Jude Bellingham reveals England got ‘things wrong off the pitch’ at Euro 2024

Jude Bellingham has admitted that England lacked chemistry and joy at Euro 2024 but he is hopeful lessons have been learned for the World Cup. The Real Madrid midfielder felt the squad under Gareth Southgate was not “connected as well as it could have been”, suggesting the blend was not right off the pitch.

Bellingham saved England with his stoppage-time overhead-kick equaliser against Slovakia in the last 16, the team going on to win in extra-time. They battled their way to the final where they lost against Spain, but the overall feeling was of a slog; the good results and progress never really celebrated.

Thomas Tuchel has placed a heavy emphasis on creating a “brotherhood” within the squad for this tournament, admitting he has not picked the most talented 26 individuals but rather the best collective. Bellingham is poised to compete at his fourth major tournament at the age of 22 and has opened up on what he felt went wrong in Germany at Euro 2024.

“I came in at 17 [for the European Championship in 2021] and I was fairly comfortable with my role to take in the experience,” Bellingham told the Lions’ Den show. “In that tournament Gareth got a lot of things right in the way he tried to blend the starters and finishers and we were all on the same page.

“Qatar [the 2022 World Cup] was the best one I’ve been to. It didn’t even feel like starters and subs. It didn’t feel like there was any kind of hierarchy. I think at the Euros [in 2024], we got some things a little bit wrong off the pitch. I don’t feel like the group connected as well as it could have – for a number of reasons.”

Bellingham said that high expectations were a part of the problem. “We weren’t playing particularly well, which doesn’t help. So even when we were winning we didn’t get the feeling that we were as happy as we should be,” he said. “There has to be that element of relentlessness and you want to win, but the nature of football and especially at this level is that wins go out of the system very quickly. I think we should have held on to that moment [the winning feeling] a little bit more.

“This time round, having experiences and knowing, for example, the guy who scores the winning goal in the World Cup final isn’t always the one you’d bet your house on … everyone’s got to be ready, everyone’s got to feel loved, everyone’s got to feel they’re playing a huge part in the team. The other thing is to enjoy it. Enjoy the sessions, enjoy the games, enjoy the suffering when we’re suffering in games, enjoy the feeling of having your backs against the wall. And then, when you do win, enjoy the feeling of overcoming another country. It’s a huge feat. So they are my two takeaways.”

Bellingham reflected on his sensational goal against Slovakia, which he said was the first overhead kick he had scored as a professional. “When it comes up and I watch it, it almost makes me feel a bit uncomfortable because it was such a bad situation … we weren’t playing well. I remember as a kid watching World Cups and Euros where we crashed out against teams that we shouldn’t have gone out to and I was thinking: ‘I’m about to be part of one of those moments’. Those kind of moments shake up the whole of English football and to score that goal … a really good moment for me.”

Bellingham appeared on the show alongside Morgan Rogers, with whom he grew up in the west Midlands. The pair are close and it was easy to see, even as they compete for the No 10 role in Tuchel’s starting XI. The decision between them is arguably the toughest that the manager faces for England’s World Cup opener against Croatia in Dallas next Wednesday.

“It [the competition] has eased up a bit as he [Tuchel] has seen me play more positions and Morgs play more positions,” Bellingham said. “But I honestly have no ill feeling when he’s playing and I’m not playing. That is a great representation of where we’re from.”

Bellingham talked about the swagger and self-belief that both of them had, which he said came from their home towns. Bellingham is from Stourbridge; Rogers from Halesowen. Bellingham has been criticised at times for fancying himself a little too much but it is plainly a part of what makes him so successful. “You have to accept that people won’t accept that,” Bellingham said.

“If people could relate to it and understood it, they would be in our shoes as well. We have to understand that the reason why we are here is part of that self-confidence. That self-confidence is why we are here. What point would it be to stop doing that now? And be like everyone else.”

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