Bellingham fires back at Tuchel as England's winning formula frustrates manager

Jude Bellingham issued a blunt response to Thomas Tuchel after the England manager called his side 'lucky' to escape their World Cup quarter-final against Norway with a win. Bellingham scored twice in the 3-2 victory on Saturday, but Tuchel was far from satisfied. 'We made life very difficult for ourselves,' Tuchel said. 'The result is fantastic but I'm not happy with the performance. We were sloppy, a lot of technical mistakes, not fast enough, not repetitive enough.' Despite the criticism, Tuchel acknowledged the team's spirit and the decisive role of his two star players. 'If we are talking about a formula, it's pretty simple: Put Harry and Jude together, they will do the rest,' he said. 'These two guys play for us and decide the matches for us.' Harry Kane, who set up Bellingham's second goal, agreed that the performance was not pretty but praised his teammate. 'The difference again was Jude with the two goals at the perfect time. That is what got over the line.' Between them, Kane and Bellingham have scored all but one of England's goals in the tournament – Marcus Rashford is the only other scorer. Bellingham's brace took him to six goals, level with Kane and two behind Kylian Mbappe and Lionel Messi. England now face Argentina in the semi-final, a match that offers a first World Cup final appearance since 1966. Tuchel admits his side must improve in attack, but with his two talismen in form, the formula may be enough.