Manager Thomas Tuchel made a self-deprecating joke as he made it clear that England cannot take their eyes off Erling Haaland. When reminded that Germany’s Bild newspaper named him manager of the year after winning the Champions League with Chelsea in 2021, he patted the paper.
Following the win, Tuchel revealed that he had sought to sign Haaland from Borussia Dortmund, and later apologized for his comments. Haaland joined Manchester City a year later.
“You always have to apologize,” Tuchel smiled. “They don’t understand my humor! Are you surprised that ‘Bild’ gave me the award anyway?
“So… there was no way out, because if Jurgen Klopp won the Charity Shield at the same time, they would give it to him.”
Tuchel was in a playful mood, perhaps a way to distract himself from the daunting prospect of facing Norway defender Haaland, who has already scored seven goals this World Cup.
The former Chelsea manager admits Norway boasts an additional attacking threat, but insisted the backline’s “full concentration” will be firmly disciplined in neutralizing Haaland.
Tuchel added: “You can’t avoid concentration, but of course you can’t. There’s so much quality in this moment and you have to make a decision on how to protect it. He will always arrive at the second post.”
“The whole world knows it. He loves arriving at the second post, so the question is when will he make contact.
“It’s also the type of defender you are. Some defenders like to stay in the zone and try to get an early jump, and some defenders like to drop back and start fighting him physically on the ground, and then he pushes you away and you get a free header.
“If you stay in the zone, he will jump over you. So when you get in the box, he has all the weapons. Of course, there are ways to make it difficult for him when he starts accelerating and when they play long balls.”
“Norway doesn’t hesitate to put long balls into[Alexander]Sorloth and he starts to bully people, so that’s what he does. So it’s a team effort, but of course the full concentration of our central defenders will be on him[Haaland].”
