THOMAS TUCHEL reckons it is “appropriate” to have tension with superstar Jude Bellingham.
The Real Madrid man was recalled after being left out of Tuchel’s previous England squad — despite having returned to fitness after shoulder surgery.
Bellingham, 22, has not featured for the Three Lions since Tuchel’s bombshell interview in June in which the boss claimed his own mother considered some of the player’s behaviour “repulsive”.
Tuchel had also suggested ‘edgy’ Bellingham can “intimidate” his international team-mates.
But the German has now insisted Bellingham will be his first-choice No 10 for the final qualifiers against Serbia at Wembley on Thursday and in Albania three days later.
Tuchel said: “Jude has the edge. He has the certain something that is needed to reach these heights at a young age.
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“It is now necessary that we provide an environment and he lives up to this environment, to provide this edge for us in a positive way and help us win football games.”
Asked if tension between a coach and a top player was appropriate, Tuchel replied: “Yes, it’s absolutely appropriate, assuming there is (tension).
“At a certain level it’s no problem. To a respectful level there’s no problem.
“I’m not their best friend, I’m their manager. I try to instil values and standards.
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“Then I have a core group of players to drive these standards, but you want every player to buy into a certain level of standards.
“I strongly believe that this is a team effort, like no other sport.
“This is the beauty of it. This is why so many people love this sport, because it reflects so much of how society works, how groups work.
“It reflects so much what life is all about and to support each other, to work towards a goal, and this is what we are trying to build. There is, to a certain degree, no exception for individual players.”
Bellingham missed September’s 5-0 thrashing of Serbia in Belgrade — in which Morgan Rogers starred as the No 10 — persuading Tuchel to leave him and Phil Foden out of last month’s squad when England secured World Cup qualification by gubbing Latvia 5-0.
Now Bellingham is back, along with Foden after his strong return to form with Manchester City.
Tuchel’s predecessor, Gareth Southgate, struggled to accommodate both players in the same team — and the injured Cole Palmer is still to return.
But Tuchel insists he will not shunt Foden out on the wing just to fit him into the England side.
The England boss said: “Jude comes back as a No 10. That’s his best position.
“And one of his key strengths is that he has the ability to arrive and to score goals that a No 9 would score.
“The key thing for Phil is that he gets a role in the central part of the pitch. I don’t see him as a winger.
“He should have a central role. That brings out his strengths the most.
“It does not make sense to tell Phil, ‘You trained so well, you’re a nice guy, you’re a fantastic team-mate, we want you on the pitch, but there’s no space in your best position. Can you play left wing for us? Can you play right wing for us?’. That does not work.
“He profits a lot from clarity. With a more central role, where he feels more confident, where he has more connections around him, we need to create this for him.
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“And then we can demand stuff from him at the highest level.
“Hopefully we can help him find an environment where there’s more clarity about what we demand in the position to express his creativity and express his childish joy to play football.”
