Thomas Tuchel praised the impact of England’s substitutes as the World Cup hopefuls continue to build a team rather than just a starting line-up.
The Euro 2024 runners-up secured their spot at next summer’s tournament with two matches to spare and on Thursday continued their 100 per cent Group K record with a 2-0 win against Serbia.
Bukayo Saka’s sublime volley put England ahead at Wembley, where returning stars Jude Bellingham and Phil Foden were introduced as part of a quadruple change midway through the second half.
The pair helped inject new life into the performance and were involved in the build-up to fellow substitute Eberechi Eze’s beautiful late goal.
Put to Tuchel that the South African rugby union team call their reinforcements the “bomb squad” and some teams call them “finishers,” the England boss said: “I have not named it in a different way but I kind of like it. I like bomb squad a bit more than finisher.
“That’s the nature of this game. The possibility that we go to Albania (on Sunday) and start with 11 and finish with the same 11 goes to zero, and even more so in a tournament.
“This is not about building a starting 11, it’s about building a team.
“They’re all big players in their club, they’re all used to playing, they’re all disappointed. Everyone. This is normal. But they buy into this idea of building a team and this is what we want, this is what we need. There is no other way around it.
“Only if we’re a strong group who can put the ego behind (them), who can put the disappointment behind, and then contribute and give the coach a headache what to do in the next match, that’s the only way.
“I like it because it’s natural for this team. The atmosphere after the matches, during the matches is the right energy and I think everyone is treating everyone with respect.
“The ones on the pitch know that they can rely on everyone who comes from the bench to finish the game.
“You could see the impact today, and it has to stay like this. We just need everybody fully involved, especially mentally to accept the decision of the match day and then to continue.”
Real Madrid star Bellingham came on for his first appearance since June, while Foden was deployed as false nine as he replaced striker Harry Kane.
Tuchel had the idea of deploying the Manchester City forward there several months ago and was impressed by his impact in his first international appearance since March.
“We nominated him for the first camp and then he had a difficult spell at City and now he came back,” said the England boss, who praised Foden’s club team-mate Nico O’Reilly after his debut.
“For City he plays actually in a deeper role, almost like as an eight, so let’s see where this is all going.
“But, yeah, I wanted to see him close to the opponent’s box. I wanted to see him in the middle of the traffic, surrounded with a lot of players, and I think he did excellent, even in a game that was a little bit too open.
“But, yeah, I think in matches where we need to unlock a deep opponent he can always be a choice.”
