England: Kane and Bellingham air strong views in World Cup review

Inevitably, at the squad discussion the game against Argentina emerged as a key theme.

It is understood that Tuchel pointed to the quality of the opposition as a key factor on why they eventually succumbed to two late Argentina goals.

There is, of course, merit to that argument. Lionel Messi was in the opposition team after all.

That said, it was not an argument the players in the meeting were prepared to universally accept.

There is a strongly held view within the England squad that their team, man-for-man, was superior to Argentina, who had 38-year-old Nicolas Otamendi on the field for the closing 18 minutes of the game.

All players were afforded an opportunity to air their personal views during the meeting.

As you’d expect captain Harry Kane was strong and forthright with his views.

Jude Bellingham, too, is said to have been particularly candid in expressing his belief that this current crop of England players were more than capable of continuing to take the game to Argentina.

Bellingham’s contribution to the meeting is said to have underlined his growing influence within the England squad, with many believing the Real Madrid midfielder will become the team’s captain once Kane is no longer in the picture.

If the air needed to be cleared after the World Cup then it appears those honest discussions at the end of September did the trick.

Barring the 3-2 loss to Spain at Wembley in their first Nations League fixture in September, England have bounced back from the loss to Argentina pretty emphatically – scoring 12 goals without conceding in three fixtures against the Czech Republic and Croatia.

Similarly, the fluctuating relationship between Bellingham and Tuchel seems to have improved, too.

“It was a bit of an up and down [relationship] of course but we are in a good place,” Tuchel said last week.

“I love to be his coach. He’s a top player, a very influential player and I think it goes both ways.”

We will get a clearer idea of how ‘Tuchel 2.0’ is progressing in the next few days when England host Croatia on Thursday and travel to Madrid to face world champions Spain on Sunday.