One of Jude Bellingham’s former teammates has had a thorough take on his disagreements with Thomas Tuchel.
The England player and coach appeared to clash after their 2-1 World Cup quarter final win over Norway with Tuchel complaining about a lack of quality.
Bellingham responded by saying the coach doesn’t know what it’s like to play in such conditions, and the story has dominated the national media.
Giving his view, Bellingham’s former Real Madrid teammate Toni Kroos thinks Tuchel should be allowed to say whatever he wants.
Kroos defends Tuchel in Bellingham dispute
“Who, if not the coach, is allowed to say what didn’t work?” he said on his podcast.
“Especially when he talked for two minutes beforehand about what an awesome mentality the team has.
“I trust Thomas Tuchel to have a feel for the team and to be able to criticise them. He’s absolutely right in his assessment; England didn’t play well.”
Kroos went on to criticise the interviewer, saying the ‘tone’ of Tuchel’s comments was put wrongly to Bellingham.
He added: “If your internal relationships have cooled down, and then you lash out, that’s not good.
“But I saw a few videos in the weeks before that showed the opposite. I heard statements from players who explicitly praised Tuchel’s speech.”
Kroos then showed some sympathy for Bellingham’s complaints about the conditions they were under impacting the team’s performance.
“I’ve been to Miami several times; it’s one of the most disgusting places,” he said.
“When you’ve played 120 minutes there, you want to hear everything except that you were rubbish, especially if you’ve advanced.”
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