England boss Tuchel says ‘I don’t want to engage’ in awkward interview | Football | Sport

England dominated possession, shots, shots on target and expected goals (xG) compared to their opponents, but failed to score and were defeated in their final home fixture ahead of this summer’s World Cup. During his post-match discussion with ITV presenter Clarke, Tuchel seemed to become irritated by a question regarding his full-back choices.

The German head coach selected Ben White at right-back and Nico O’Reilly at left-back against Japan, having opted for Djed Spence and Tino Livramento in the 1-1 stalemate with Uruguay last Friday. When questioned whether the full-back position requires “serious consideration”, a perplexed-looking Tuchel said: “Full-back area?”

Clarke responded: “In terms of your options there,” to which Tuchel replied: “We have a lot of options and will arrive with good full-backs.”

Tuchel was then asked about the shirt “weighing heavy”, following underwhelming performances from certain players given the chance to prove themselves worthy of World Cup selection. However, the former Chelsea boss disagreed, stating: “No, I don’t think so. I don’t want to engage in this discussion because I think it’s very clear what we want to do and how we want to play.

“And I want to focus more on the principles and on the doing than thinking what it means and whatever. It comes with pressure and noise with playing for England, that’s how it is.

“We need to see how the players adapt to that and we can only see it if we try it. We tried it and we have to learn from it.

“We have two months to get it out of our close now, the players will play a lot of football in these two months and we’ll be ready.”

England will take on Croatia, Ghana and Panama in the group stages at the World Cup in the United States, with the Three Lions’ opening fixture scheduled for June 17.