Jurgen Klopp makes ‘immense pressure’ claim on England’s Thomas Tuchel | Football | Sport

Former Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp has claimed that England manager Thomas Tuchel was “under immense pressure” ahead of the World Cup opener. The Three Lions had to bide their time before launching their tournament, finally taking to the pitch on Wednesday night to face Croatia.

Klopp reckons that heaped significant pressure on his compatriot. “Thomas was under immense pressure today,” he told MagentaTV.

Klopp subsequently underlined Kane’s importance to the England set-up. “How influential can one player actually be? The answer is Harry Kane,” he continued.

Even prior to kick-off, Klopp was effusive in his admiration for the England skipper. “I recently heard that books will be written about him, songs will be sung about him in the future,” he said.

“He has changed the way strikers play. He’s a connector; he brings everyone into the game.”

The victory lifted England to the summit of Group L following the opening round of fixtures. The squad have since returned to their Kansas City base, where preparations are already underway for their second group stage clash against Ghana on Tuesday evening (9pm BST kick-off).

The Black Stars emerged as 1-0 victors over Panama in the early hours of Wednesday morning, with Caleb Yirenkyi’s 95th-minute strike proving the decisive moment between the two sides.

Reflecting on the triumph over Croatia, Tuchel revealed precisely what he told his players during the half-time interval. “Even if we lose, it will not change my perception of the last 17 days but let’s do it our way. We were too focused on protecting the result,” he said on ITV.

“We were a back seven and we didn’t defend. If the result doesn’t go our way, we want to play our way. I tried to encourage them to go for it.”