- 2 minutes ago
Tuchel reacts to 3-2 loss from Spain at Wembley
26/09/2026
Wembley Stadium
26/09/2026
Wembley Stadium
Category
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SportsTranscript
00:07Okay, before we get in the way, can I just check if anybody requires translation into
00:11Spanish?
00:13Si queréis que se traduzcan las preguntas y las respuestas.
00:19Okay, thank you very much.
00:20We'll proceed in English.
00:21Let's start.
00:22Alex, do you want to get us in the way?
00:29I think we had the worst possible start against a team like Spain, who loves to control the
00:35game and loves to play with confidence and on the ball, to be 1-0 down so early.
00:43It's of course the worst possible start.
00:45It happened.
00:46The reaction was okay.
00:50It cost us a little bit of confidence.
00:52It's normal.
00:53I think we had another two big mistakes in the build-up situations and conceded two
00:59big chances, survived the chances, and then for me we grew into the game.
01:05We played more and more in the opponent's half.
01:07We had an incredible number throughout the game, but especially in the first half of high
01:12ball wins, played very brave against the ball, pushed them back, got better and better with
01:18the ball, played more and more in the opponent's half, created more and more.
01:23Throughout the match I think the difference was that they were more clinical, more composed
01:27in the last 20 metres.
01:29That cost us a little bit in the first half.
01:33From all these ball wins we could have created more clear-cut chances, but we got the momentum,
01:38we got the belief back, scored the equaliser, scored the second goal, could have scored a
01:45third one in the second half, one of the best 15-20 minutes so far of us, total complete performance.
01:58We were clearly the better team.
01:59We couldn't score the third, I think in this moment it would have been the decisive
02:05punch to get this full momentum and full belief into our match on top with a two-goal advantage.
02:13We couldn't do it, made unfortunately another technical mistake that cost us and then the
02:19momentum shifted again and conceded one goal from open play that we should absolutely defend
02:26better because they play through the middle and we wanted to close the middle.
02:34Result is not what we wanted, I think we could have won it, the same match.
02:39So we have to live with it and recover from it, learn from it, do what we did good on
02:47the
02:47same level and reduce and improve our mistakes.
02:53One on selection, James Trafford started, so that would have been a big evening for him
02:57against world champions coming in for Jordan Pickford.
03:00How did you think he did this evening?
03:03I'm not a specialist for goalkeeping so it was clear for analysing performances, but I think
03:14he deserved to get two matches, that's why we gave him two matches.
03:20He started the Premier League season well, he's number one in Leeds, Jordan did absolutely
03:25nothing wrong, but we want to use this competition to see how far James is in these two weeks.
03:37So he gets these two matches, I'm convinced that it's better to get two matches and not just
03:43one match, so he can learn from the organisation, he can learn from what happened and straight
03:49away grow into it and be a part of the defensive and offensive build-up unit.
03:59So he gets the next match as well and then Jordan gets the two matches against Croatia and
04:03Czech Republic in Wembley.
04:06Tom?
04:06Hi Thomas, you're obviously playing against the best team in the world, but what do you
04:11put down, put the volume of mistakes down to?
04:16I don't know, I don't know, it's just what it is.
04:19It was like, especially in to start with, it was in the first I think 10-12 minutes and
04:27then unfortunately for the equaliser, I didn't see the mistakes in the moment where we were
04:33very good in the end of the first half and in the beginning of the second half.
04:38Not sure why we made this amount of mistakes, of course we played against the best and then
04:43you need to convert your chances, you need to convert maybe half chances, you need a bit
04:47of luck, which was not on our side I would say today because again I think up to the 65th
04:56minute we had them and we had the most clear-cut chance with a penalty to go maybe two goals
05:04up and we would talk about the different results.
05:07It's just what it is, no one is to blame, it happens a bit too often today and we got
05:12punished
05:13on the highest level because the execution and the composure in the last 20 metres was
05:20on the highest level of our opponent.
05:23Hi Thomas, I just want to ask about Malz Lewis Skelly, I think his first start in midfield
05:28for England.
05:30His England career has kind of mirrored how his Arsenal career has gone, as in he broke into
05:35Arsenal as a left back, he made his debut at left back and now he started the season at centre
05:40-mid
05:40mid, and he's made his first start at centre-mid. Do you see him squarely as a centre midfielder
05:44now? Do you kind of want to hone him in there? I remember you said you want players to come
05:49to your camp and make an impression, he's obviously started at centre midfield in the first game.
05:54No, that's why he made an impression in club football and now through the week, that's
05:58why he got his start. No presence here for no one, also not on his birthday, it was his birthday
06:04today. He did very well for Arsenal in this position, I think it suits him a bit better
06:09than left back. He was just very good and had a good match today. So well done, did everything
06:18what was needed, good performance.
06:21Kit?
06:22Hi Thomas, you spoke yesterday about how it was a fight between Jarrell and Trent for the
06:29right back spot, can I ask you why Jarrell won that fight and got a start tonight and also
06:34why wouldn't it look like you could maybe use Trent's deliveries when you were chasing the
06:39game, trying to get the ukularies at the end, Trent stayed on the bench?
06:43Yeah, there was a lot of defending to do as well on the side, we had a lot of one
06:48-on-one
06:49defending on the middle line. So we needed to close the gaps, Mark Gahy followed in midfield,
06:57so we ended up in a back three. He needed for me Jarrell's speed and Jarrell's quality to think
07:06also as a central defender, but Jarrell did excellent in the week. He was excellent for
07:12us in the World Cup, so he is at the moment slightly ahead and he didn't give his shirt
07:22away. It's not his shirt, he has to fight for it, but he came with a slight advantage
07:27into this camp because he was top for us at the World Cup and he was top for us this
07:31week
07:31and he had an excellent match today.
07:34Thomas, there was some very big news about Manchester City that broke yesterday while
07:39you were preparing for this game. You obviously have Manchester City players. Harry, I think,
07:44has said that there was a discussion about it. Is there any distraction? Is it an issue
07:49for you for this camp?
07:50Not for me, but I can imagine maybe for the Manchester City players, for me not and I will
07:56not comment on that. I think it's an ongoing court case. So I will not give any comment
08:04to that.
08:05I'm not asking you to comment on the case. How do you deal with your players, though? How
08:08do you keep their headspace correct?
08:11I didn't make it a topic. It was no topic for me. I'm anywhere in camp. I see, I hear
08:15news
08:16as the latest person in camp, I feel, all the time.
08:20So just thinking about Spain and training and meetings
08:23and individual meetings and team meetings, no, not for me.
08:29For the players, they have more time than me.
08:31They have one training session.
08:32So for sure, I can imagine that they talk about it,
08:36but it's good that they do.
08:38And I didn't feel them distracted.
08:41Thomas, can I just ask about the left-back position?
08:44Nico O'Reilly's played tonight.
08:45He went to the World Cup as well.
08:46And you've had Lewis Hall on the bench.
08:47He, of course, didn't go to the World Cup.
08:49And you've got that relationship now with Matthias Geisler
08:51for Lewis Hall's perhaps development.
08:54What's the situation with that position going forward?
08:56Will Lewis Hall get more of a look in?
08:58Now you've got that relationship with his manager,
08:59like Ivan Toni, for example, when you selected him.
09:02He missed some training sessions with a bit of an injury scare.
09:06Lewis Hall, that's why I was a bit hesitant to put him out there today.
09:15But he's an option.
09:17He trained well in the end of the week,
09:19but he was out of training in the beginning of the week.
09:22And we just didn't want to take any risk
09:25because there was a lot of high-speed running to do.
09:28There was a lot of defending to do,
09:29of course, against Lamine Jamal.
09:31And I just didn't want to risk it.
09:33But Lewis is always in our discussions on the left-back position.
09:37He is the one actually who plays left-back in his club.
09:41Niko plays many, many times in central midfield.
09:44That's not the situation, nothing.
09:46So he will fight for his minutes and for his matches.
09:50There's still three matches to go.
09:51OK, four to go, Sam.
09:53Thomas, just going back to the Trent question,
09:56I get that you said that Kwanzaa is ahead of him.
09:59If not this game, what sort of game would you look to...
10:02There are three more games.
10:03But what sort of game would you...
10:04There's three more games.
10:05There's no sort of games.
10:06There's three more games we have...
10:07I have a choice to make for 11 players and for five subs.
10:12There's nothing else in there.
10:13It's nothing to do with...
10:14You seem to be suggesting it's his defensive qualities
10:17over his attacking qualities.
10:18No, I made a decision for Jeroz Kwanzaa.
10:20OK, so I'm your pitch.
10:24Hi, Thomas.
10:25You spoke at the start about learning from tonight.
10:27I know it's frustrating now,
10:28but when we look back at this in six months or two years or whatever,
10:32how important do you think this night can be against?
10:35Yeah, if we learn from it,
10:37if we take the positives,
10:39I think there's quite some positives to take away from.
10:42And we will try to do the review straight away tomorrow
10:46because there's not a lot of time and turnaround for the game.
10:49I think we will focus on the positives,
10:52but also highlight the stuff that we can do better,
10:55not even speaking about individual mistakes
10:57because, I mean, it is normal.
11:00It just happens.
11:00It should not happen and for sure not in this amount,
11:04but there is no sense in showing now the individual mistakes
11:08or telling them, please don't do mistakes.
11:11It's just, that is normal.
11:14But we can do things better.
11:16We can defend the third goal better, of course,
11:18but we will focus on the positives.
11:20There's a lot to take away from.
11:22Like I said,
11:23we wanted to be the team desperately to beat them.
11:26And we think we had them.
11:30We still think we had them in halftime.
11:32We think we had them.
11:33And that was the way the team showed up after halftime.
11:37So we will focus on that.
11:39But the reality is we lost.
11:41And the reality is we need to prove it again in Czechia, in Prague.
11:45Total different match, different circumstances.
11:48We only have a two-day turnaround and to travel.
11:52So it will be demanding and challenging.
11:55And hopefully we will look back and go step from step.
11:59The way we played today and the tactical solutions we had today
12:04for the offensive press and for the man-man to push into man-man
12:11in the opponent's half.
12:12There's something to build on.
12:14The defensive play in middle and deep block is something to build on.
12:18Hopefully we can build on this no matter against whom we play.
12:22This will give us then time to repeat things
12:27and to get better at things.
12:30Hopefully we take the learnings and hopefully we get our points
12:33because we need points.
12:34We want to get out of the group and get the top spot back.
12:39Thomas, England's record against top ten teams isn't great.
12:44It's six wins from 16 matches.
12:46I know you talked a lot about how the gap is getting smaller.
12:49That's why I was surprised about the World Cup
12:51because I think we beat at the World Cup three top ten teams.
12:57But interesting in the moment when we win, no one brings it up.
13:00But in the moment when we lose one, we come up with the statistics.
13:04Okay, continue.
13:06Last question.
13:07No, no. Sorry, continue.
13:09Well, you changed the question really.
13:11Did you feel then, given that response,
13:14that you didn't actually get enough credit this summer?
13:16No, it's just like, it's just, I was not in charge for these 16 matches,
13:22for sure not.
13:23And I think we did everything today to beat Spain.
13:26This is like details matter on this kind of level.
13:29Like I said, and I think we did the amount of mistakes,
13:33clear-cut mistakes was too high on our side today, unfortunately.
13:36And in the last 20 meters, they were more composed and more clinical
13:41to convert our ball losses in clear-cut chances.
13:45But still, I mean, this is also part of football.
13:49Still, we had them and we had the chance to beat them.
13:53So, yeah, we will keep on pushing, keep on pushing this team.
14:01We proved it at the World Cup that we're capable of,
14:03that we're capable of to do it in tournaments.
14:06Today, we cannot prove it in the result,
14:08but I think the way we played was enough to beat them.
14:11But, yeah, there's no proof in the result today.
14:14Last question.
14:17Thanks.
14:18Good evening, Thomas Daniel from BenchFuse TV.
14:21Quite a bit of substitution as both Morgans came on,
14:24and the standard didn't seem to drop.
14:26How happy are you with the sub-performance,
14:27even though you guys didn't actually affect the score sheet
14:30after they did come on?
14:34How happy am I with the subs?
14:35Yeah, with the subs you came on and how they impacted the game,
14:37even though they didn't actually score.
14:39It was difficult.
14:39It was a difficult moment for them to come on,
14:41so we needed to get a bit of energy back and a bit of legs back,
14:45especially against the ball,
14:48to be able to push out from the middle block,
14:51which is difficult because they had their momentum back.
14:54So, yeah, everyone on the bench deserves to play.
14:58They're always desperate to play.
14:59Everyone tries their best.
15:01It's difficult.
15:02We play against the best team in the world to make a difference,
15:05but there is no blaming and no worries about the subs.
15:12I felt a bit tired then from the effort.
15:16That's why we made the subs.
15:17I think Spain used all their subs.
15:19We used all our subs, normal stuff.
15:21Thank you very much.
15:22Cheers.
15:23Suzie.