England coach Thomas Tuchel unimpressed with Jude Bellingham’s petulance

Thomas Tuchel said that “behaviour is key” and made clear his displeasure with Jude Bellingham’s frustrated reaction to being substituted during England’s 2-0 win over Albania on Sunday.

Bellingham, who had a mixed game after coming back into the starting lineup, did not look happy when he realised that he was about to be replaced by Morgan Rogers in the 84th minute at the Air Albania Stadium. The midfielder joined in the celebrations after Harry Kane’s second goal of the evening but then flung his arms in the air and left Tuchel unimpressed.

“He has to accept the decision,” England’s head coach said. “His friend is waiting on the sidelines so you need to accept it, respect it and keep on going. I have to review it. I saw he was not happy. To a certain degree if you have players like Jude who are so competitive they will never like it but my word stands, it is about standards and a commitment and respect to each other. So someone is waiting and we will not change our decision because someone is waving their arms.”

Bellingham shook hands with Tuchel as he went off. But Tuchel has repeatedly emphasised the importance of the collective. “Morgan Rogers was for sure not happy when he couldn’t start today because he deserves to play for us and he wants to play all the time,” the German said. “We gave him a bit of a rest because he came with a lot of minutes for his club and played against Serbia. I don’t want to make more out of it but I stick to my words ‘behaviour is key’.”

Tuchel was happy that England rounded off qualifying for next summer’s World Cup by making it eight wins from eight and no goals conceded in Group K. They were not at their best at Albania but ground out another victory thanks to a late double from Kane, who has surpassed Pelé’s record of 77 international goals.

“We just mentioned it in the dressing room,” Tuchel said. “This cherry on top of everything is that he overcomes Pelé today. The investment of Harry in these matches is just outstanding. He is so invested in everything that we do.

“If you see him play for Bayern Munich, I have to say it’s the same. He’s in a mindset and a physical condition that is absolutely at the highest level. He produces goal after goal for us, and the way he works, tracks back, finds solutions in offensive play. It’s just outstanding at the moment.”