Tuchel: Football is like standing on a backwards escalator—you must keep moving forward just to stay in place

After leading the England national team to a dominant 7-0 away victory over Croatia in the third round of the UEFA Nations League group stage, head coach Tuchel attended a press conference. This is the first part of that press conference.

Given the nature of this victory—both in terms of the team's on-pitch performance and the final score—would it be an overstatement to call it a "masterclass"?

No, it was a very impressive win. Of course, it's an extraordinary result, and the performance backing it was the highest quality from the first minute to the last. I think after it became 3-0, for about four or five minutes, we gave away some good chances, made a few passing errors, and conceded some fifty-fifty opportunities and crosses, but overall, the team's pace of play, technical quality, and desire to control the ball were at a very high level today.

Yes, I'm very pleased with our approach at the end of the match. We never let up in the second half; we remained very humble and certainly didn't become complacent in our approach to this game. We really delivered a full 90-minute performance from start to finish. Congratulations to everyone, and also to the substitute players who came on. Their energy, work ethic, and quality of performance today were at the highest level.

Everyone will naturally talk a lot about the goalscorers, and I'm sure others will ask about them. Can I ask a separate question about Alex Scott? You spoke very positively about him last night,and for his first start, it was a fantastic beginning for him...

Yes, his first start, an absolutely superb beginning. And a tremendous performance; he looks very fluid and comfortable on the ball at the moment, and his decision-making is at the highest level. He plays with such strong confidence, he's very proactive and assured, and his movement off the ball and his work rate are very comprehensive. It's fair to say he's showing very complete, versatile qualities right now. Today, alongside Elliott and Garner in midfield, he gave us fluidity, versatility, and wide-ranging running range.

Hi Thomas, congratulations. Did you fancy tasting the grass today?

It's certainly worth trying, but it's truly fantastic (laughs). The last three days have been excellent for us. For example, after the match against the Czech Republic, the whole environment allowed us to relax and de-stress, enjoy the beautiful coastline, then switch back to tactical meetings and training sessions.

Then I must praise the whole team for their focus in a very unusual match atmosphere—you know, during the warm-up at the start of the match, it felt like an open training session at the stadium, not at all like a very important match in Croatia. However, the entire team then adopted the right approach, playing with seriousness, enjoyment, and remarkable effort. So all credit to the team, and yes, I'm clearly very, very pleased with a performance like that.

I mean, as everyone moves on from the shadow of the World Cup, what role can a result and performance like this play in rebuilding the team's confidence, identity, and embracing the direction you want to lead this team in?

Yes, I think that's the only way forward. Even if you still feel pain, you have to play through it; if you still feel disappointment, you have to play through it. That's the nature of sport. At the start of this training camp, it wasn't an easy one—by the way, for various reasons, after such a long major tournament, the initial phase of a training camp is indeed not easy.

But then, from the first training session on Tuesday through our tactical preparation for Spain, we delivered a very impressive performance against Spain, although we didn't get the result we wanted. Next, we responded with the result in the Czech Republic, and now this is the tactical foundation as I mentioned: focus in tactical meetings, converting and executing that tactical content on the pitch, and in this specific environment, playing such a dominant game against Croatia and winning—this is the way forward, this is how we look ahead.

I've said many times that there will always be scars on our hearts; you'll always feel the hurt, always feel the disappointment, that's a fact. But that's precisely how we move forward. After the World Cup, we made some adjustments to certain details, and now across three matches, we've played with the same approach and philosophy. We're getting better at it, and the team has fully embraced and applied this philosophy. That's what matters most, so all credit to the players.

I know we could single out many great individuals from today's performance, but I want to ask you specifically about the four forwards' performance, because their destructive power today was truly remarkable. Their fluidity must be very appealing to you, right?

Of course, the support from the wing-backs and the new movements to break through the opposition's defensive line were at the highest level today. We're improving. That's why I don't want to make too many changes between each match—precisely to maintain this fluidity, keep these coordinated movements, and build the right tactical understanding and automatic cooperation among the four forwards.

Currently, they're working together very, very well. They enjoy playing together, and their work rate in terms of running and pressing is very high. So this is a very complete overall performance—the wing-backs are constantly pushing forward and supporting, and the midfielders are also constantly pushing forward and supporting. So it's always a team effort, and right now, the four forwards look very threatening.

Hi Thomas, congratulations. Bellingham played very well during the World Cup, and he's been just as good at this training camp. His tactical execution on the pitch has been very precise. Has he reached a new level?

Yes, it seems so. You always need to understand that the level you show next week will never be enough for the week after; that's the nature of football. Because it's like... you know, you can never stand still. If you stand still, it's like standing on one of those... what do you call them? Oh, escalators.If you stand still on an escalator, you get carried backward. If you walk on an escalator going the opposite direction, you have to keep moving forward just to stay in the same place. You have to keep developing, you have to push to the next level, or other teams will catch you up.

That's why you always need to strive for a higher level. As I said, we made some adjustments and gave the players a strong sense of responsibility, and they're a trustworthy team. Yes, today's performance was very impressive. I think these are players collaborating in this way again, and they performed very, very well, translating the content from the last two matches, training sessions, and tactical meetings into today's performance at the highest level.

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