England's new Head Coach Thomas Tuchel jokes on there now not being enough National matches, why he's starting in January and not November and how not to overload the players
16/10/2024\\Wembley Stadium, London, UK
16/10/2024\\Wembley Stadium, London, UK
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00:00Hi Thomas, Ian Laidman from the Daily Mail, kind of two short questions in one really,
00:09and Mark you may have an input, why are you not starting for the November internationals,
00:14you've got two very big games coming up, and secondly, did the FA make it a prerequisite
00:20that you live in England and will you live in England?
00:25I love to live in England, I'm looking forward to living again in England, I want to be close
00:30to the Premier League, I want to be close to the majority of the players, but of course
00:36the schedule will also allow me to be close to my family, my children in Germany, but
00:43yeah, I will be in England and most of the time, of course, close here.
00:47Why are you not starting for the November international?
00:54Look, I think we always said to Lee that he would have three camps, and we were very clear
00:59he'd run the Nations League campaign, and I think when we first spoke to Thomas, Thomas
01:02wanted to have the singular focus on the World Cup, so it just made sense from both sides
01:06to start on the 1st of January.
01:10You clearly enjoyed your time at Chelsea and had a great affection for English football,
01:16I wonder whether you'd mind spelling out just what it is you like about England, English
01:21football and the country and London and the way we do things?
01:25Yes, it's the country and it's the humour and it's the way of life and it's the attitude
01:30from the supporter towards the game and what they demand from the players, and I said it
01:35many times, I think it shapes the character of the players, how they live their profession,
01:41how they approach training, towards team effort, and I think it's one of a kind, for me it
01:49was a one of a kind experience and to breathe that again is a big privilege and I'm very
01:56proud but also of course honoured and very happy to be back and in such a prominent role
02:03even better.
02:05Sorry?
02:06Way of life?
02:07Yes, I loved it, of course, I was every three days in a stadium and mostly every day on
02:14the training ground, but yes, I like the way of life, like I said I like the humour and
02:20I always felt very, very welcome here and that's why I'm very happy to be back.
02:28Because of your track record and because of what Mark and yourself have said about coming
02:36in and being very honest about trying to win the World Cup, is it win or bust?
02:40Is it win or this has been a failure?
02:47I don't know, it depends, I know what you're saying, it's a bit of a, no it's not a gamble
02:56but we speak it out now very clearly why we are here and what we want to achieve and we
03:03are not shy of it, we are absolutely open about it, that it does not help the more often
03:08we speak about it but it should be out there and then we can set the standards and we can
03:13set the values, set the principles up for it because then we have to live up for it
03:17from January latest for 18 months and then we will, let's judge on it when we have done
03:24it and if we decide it was a failure then we will not continue, if we decide it was
03:30not a failure then we will continue, let's see but no one can predict the future.
03:37It feels absolutely right for me to do so, it feels clear, it feels easy to explain and
03:42it's easy to explain and when it's easy to explain it's normally good.
03:50Tomas, Charlie White from the Sun, what's the most important thing for you, results
03:59or style of play? Because Gareth Southgate was criticised quite heavily for his tactics
04:04even though England got to the final, last week we had Lee Carsley play a real attacking
04:08line-up and England lost to Greece, where do you balance these things?
04:12They have to be balanced and our style of play has to bring us results, we play with
04:18players from the best league, we have the biggest competition in the world, we have
04:23a group of young, hungry players, we are desperate to win a title so we have all the ingredients
04:31and I think we should try to implement this into our style of play, I think we should
04:39play an attacking style of football, we should try to emphasise a physical side of the game
04:48because this is what English football is all about and this is what excites our supporters
04:52and this is what suits the players.
04:55I understand also clearly that we have not a lot of time on the training pitch but normally
05:00I love the two, three days before a match to prepare, to do a video session, do a training,
05:06do another training and then let's go so we will heavily rely on that because we don't
05:11have a lot of training time and that's why it's maybe important to have clear messages,
05:18to not overcomplicate and to find a clear structure where we can demand things from
05:26the players and where they can also show their full potential.
05:31This is then my job to find this structure and these demands and demand it from the players
05:37but I think we can not only focus on the results and just hope that they happen and we can
05:44not hide also behind a certain style of play which does not give us results, it has to
05:51go hand-in-hand.
05:52Is this appointment a damning indictment on English managers, English coaching and what
06:01about the pathway in terms of coaching and I don't know if the England DNA is still a thing?
06:07Yeah no thanks, I think if we look at St George's Park overall I think it's been a really big
06:13success and I think our pathway is really strong both from players and coaches' point
06:17of view.
06:18I think we've got some fantastic young coaches around and obviously Anthony is one of those.
06:23I think any federation in the world who's looking for a hire of a senior manager, clearly
06:29you'd love to have five to ten domestic candidates who are coaching clubs in your domestic league,
06:36challenging and winning honours in domestic league and European football.
06:40We're not quite in that place at the moment and I think as we set out the process what
06:44was our priority?
06:45Our priority was to find someone that could give our players the best possible chance
06:48to win so we found that and we've got Thomas and we're delighted with that.
06:52I think in the background obviously we've got to keep helping our young coaches get
06:56the best opportunities they can, to get the best opportunities in clubs and obviously
06:59we'd love to have more English coaches coaching the Premier League for example.
07:03So I think there's a balance there.
07:06Mark, despite what you just said, surely there's zero sense in delaying Thomas starting until
07:14January?
07:15You've got two matches next month, surely there's zero sense in leaving Lee Carsley
07:19in the job?
07:20Thomas has just said that you get very little time to prepare with your players.
07:25Is there a reason that you're not disclosing as to why Thomas is not starting until January
07:30when you've only got 18 months until the World Cup and you've got a guy here who's
07:34not employed at the moment and you're not allowing him to start the job?
07:37It's not a question of not allowing.
07:40When we first spoke to him we had our timescale, Thomas had his timescale and it just fitted
07:43really well.
07:44What was so impressive was his singular focus on us and the World Cup.
07:49He spoke about trying to put a second star on the shirt and that project made sense for
07:54us to start on the 1st of January and it made sense for Lee to finish the campaign
07:58for Nations League.
07:59So we're very comfortable where we are and that's what we'll be doing.
08:03Hello Thomas, Sam Wallace from The Telegraph.
08:06You've been quite critical of international football in the past.
08:08I'll just read a quote to you.
08:10Too many competitions, too many matches, too many friendly matches.
08:13That was when you were PSG manager.
08:15Have you changed your mind?
08:16Is there still too much international football or is it just about right now?
08:21Good one.
08:22No, it's not enough.
08:24Now it's not enough.
08:25We need more matches for the national teams.
08:29No, it correlates even with the question before.
08:33That's why it was for me important to narrow it down into a project and to not lose the
08:38focus to start in another competition named Nations League and then start into qualification
08:44and then go to the tournament.
08:45I wanted to have a clean start.
08:48I wanted also to have a bit of time to recharge fully and start in January and then start
08:55the first camp in March.
08:58We will have not a lot of time.
09:00If you look at the schedule and you hear the voices of the players and I think they have
09:04a reason.
09:05The schedule to end the season with a Champions League final and then go to an international
09:10break and then start the Club World Cup is a very, very demanding schedule for the players.
09:16We will try now.
09:21It's a new perspective now for me.
09:23I'm glad to have it.
09:25It will help me to become a better coach and we will take this into account when we do
09:33our nomination, to not overload the players but at the same time to respect also our target,
09:40which is to build the strongest group possible to go to America.
09:45Hi Thomas, Jacob Steinberg from the Guardian.
09:48It's the third time now that you've worked with Anthony Barry.
09:51What is it about your relationship with him?
09:54Why does he work so well with you?
09:56Is it also important for you to have an English person there with you in the group?
10:00Also, do you have an idea of the rest of your backroom staff at the moment?
10:05There will be a few more people in the backroom staff but we will keep the group very small
10:09because I want also to acknowledge the potential and the quality in the staff of the FA.
10:20We want to work together and we want to be open but it is important to have a streamlined
10:25process, to have people at your side who watch the game and the behaviour and the patterns
10:31through your lens.
10:32Anthony is the key figure in that as my assistant coach.
10:37We work now the third time together and I'm very happy to have him at my side.
10:44He is on top of it English, he is full of energy, full of quality and a fantastic coach.
10:51On top of it, he has a huge amount of experience in international football, being assistant
10:57coach for Portugal, Ireland and Belgium.
11:00I think that helped me already a lot to understand the schedule better, to understand the nomination
11:05process better, to get a feeling for what we are talking about here when the talk started.
11:13That's why I'm happy to have people like Anthony at my side.
11:18I think this is necessary to influence all aspects also in St George's Park in our way
11:26and to get it streamlined.
11:28Hi Thomas, Miguel Delaney from The Independent.
11:31As an outsider who is now an insider, why do you think England have failed to win for
11:36so long and was this part of your assessment figuring it out?
11:40I think it's just nuances, I think it's just details.
11:44If you lose in penalties, in a final, who would I be to say I know what you did wrong?
11:50Then you are there, you are just there.
11:54We or they have been in two finals I think, semi-final and quarter-finals, lost each of
12:02them very, very closely, could have gone either way.
12:07The genuine belief is that we are there, that we are ready and it's on us to prove it.
12:16Apologies to disappoint all those watching, but we are going to conclude the media conference
12:19there.
12:20You'll get lots of opportunities to speak to Thomas in the future, I'm sure, but thanks
12:23for your time this afternoon.