‘I don’t want to engage in this discussion’ - Thomas Tuchel bites back at England 'pressure' question after 'painful' loss to Japan

In the aftermath of a frustrating 1-0 loss at the national stadium, Tuchel was asked directly if the pressure of representing England was proving too much for his current crop of stars. The German tactician took a long pause before delivering a blunt rebuttal to the line of questioning on ITV Sport: "No. I don’t think so. I don’t want to engage in this discussion because I think it’s very clear what we want to do and how we want to play and focus more on principles, on the doing, on the thinking, what it means. It comes with pressure. It comes with noise, playing for England. That’s just how it is. We need to see how the players adapt to that and we can only see it if we try it, so we tried it and we have to learn from it."

The friendly loss to Japan represented another reality check for England after last week's draw with Uruguay, as the World Cup draws ever closer. Despite dominating large spells of possession, a lapse in concentration allowed Brighton star Mitoma to fire home on the counter-attack, and the hosts were unable to find an equaliser despite rattling the woodwork through Elliot Anderson. 

Reflecting on the result, a visibly frustrated Tuchel admitted that losing in front of a home crowd was a bitter pill to swallow. “For sure it hurts. It’s always painful to lose, and to lose at home hurts a lot. We got punished for not a lot, for one counterattack in the first half. We need these matches, we know it is a tough opponent, we had several players not available,” the manager added.

The defeat to Japan was compounded by a growing list of absentees that has left the England coaching staff concerned. Looking ahead to the final weeks of the domestic season, the German admitted he is feeling uneasy about the fitness of his star players.

"It will be scary to watch TV on the weekend and throughout, because from now on every muscle injury can mean that a player misses out," said Tuchel. "It's one thing if players go, if players gets injured, which is anyway not nice but then Jordan Henderson, who is a key figure for us in camp, is out, Declan Rice is out, Bukayo [Saka] is out.

"They are captains for their clubs, and they drive the standards. And then Harry Kane drops out so it's basically the leadership group who is not available. This affects, of course, a group... From now on, the next eight weeks, I am concerned, of course, and I hope that that everything goes well for the players, that they stay healthy."

With the March international break now concluded, Tuchel's attention shifts to the final preparation matches in June against New Zealand and Costa Rica. The German will have confirmed his final 26-man squad for the World Cup by then, and will have a much clearer picture of his preferred starting XI.