Tuchel: Manchester City's Problems Aren't My Concern, but They May Be For City's Players

After his England side suffered a 2-3 home defeat to Spain in the opening match of the UEFA Nations League group stage, manager Thomas Tuchel attended a post-match press conference. What follows is an excerpt from that press conference.

Hi Thomas, you mentioned yesterday that there's competition between Jarell Quansah and Trent Alexander-Arnold for the right-back position. I'd like to ask why Jarell won that competition and started tonight. Also, when you fell behind late in the match and needed to equalize, with Trent's passing ability seemingly crucial, why did he remain on the bench?

Yes, there's also a lot of defensive work required on that flank. We did a lot of one-on-one defending around the midfield line, so we needed to close space. Marc Guehi dropped into midfield when defending, so we ended up playing with three centre-backs. For me, it's mainly Jarell's pace and his quality as a centre-back in terms of his reading of the game—he's been excellent this week. He was fantastic for us during the World Cup, so he's got a bit of an edge at the moment.

He hasn't lost his starting spot—it's certainly not a given that he earns the shirt, he has to earn it—but he came into camp with a slight advantage because he played very well for us at the World Cup, had the best performances in training this week, and played a very good match today.

Thomas, yesterday as you were preparing for this match, there was very significant news about Manchester City. You clearly have Manchester City players in your squad, and I think Harry Kane mentioned there was some discussion about it. Did this cause a distraction? Is it a problem for the camp?

It's not a problem for me, but I can imagine it might be a problem for the Manchester City players. It hasn't affected me personally at all, and I won't comment on it. I believe this is ongoing litigation, so I won't make any comment on it.

I'm not asking you to comment on the case itself, but how do you handle it with your players? How do you keep them focused?

I don't treat it as a topic at all. I don't mention it. It's not a problem for me whatsoever. Anyway, I always feel like I'm the last one to hear news in the training camp. All my focus is on the match against Spain, training, analysis sessions, individual conversations, and team meetings. For me, it doesn't impact things at all. As for the players, they have more downtime than I do; they only have one training session, so I can imagine they probably discuss it among themselves, but it's good for them to talk it through. I don't feel they've been distracted by it.

Thomas, can I ask about the left-back position? Nico O'Reilly played tonight, and he also featured at the World Cup, while you kept Lewis Hall on the bench—who, of course, didn't go to the World Cup. What's the situation for this position going forward? Will Lewis Hall get more opportunities to prove himself?

Lewis Hall missed some training sessions early in the week due to a minor injury concern, which is why I was cautious about playing him today. But he's an option, and he trained well as the week progressed, though he couldn't train early on. We didn't want to take any risks because tonight's match required a lot of sprinting and defensive work, especially against Lamine Yamal. I just didn't want to take that chance.

But Lewis is always in the conversation for the left-back position; he's actually the one who consistently plays left-back at his club. Nico often plays in midfield, but that's the current situation. So he'll have to fight for his opportunity. There are still three more matches to come.

Thomas, back to the question about Trent Alexander-Arnold, I understand what you're saying about Quansah currently having the edge. In what type of match might you consider playing him if not this one?

There are three more matches.

But what specific type of match?

There are three more matches—there's no "specific type." I have three more matches, and I need to pick 11 starters and 5 substitutes. That's all there is to it.

It sounds like you're prioritizing defensive quality over attacking prowess?

No, I'm simply making a decision to pick Jarell Quansah.

Hi Thomas, you started by talking about lessons to take from tonight's match. I know it's frustrating now, but when we look back on this match in six months, two years, or even longer, how important do you think the experience of facing such strong opposition tonight will prove to be?

Yes, if we can learn from it, if we can take positives, I think there are plenty of positives to draw from. We'll review and take those lessons on immediately tomorrow because we're tight on time before the next match. I think we'll focus on the positives but also highlight areas where we can improve. We don't even need to dwell on individual errors because these things—while not normal—do happen.

They shouldn't happen, especially repeatedly, but there's no point in constantly pointing out individual mistakes or telling them, "Please don't make mistakes"—that's just how it goes.But there are areas we can improve on. For instance, we could certainly have defended better on the third goal, but we'll focus on the positives. As I said, there are plenty of lessons to take, and we very much wanted to beat this team. We felt we controlled the game in the first half, and we still felt that way at halftime—that's what the team showed in the second half—so we'll focus on that.

But the reality is we lost, and the reality is we need to prove ourselves again in Prague against Czech Republic. That will be a completely different match in a different environment, and we only have two days to prepare and travel, so it will be very demanding and challenging. Hopefully, we can look back and continue to build on what we did today, including our tactical approach with high pressing in the opponent's half and man-marking, which are foundations we can build on. Our defensive approach in midfield and our low block are also foundations we can develop further.

I hope we can continue building on these foundations, regardless of the opponent, which will give us the chance to repeatedly consolidate and improve.But in any case, I hope we learn our lessons, and I hope we get points because we need them, and we want to progress from the group and reclaim top spot.

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