The England head coach believes the full effect of this summer’s new, extended FIFA tournament may not be fully known until next summer when the Premier League trophy is handed out and England begin their quest to win the World Cup in the United States, Canada and Mexico.
Chelsea and Man City will play a minimum of three games at the Club World Cup in the group stage and will have played seven games in a month if either side reaches the final.
I think it [the Club World Cup] will have a huge impact and it will give Liverpool and Arsenal a huge advantage in the next season to not be there,” he said.
“I think it will be a very nice experience for the players who are there, to play this tournament for the first time. So it is mixed feelings about it
After a long season, they feel the tiredness. Harry [Kane] said he felt like coming [to England’s training camp] after one week would have been much harder.
“It was easier to come after two weeks. It gave him a kind of refreshment, and there were many players who came back after one week, and they said ‘Ah, we were just getting into holiday mode, and now we put the boots back on.’
Tuchel has said he will put England’s interests ahead of any club interests when he selects his team for Tuesday night’s friendly against Senegal at the City Ground, home of Nottingham Forest.
But he also promised that he has the players’ welfare in mind and will do what is necessary to make sure they are not unnecessarily overworked.
“They all want to play,” he insists. “There is not one player who says they want to be on the bench and save themselves for the Club World Cup. They are hungry to play.
The games are not the problem. It’s just the amount of time it occupies with the players, and they need some rest in this calendar, which they hardly get.”
The German coach believes English players are more adversely affected than some of their European rivals because of the intensity and competitive nature of the Premier League.
With sweltering conditions expected in the host countries and nine English teams competing in Europe next season, Tuchel also fears that fatigue could be a factor for England’s players at the World Cup.
“We will deal with the effect when the effect comes. We have a lot of teams in the Champions League next season, and in European football, let’s see what happens
