England boss Thomas Tuchel insists Jude Bellingham “needs to accept” his role in the team after he was taken off in the Three Lions’ 2-0 win over Albania on Sunday.

Tuchel’s side capped off the best World Cup qualifying campaign in England‘s history with eight wins from eight matches, 22 goals scored and zero conceded.

Harry Kane scored twice in the last 16 minutes of the match to give England and Tuchel even more positivity heading into the World Cup in the summer.

Jude Bellingham returned to the starting XI for the match against Albania after the Real Madrid midfielder played 25 minutes in their previous game against Serbia.

Bellingham came off on 84 minutes against Albania after Kane had scored England’s second goal but the 22-year-old didn’t react well to be replacing.

After learning he was about to be replaced, Bellingham throwing his arms in the air with former Liverpool defender Stephen Warnock noting on BBC Radio Five Livethat the midfielder was “absolutely livid” and “furious” about the decision.

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On Bellingham, Tuchel told reporters: “That’s the decision, and he has to accept the decision. There are other players, his friend is waiting on the sidelines, so he needs to accept it, respect it and keep on going.”

When asked if Bellingham’s reaction was against the ethos he was building, Tuchel added: “I didn’t see it that way, I’ll have to review it. I saw that he was not happy, I don’t want to make it bigger at the moment than what it is.

“I think to a certain degree, if you have players like Jude that are so competitive, they will never like it but my words stand.

“We are about standards and levels and a commitment and respect to each other so we will not change our decision just because someone was waving their arms.

“What we did in camp is all about the collective. I have to then review it becaue I was very happy with the goal and I had a quick talk with Morgan Rogers and I was sure that everyone will celebrate together so I will have a look at it.

“But that’s not the image that we want to transport because we feel that everyone is committed and accepts also tough decisions, be it before the match or in the match, and it excludes no one.”

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After a several international breaks already this season, England will now have to wait until March to play again with two friendlies in preparation for the World Cup.

When asked about the long gap between matches, Tuchel told BBC Radio 5 Live: “I cannot believe that I see all of them only in March – it is a tough one for me to swallow.

“I have to say I love to be on the sideline. I love to compete with them. This will be a long, long period now. They did amazing – from all our players full credit to them. We are very proud.

“We had a lot of changes and sometimes a lot of changes is not fair to the ones that play because then you miss a core of players who are used to playing with each other, but everyone did well. You could see we had a high quality bench to turn things around and influence things, so why not?”

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