Thomas Tuchel says he has no regrets criticizing the Wembley crowd’s support. The Three Lions manager accused England supporters of being too silent during last month’s friendly win over Wales. England fans reacted to Tuchel’s comments, taunting the German with chants of “sing when you want to” and several other chants during the away win against Latvia.
Tuchel will face the Wembley crowd for the first time since that observation when England and Serbia play again on Thursday night, but the former Chelsea manager stressed his complete respect for the supporters, while refusing to simply follow the crowd. With England already qualified for the World Cup, Thursday’s match was rendered meaningless and Tuchel admitted it was the team’s responsibility to provide entertainment for the crowd.
He said: “Of course we want the atmosphere to be like Boca versus River Plate, but there won’t be the same tension in the dressing room before the game. This is not the World Cup.”
“This is not the semi-final or the first group match and the crowd knows that. We accept that it will be a different game than before, but we still try to inspire them, encourage them and show them it’s a great watch.”
“Do I regret what I said? No, it was a genuine reaction. If you only say what people want to hear in life, you become a fish. I’m not a fish. Did some people not like that? Okay. Sometimes I don’t like what people say about me, but it is what it is.”
Coach Tuchel caused an uproar with his comments after the team’s 3-0 win over Wales on October 9th. The Three Lions quickly established a three-goal advantage within the first 20 minutes against Wembley, but Tuchel felt overwhelmed by the atmosphere.
In a post-match interview with ITV Sport, he said: “We had a day and a half of practice to prepare for a well-drilled team and we did very well. We could have been 5-0 up by half-time. We just couldn’t convert the fourth and fifth.”
“The stadium went silent. There was no energy coming back from the stands. We did everything we could to win.” Asked if he expected more from the supporters, Tuchel replied: “Yes, what more can we do in 20 minutes?”
“We didn’t let them get away. If you listen to nothing but Wales fans for half an hour, that’s sad because the team deserved more support today.”
He added in the post-match press conference: “I loved the support in Serbia and I’m sure we’ll have the best support in Latvia too, and of course it will be great if we get to the World Cup.”
“They shouldn’t underestimate how much that helps at times, even if the game goes a little flat. If they keep playing again, that might help us, and then we probably would have scored and got the energy back. It’s give and take.”
