COOL JUDE IS TUCHEL WINGMAN

Interactions speaking louder than words

- by ANDY DUNN

IN the build-up to Thomas Tuchel’s opening game as England manager, there was a buzzword.

Interaction.

It was, apparently, one of the reasons why Gareth Southgate’s team lost the European Championship final to Spain last summer.

Not enough of it.

Not enough high-fiving, chatting, encouraging, fist-bumping, general camaraderie. Not enough interaction. Tuchel even produced a graph, apparently.

England players went into their individual shells in the second half of that final in Berlin, it seems, and that might have been one of the factors that led to the loss.

Tuchel wants plenty of it and perhaps that is why the high-fiving and hugging ahead of kick-off against Albania was particularly enthusiastic.

But you suspect Jude Bellingham does not need any encouragement to interact.

Considering he can occasionally be-rate team-mates who he feels have made a bad decision, that might not always be a great thing but Bellingham is always the first to offer words of motivation, to keep an eye out for pals, to be a captain without the armband.