Thomas Tuchel has been receiving great praise for his half-time team talk in England’s win over Croatia, but Roy Keane thinks the manager is getting too much credit.
The Three Lions twice took the lead in the first half on Wednesday night through Harry Kane, but were twice pegged back and the match was level at 2-2 at the break.
Then Tuchel got to work, making an impression on his players which saw them come flying out of the blocks at the start of the second half.
Jude Bellingham put England back in front within seconds and there could have been more goals before Marcus Rashford completed the scoring at 4-2 on 85 minutes.
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Kane was one of the players singing Tuchel’s praises after the game for his memorable speech.
‘Credit to the manager,’ said the England captain. ‘The manager gave us a speech at halftime just to say “Look, if we lose, we lose in our way.”‘
‘I think you saw that in the second half, we went full gas and they could not live with it.
‘That’s the level we have to set for every game, credit to everyone, first game of the tournament and a great result against a tough side.’
Declan Rice was another to hail his boss, saying: ‘He was top at halftime, the words he used, settled everyone.
‘I can’t say too much, it was one of those moments where you are like “Wow, what a top manager”.
‘I think we went out second half and everyone was relaxed and we just went for it.’
Keane is sure Tuchel did have an impact at half-time, but is not so sure he should be getting quite so much credit for doing what is expected of him.
‘Is it a bit of an overreaction to his half-time team talk?’ Keane said on ITV. ‘What’s he supposed to do? That is his job isn’t it?
‘That’s the manager’s job to give them the information and they go out and produce.
‘That’s what any top manager will do, you get them at half-time and you remind them what they’re supposed to be doing. It’s a bit over the top.’
The Manchester United legend added: ‘Every game’s different and every situation is different. I’ve worked with some great managers.
‘Sometimes you go in at half-time and you think you’re going to get a hard time and they go easy on you, sometimes you think you’re doing well and they go hard on you.
‘It’s what you smell in the game, what he thinks the players need. He’s well qualified to do that.’
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Tuchel himself explained what he said to his players, telling ITV: ‘I said even if we lose, it will not change my perception of the last 17 days. But let’s do it our way.
‘We’re too focused on the result, too focused on protecting what we anyway don’t have at the moment. The second goal was just an example. I think we were a back seven and we didn’t defend the goal. So why be a back seven anyway?
‘If something happens, the result doesn’t go our way, we want to play this match the way we want to and the way we were together for 17 days. I just tried to encourage them to go for it.’