Manager Thomas Tuchel called for courage from England’s home fans after watching the Three Lions defeat Wales in front of a “silent” Wembley crowd
Thomas Tuchel is proving he is not afraid to go into battle. First Jude Bellingham and now the England crowd.
It was a timing that raised quite a few eyebrows. England had just beaten Wales 3-0 and put in a good performance overall, further vindicating Tuchel’s decision to put his team in front of the big names.
And…he accused England fans of being “silent”, claiming it was “sad” that they weren’t as loud as Wales’ Red Wall, and suggested the team didn’t get “any energy” from the crowd.
That was a big call. And, sadly, it was a little surprising because even for the packed Wembley crowd against Wales, it wasn’t anything special.
But you have to praise Tuchel because at the end of the day, he’s only in charge for 18 months and there’s no need to worry about the long term as he’s a hired gun brought in to win the World Cup.
read more: England vs Wales player ratings, 8/10 star outperforms teammate for statement victory
Tuchel wants to do it his way and if that means upsetting some people along the way – England fans and Bellingham – so be it.
In fact, it’s much easier to criticize soccer crowds for not being louder when they win than when they lose, and we end up in the realm of blaming them for our losses.
And in reality, he has a point. After 1-0, the crowd went wild. After it became 2-0, the amount increased. Bukayo Saka’s incredible goal secured a 3-0 victory.
Then it flattened out. The match was decided in 20 minutes. Wales were a pretty tough opponent. And people started going out to eat something and drink beer.
In the second half, it got really quiet. I saw one or two paper airplanes (there wasn’t another one, but worryingly one was a folded team sheet, so it was probably from the press box!).
Dare I say it…I wasn’t surprised. Yes, I should have said it louder. But I learned that telling soccer fans how to behave is dangerous territory. They give their lives, souls, and hard-earned money to follow their team.
So telling them to be louder is unlikely to work, they’re not very cooperative, so they should be better.
But England have a problem. Wembley is not one of the best club stadiums for noise and atmosphere. It’s a big bowl, the fans aren’t close to the pitch, and it’s not very good in terms of noise.
Next is England’s politics and cap system. Many loyal fans don’t actually want to go to home games. They are in action to earn caps and loyalty points for major tournaments and prefer to travel away from home.
The noise in Serbia was amazing. They supported the team from start to finish. Unlike Serbian fans, they remained silent during a minute’s silence for the recently deceased Serbian Football Association official.
In the tournament, the England fans are great. Don’t listen to negative opinions. Positive experiences are much more important than bad memories. they are great.
Will Tuchel’s message work? Well, find out England will play Serbia at Wembley on November 13th. I think that may actually be the case.
It’s a gamble and comes with a bit of risk. Tuchel is not afraid of that. If we lose, there will be a backlash. But now support has won.
On Thursday, England gave their fans something to cheer about. That rarely happens at Wembley. That’s the important point. It was a two-way street and the players did their part. Now it’s in the hands of fans.
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