Thomas Tuchel insisted Jude Bellingham must ‘accept his decisions’ after the midfielder’s ‘livid’ response to being subbed off during England’s 2-0 win over Albania.
A second-half brace from Harry Kane saw the Three Lions finish their World Cup qualifying campaign with a perfect record as well as eight consecutive clean sheets.
Sunday’s match also saw Jude Bellingham return to the starting XI for the first time since June after his positive cameo off the bench against Serbia in midweek.
The Real Madrid midfielder showed flickers of his best before being brought off in the dying embers of the game, replaced by Morgan Rogers shortly after picking up a yellow card.
The 22-year-old did not seem best pleased with his late withdrawal, though, and appeared not to celebrate with his team after their second goal when realising he was about to be brought off.
Speaking on BBC Radio 5 Live, former Liverpool defender Stephen Warnock noted that Bellingham appeared ‘furious’ and ‘absolutely livid’ as he made his way off the pitch.
And Tuchel said he would review Bellingham’s angry response to his withdrawal, but suggested no player of his nature likes to be brought off.
‘That’s the decision, and he has to accept the decision,’ the German told reporters post-match. ‘There are other players, his friend is waiting on the sidelines, so he need to accept it, respect it and keep on going.’
Asked if Bellingham’s reaction was against the team’s ethos, he responded: ‘I didn’t see it that way, I’ll have to review it. I saw that he was not happy, I don’t want to make it bigger at the moment than what it is.
‘I think to a certain degree, if you have players like Jude that are so competitive, they will never like it but my words stand.
‘We are about standards and levels and a commitment and respect to each other so we will not change our decision just because someone was waving their arms.
‘What we did in camp is all about the collective. I have to then review it becaue I was very happy with the goal and I had a quick talk with Morgan Rogers and I was sure that everyone will celebrate together so I will have a look at it.
‘But that’s not the image that we want to transport because we feel that everyone is committed and accepts also tough decisions, be it before the match or in the match, and it excludes no one.’
After three international breaks in as many months, England now don’t have a fixture until March, when they will play two friendlies to kickstart their build-up to the World Cup.
On the lengthy gap between matches, Tuchel told BBC Radio 5 Live: ‘I cannot believe that I see all of them only in March – it is a tough one for me to swallow.
‘I have to say I love to be on the sideline. I love to compete with them. This will be a long, long period now. They did amazing – from all our players full credit to them. We are very proud.
‘We had a lot of changes and sometimes a lot of changes is not fair to the ones that play because then you miss a core of players who are used to playing with each other, but everyone did well. You could see we had a high quality bench to turn things around and influence things, so why not?’
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