Ahead of his first match as England boss, which will see the Three Lions take on Albania in a FIFA 2026 World Cup qualifier at Wembley Stadium, Thomas Tuchel addressed the media on Thursday afternoon.
A recent interview with ITV saw the 51-year-old slam England for missing “the identity, the clarity, the rhythm, the repetition of patterns, the freedom of players, the expression of players [and] the hunger” during the Euro 2024 campaign.
“They were more afraid to drop out of the tournament in my observation than having the excitement and hunger to win,” he explained.
"They were more afraid to drop out of the tournament than having the excitement and hunger to win it" 👀
— ITV Football (@itvfootball) March 20, 2025
Thomas Tuchel reflects on England's Euro2024 campaign 🏴#ITVFootball | #ThreeLions | @England | @GabrielClarke05 pic.twitter.com/ozsZzIpzvy
Quizzed on his comments during Thursday’s pre-match press conference, Tuchel defended his standpoint, telling reporters that “long, long before I even knew that I may be in charge, that was my feeling. I think it’s a pretty clear statement and I don’t know how to put it in other words. I think it has to be the other way around: I want us to play with the excitement and the hunger and the desire to win, the joy to win and the acceptance of failure is a part of things especially in football.”
“How I felt watching the Euros was tension and pressure on the shoulders of the players. They were playing not to lose and not to have more pressure added in their home countries than the excitement to maybe make something special happen and I think we need to turn this around because as you say, we have so many experienced players that have won trophies with their clubs.”
For Tuchel, taking on the England job is a step into the unknown. The former Chelsea boss has never taken charge of an international side before, but he was keen to praise the support he has received from The FA, “which is of course on the highest level”.
“There is more or less a think tank that is a proper machine within the FA that provides all the support you need as a coach, especially as a coach that has no experience in international football… It’s our job now to create one idea that everyone can buy into it.”
Having only been handed an 18-month contract that is unlikely to be renewed if he doesn’t guide the Three Lions to a first major trophy since 1966, the pressure is well and truly on for Tuchel – or is it?
“I don’t feel a lot of pressure in general. I feel the pressure but mostly I feel it as a privilege and mostly I don’t feel it at all because I’m in a tunnel preparing for the match,” revealed the former Bayern boss.
“We have only six camps and that’s why I think I was so strong on the point to bond with each other and it’s my responsibility to stay connected between camps, be it to visit the players or call the players. The players, between each other, they need to stay connected, they need to take care of each other between camps otherwise it will not be enough, six camps and ten days, to create the togetherness and the special atmosphere that is needed once we hopefully arrive in the US.”
Tuchel is confident that the squad are all on the right page, noting that “what I saw in the last days was amazing, and was just a joy to watch and be part of it so hopefully we can transport this energy, this fire and this hunger into the game tomorrow and then I mean it’s amazing, we have a full Wembley which is very exciting.”
England face Albania in the first of their FIFA World Cup 2026 qualifiers at Wembley Stadium on Friday, with kick-off at 20:00 GMT.