Thomas Tuchel hits back after England's scrappy win over Norway

Thomas Tuchel was in no mood to soften the story after England beat Norway 2-1 after extra time in Norway vs England. He came out of the ITV interview furious at the mentality question, and his view was plain: the issue was quality, not mindset. Jude Bellingham scored twice, including the extra-time winner, but Tuchel spent far more time talking about the performance than the result.

Tuchel's response to the mentality question

“I don't know. It's not the mentality. This is pure mentality. It's not about mentality. You can bottle it up and sell it. It's about the quality - we need to play better,” Tuchel said on standard.co.uk. He doubled down when asked about the display, saying England were “sloppy”, made “a lot of technical mistakes”, were “not fast enough” and “not repetitive enough”, and that they were “lucky today”.

That is the version of the night he wanted to push. He did praise the result and said England are in the last four, but his target was clear: the football, not the attitude. Gabriel Clarke also picked up on the bite in the exchange, with Tuchel visibly irritated as the interview went on.

Bellingham's goals kept England moving

The match itself gave Tuchel enough evidence for the complaint. Andreas Schjelderup scored in the 36th minute to put Norway ahead before half-time. Torbjørn Heggem's goal was then disallowed after VAR ruled that Erling Haaland had fouled Elliot Anderson before the corner.

England still had to keep digging after that. Bellingham scored the winning goal in the first period of extra-time after Ørjan Nyland's mistake, and his night finished with 2 goals and an 8.5 rating, the highest for England in the match. He is now on 6 tournament goals, level with Harry Kane, while Jordan Pickford made 3 saves to help get the result over the line.

Tuchel's anger will fade quicker than the result. The performance will not, and England's next game will bring the same question back if the football looks this loose again.