling reporters: “We got lucky. We made life very, very difficult for ourselves. The result is fantastic. We are in the last four. It’s amazing but [I am] not happy with the performance – in every sense.”
The German coach was damning in his breakdown of the display, saying England were “sloppy, a lot of technical mistakes, not fast enough, not repetitive enough.”
Despite his frustration, Tuchel pointed to one quality that kept England in the tournament, saying: “This is pure mentality.”
Bellingham, who struck in the 47th and 93rd minutes to take his World Cup tally to six goals, was less willing to accept the criticism without pushback from his manager.
“Maybe he doesn’t know what it’s like to play in those conditions against Erling Haaland, Martin Odegaard, Antonio Nusa and Alexander Sorloth,” said Bellingham, who is averaging a goal a game at this tournament.
The two-goal hero added: “You can’t win every game popping the ball and making 1,000 passes, sometimes you have to win dirty and we did that today.”
When pressed further on Tuchel’s comments, Bellingham replied: “Yeah well, whatever. It’s difficult out there, it’s a tough shift. All the players have put in a tough shift.”
Norway caused England serious problems throughout, taking the lead, missing a great chance to make it 2-0, having a goal disallowed, and also hitting the bar during an incident-filled contest lasting 122 minutes.
England’s path to the semi-finals has been far from convincing, with the team drawing against Ghana and needing a 3-2 win with 10 men to eliminate Mexico in the previous round.
Tuchel insisted there is no personal disconnect between himself and his squad, saying: “With my heart, I am fully in love with my players and my team, but we can play better, there are a lot of things to do better.”
Former England captain Alan Shearer praised Tuchel for his candid assessment, telling BBC Sport: “Over the years, we might have had someone come out and say that we stuck together and we were brilliant. You have to give him credit for doing it – he was having none of that.”
Wayne Rooney, who scored 53 goals in 120 England appearances, said Tuchel was “spot on in terms of the mentality” and noted how the team showed character despite Ezri Konsa going off injured and Declan Rice being replaced at the start of the second half.
Rooney added: “The character of the players has got them through that game because for large parts of that game Norway were the better team.”
Former England defender Matt Upson was equally blunt, telling BBC Sport: “It felt that [with] 25 minutes left before the end of the 90, Norway were going to win this game.”
England will now face Argentina in the semi-final, returning to Atlanta where they previously overcame DR Congo in the last 32.
Upson believes the cooler conditions there will allow England to perform closer to their potential, saying: “I expect England to start the semi-final with a different tempo and different mindset. I understand [Tuchel’s] assessment – we can all see that England can do that a lot better.”
Rooney agreed that while the performance left much to be desired, the result was all that mattered, concluding: “We’re all delighted that England have got through but the performance wasn’t great. However, they found a way.”
