Thomas Tuchel says Jude Bellingham must “accept” his decision making after the England midfielder showed his frustration at being substituted during the 2-0 win against Albania.
Harry Kane’s second-half double secured a 2-0 victory in Tirana that saw the Euro 2024 runners-up complete a flawless Group K campaign with an eighth win and eighth clean sheet.
Bellingham was among seven changes to Thursday’s win against Serbia and was brought off six minutes from the end of his first England start since June.
The 22-year-old put his arms in the air in frustration just after Kane headed the second goal in, having seen Morgan Rogers waiting to replace him on the touchline.
When asked about Bellingham’s reaction to the substitution, Tuchel said: “That is a decision and he has to accept the decision.
Jude Bellingham after being substituted during England’s 2-0 win against Albania
“His friend is waiting on the sidelines. Accept it, respect it and keep on going.”
Tuchel was then asked if the reaction goes against the attitude he is trying to instil in his squad ahead of the World Cup next summer, to which he added: “I didn’t see it that way.
“I will need to review it and I saw he was not happy. I do not want to make it bigger at the moment than it is. Players like Jude are so competitive, they will never like it.
“My word stands; it is about standards and a level It is a commitment and respect to each other. We will not change our decision because someone waves their arms.”
England manager Thomas Tuchel gives his reaction after they qualified for the World Cup with a perfect record of eight wins from eight.
‘Bellingham’s behaviour dominates the headlines again’
Sky Sports News’ Rob Dorsett in Tirana:
“He’s one of the best players in world football and one of the biggest stars in world football. We saw him at the end of the game being absolutely mobbed by Albania fans, by Albanian reporters for selfies with him.
“I don’t think he was great tonight by his own very high standards. I think the number of changes that Tuchel had made caused him some difficulty in linking up with players, but all of that you can forget, because the headlines again, are about how he behaved on the pitch.
Jude Bellingham and Arber Hoxha battle for the ball
“There was a suggestion put to Thomas Tuchel in the news conference that Jude Bellingham hadn’t celebrated that second goal and Tuchel was asked about that, and said he’d need to review it.
“The truth of the matter is we’ve checked, and it’s now clear that Jude Bellingham did celebrate with his teammates.
“He went over and congratulated Marcus Rashford for a brilliant cross, which landed straight on Harry Kane’s head, and then he went to celebrate with the captain as well, only to turn around with that immediate moment and realise that his number was up, and he was going to be substituted for Morgan Rogers.
Harry Kane celebrates scoring England’s second goal against Albania with team-mate Jude Bellingham
“It was at that point that Jude Bellingham threw his arms up in the air in frustration and was clearly very unhappy about being substituted. But as he came off the pitch, he shook hands with Thomas Tuchel, who smacked him on the backside.
“So you think from player and manager’s perspective, there’s no lingering damage there, but put this into context, where Tuchel has been talking a lot about the collective and the importance of being a team player, the importance of the bond in that group and it will be another question mark for those who are critical of Jude Bellingham to say, ‘Is he really that that team player? Has he really got the team ethos at heart?’
“I think those who were in support of Bellingham would say, he was just celebrating a goal with his teammates and then turned around to see he was coming off.
“If it happened maybe 10 minutes later, in a sort of a lower key moment of the game, maybe he wouldn’t have reacted like that. There are differences of opinion about Jude Bellingham.”
