Thomas Tuchel has revealed assistant coach Anthony Barry has received banter from the players after his eyebrow-raising half-time interview in the World Cup opener against Croatia became the talk of England.
Tuchel declared Barry a “top coach” as he reflected on England’s first week at the World Cup, which he insisted has been one of the best weeks of his 19-year managerial career.
England beat Croatia 4-2 in their World Cup opener last Wednesday but were drawing 2-2 at half-time, when Tuchel’s assistant, Barry, conducted a brutally honest assessment of the team’s first-half performance in an interview with UK broadcaster ITV.
Barry said England had made “fearful patterns” of play in the first half and had played long when they should have played short, as well as short when they needed to play long.
Tuchel reflected on this ahead of England’s second-group game against Ghana, for which he has given Barry the green light to continue his half-time interviews through the tournament.
“Everyone is speaking about this,” Tuchel said. “I’m so happy if he does that at half-time — and then I don’t have to do it,” he joked.
“Do you think I need to do that? I’m so happy if he speaks.
“You see the quality. The guy is a top coach. He is an inspiration, and he pushes me, and helps me and supports me. It’s just top level.”
Tuchel, asked whether he had heard Barry’s half-time interview back, replied: “I haven’t heard it. But I hear a lot of people speaking, so he gets a lot of banter for it.
“I can imagine it makes sense what he said, and he spoke hopefully from his heart and from his knowledge because he’s just a top coach.”
Speaking about his own role with the team, Tuchel added: “I want to be at my best and support them, first of all, to be their best, because it's their stage. It's their potential that has to bring us all the way and should shine.
“That's how I understand my role, and I love the competition and to be a coach. I've had one of the best weeks of my coaching career until now.”
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The England manager also admitted the Three Lions need to sure up defensively when they face Ghana in Foxborough, Massachusetts on Tuesday.
“We need to do things better,” he said. “We need to improve, especially our structure with the ball, to be ready to defend counter-attacks before they become dangerous.”