After announcing the squad list for the November international break, England head coach Tuchel attended a press conference. This is the fourth part of the press conference.
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Hi Thomas, you’ve essentially secured qualification for the knockout stages, unless there's an extremely rare mathematical extreme—I think it's an 8-goal difference—does this allow you to experiment tactically? Are you still aiming for first place in the group?
Yes, I personally am absolutely aiming for first place in the group, and I would be very surprised if my players didn't think so. So, that is clearly our goal. We want to play a "final" in Spain because we want to experience these high-pressure moments, we want to compete in games with real competitive significance. We want to play under high pressure, in big occasions. We want to fully use the Nations League for this purpose, in order to be as fully prepared as possible for the European Championship.
So for me, the match against Croatia is a crucial game, a crucial game that must be won, especially after the result we got last time (a 7-0 away win). We got a deserved victory, but in some ways, it was a very strange scoreline that didn't reflect Croatia's overall strength; it reflected the specific flow of that last match. So while the result was deserved, we must forget that score.
We need to remember what we put in, what quality and effort we showed, and we need to produce another top performance, because Croatia then showed an excellent rebound against Spain, they almost beat Spain, so this is basically the game we are fully preparing for and focusing on now.
Yes, we are facing two strong footballing nations in a short period. We need to prepare for this match in two days. We have pitch training time on Tuesday and Wednesday to reconnect with our tactical routines, rediscover our style of play, and generate energy. Because as I said, for me, this is an extremely crucial match; it's about whether we can have another top-level showdown in Madrid.
Have you ever considered rotating players like Elliot Anderson? Because he has had a very busy schedule in the U21 and senior national teams over these past few years...
Yes, if there's an opportunity, we will, of course, always look after the players. But, yes, if there's an opportunity, perhaps let him play 60 or 70 minutes, but Elliot is also the kind of player who always wants to play, always wants to stay on the pitch, and he is very strong and resilient. So, touch wood, hopefully everything goes well.
Thomas, allow me one last question about Alexander-Arnold, please? You know how often we usually discuss him, and the fact that we haven't mentioned him at all in today's press conference speaks volumes. With Spence returning and Ben White available again, it would have been easy for you to exclude him from the squad again, these two right-backs... I know you might be considering using Spence as a left-back this time, perhaps?
Yes, Jed is on the left. We didn't call up Nico O'Reilly, which was a difficult decision.
Does he also have injury problems? Perhaps?
Yes, it's fair to say he's not fully back to his best physical condition; he needs time to fully recover and take care of his knee.
I guess my question is, how impressed were you with Alexander-Arnold in the last training camp that he earned his place again?
Yes, he performed very well in the last training camp. He played brilliantly in the games he featured in, and he deserved to return to the national team. Competition always exists, and the door is always open. In this training camp, he will compete with Quansah and Ben White for the right-back position.