Thomas Tuchel reveals 'emotional' Jordan Henderson dressing room message in contrast to Ibrahima Konate

Former Liverpool captain Jordan Henderson delivered a stirring speech ahead of the World Cup clash with France on Saturday

England boss Thomas Tuchel has revealed the "emotional" message Jordan Henderson sent his team-mates ahead of their entertaining World Cup win over France.

The Three Lions secured third place and their best finish at a World Cup finals since lifting the trophy in 1966 when they beat France 6-4 in the bronze final in Miami on Saturday.

Former Liverpool skipper Henderson was once again absent with the broken arm he suffered while celebrating the round of 16 triumph in Mexico a fortnight ago.

But while old Reds team-mate Ibrahima Konate had before the game admitted not one France player wanted to play in the match - Konate subsequently started and was substituted at half-time with his team 4-0 down - Henderson had a very different message for England.

"Jordan Henderson gave a very impressive speech today in the hotel to put this in the right frame and put everyone in the right mindset," said Tuchel. "So he helped unbelievably today.

"That was very emotional and very, very impressive to put this game into perspective.

"I won't say what he said, but it puts into it perspective because he was part of this match eight years ago. It was very emotional and he put into perspective what you might feel in the very moment, that you might give in to the feeling 'I don't want to be here'.

"He took all of that away because he said that it means the world in the end, and he would give anything if he hadn't broken his arm to be part again in this match.

"You never know when you get a World Cup match for England. He said it much, much better than me and more emotional, and it was very impressive. He set the tone and the mindset for this match."

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England's semi-final defeat to Argentina last Wednesday means they have reached at least the last four in four of their last five major international tournaments but remain without silverware in 60 years.

And Tuchel said: "I said yesterday we want to close this gap. We feel there's still a gap to close to the top three teams who are ahead of us in the world rankings and that starts with today.

"It was a big shout because there are a lot of world class players in the attack on the other side. They (France) come from a less demanding schedule physically and had one more day (to prepare).

"Again, we could rely on what we built. This team built something special in the last seven weeks and we will never negotiate on that.

"I still stand by my words that we need to play better football under pressure, we need to manage games better under pressure and take better decisions under pressure and defend more economically and disciplined."

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