Thomas Tuchel resists ‘madness’ of calls to rest England players despite longer window

I don’t take calls from Premier League managers, he says

Thomas Tuchel says it would be “madness” to allow his England players or the clubs to pick and choose their matches during the elongated Nations League window as he promised to go full throttle for victory against Czechia in Prague on Tuesday.

The manager did accept that Declan Rice needed to rest and could not be part of the squad in light of the Arsenal midfielder’s heavy workload across a number of seasons and well-documented fitness issues. Rice was at Wembley on Saturday to watch England lose 3-2 against Spain in their opening Nations League game.

But now that Tuchel has his group, he says there is no room for compromise and certainly not to speak to club managers who might want to make deals over their players’ minutes. Tuchel does not want to rotate his starting personnel, although he does accept it could be impractical. After Prague, England go to Rijeka to play Croatia on Saturday before returning to Wembley to face Czechia next Tuesday.

“I don’t take calls from Premier League managers,” Tuchel said. “I never called any national team coach [when he was in club football]. I cannot manage [the minutes of] the players. It’s just impossible. I knew as a club coach … if I would call a coach in Brazil or Argentina, they would not know what I am talking about. The players would not know what I am talking about.