Reece James: Chelsea boss Thomas Tuchel says defender is not fit for England duty
Chelsea boss Thomas Tuchel expects Reece James to miss England duty through injury despite being selected.
On Thursday, James was named in Gareth Southgate’s squad for the World Cup qualifiers against Andorra and Hungary.
Tuchel said the decision to include the 21-year-old right back must be a “misunderstanding”.
“When I saw it I thought that maybe Reece goes with the water polo team for England, because right now he trains in the pool,” he joked.
“So I was a bit surprised, but I understood that he was selected for the football team.
“This will not happen because Reece is training in the pool right now.
“So my understanding, my last information is that he will not go. So that can only be a misunderstanding, nothing else.”
‘We are carrying a mental weight on our shoulders’
Tuchel also thinks the weight of expectation is affecting his players after successive defeats.
Wednesday’s Champions League loss to Juventus followed Saturday’s Premier League defeat by Manchester City.
The European Champions, who play Southampton on Saturday (15:00 BST), have been called Premier League title favourites by some pundits.
“It feels a little bit like we are carrying a mental weight on our shoulders from expectations”, he said.
“Someone told me several years ago that if players look like this then you can threaten them or calm them down … 99% of the time you can calm them down.
Tuchel says his team missing “a little step from 90% to 100%” and need to “question ourselves deeply”.
“We always demand the very best from us. Nobody likes to lose, we hate to lose.
“We need to respect the quality of our opponents. Also, we were not really bad. We have played good matches.
“We are looking for the last 10%.”
