England's Thomas Tuchel says his mum sometimes finds Jude Bellingham's attitude ‘repulsive'
England manager Thomas Tuchel has said his mother sometimes finds Jude Bellingham's attitude 'repulsive', as he urged the Real Madrid playmaker to channel his 'edge' towards the opposition rather than intimidating his team-mates.
Bellingham had his equaliser in England's 3-1 friendly defeat by Senegal on Tuesday night overturned by the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) at the City Ground after a Levi Colwill handball in the build-up.
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After the game, Bellingham kicked the ball away and made a beeline for one of the officials before kicking a drinks cooler in frustration, only for England captain Harry Kane to usher him away and back on to the pitch.
'I think he has a certain something,' Tuchel told talkSPORT. 'I think he brings an edge, which we welcome and which is needed if we want to achieve big things.
'It needs to be channelled. The edge needs to be channelled toward the opponent, towards our goal and not to intimidate team-mates, or to be over-aggressive to team-mates or referees. But (channel it) towards opponents, yes, and always towards the solution, meaning towards winning.
'He has the fire. I don't want to dim this down. He should play with this kind of fire, that's his strength. But the fire comes also with some attributes that can intimidate you, maybe even as a team-mate.
'You see sometimes the explosion towards referees and the anger in his game, so if he can channel this in the right way, and we can help him in this, then for sure he has the something that we need. And he has a certain edge that is hard to find.'
Tuchel dismissed the idea that Bellingham was difficult to manage, labelling him a 'nice kid' and 'very open, very intelligent', as well as being 'very easy' to coach.
TalkSPORT then asked the England manager whether, as some fans have suggested, the team would be more effective without Bellingham in the starting XI.
'I struggle to see that,' Tuchel said. 'I think it has to be the other way around, how we can have the best version of him and the best acceptance that people understand what he is bringing to us, and that he is bringing a certain edge.
'But I see that it can create mixed emotions. I see this with my parents, with my mum, that she sometimes cannot see the nice and well-educated and well-behaved guy that I see. If he smiles, he wins everyone.
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'But sometimes you see the rage, you see the hunger and the rage and the fire, and it comes out in a way that can be a bit repulsive, for example, for my mother, when she sits in front of the TV.
'I see that, but in general we are very happy to have him. He is a special boy.'
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