Дэлхийн аварга шалгаруулах тэмцээний шөвгийн 16-д Мексикийг 3:2-оор буулган авсны дараа Жэд Спенс дасгалжуулагч Томас Тухелийн хатуу шаардлага түүнийг илүү өндөр түвшинд хүрэхэд нь тусалдаг гэдгийг онцоллоо. Тэрээр дасгалжуулагчийнхаа шүүмжлэлийг өөрийг нь сорьсон сорилт хэмээн хүлээн авч, Английн шигшээ багийн бүрэлдэхүүнд итгэлтэй тоглож байна.
Спенсийн карьер өмнө нь Ноттингем Форест, Тоттенхэм, Лийдс Юнайтед болон Жэноа зэрэг багуудад тогтворгүй байсан ч 2024-2025 оны улиралд Тоттенхэмд эргэн ирж, улмаар шигшээ багтаа дуудагдсан юм. Тэрээр Английн шигшээ багийн анхны лалын шашинт тоглогчийн хувьд дэлхий даяарх хүүхдүүдэд үлгэр дуурайлал үзүүлэхийг зорьж буйгаа хэлсэн.
Дэлхийн аварга шалгаруулах тэмцээний явцад Спенс сэлгээнээс гайхалтай тоглолтыг үзүүлж, Мексикийн эсрэг бат бөх хамгаалж, Норвегийн эсрэг тулаанд давамгайллаа. Аргентины эсрэг хийх дараагийн тоглолтод ч тэрээр Тухелийн тактикийн зааварчилгааг хүлээн авч, багийнхаа төлөө хичээхэд бэлэн байна.
Дэлгэрэнгүй эх сурвалжийг харах
Эх сурвалжийг нээх ↓
In an interview with ITV after England’s dramatic 3-2 win over Mexico in the World Cup last 16, Djed Spence was asked whether Thomas Tuchel is tougher on him than anyone else in the squad.
With a chuckle, Spence replied, “Yes”. Having watched Tuchel scream Spence’s name from the sidelines during the 0-0 draw with Ghana, or maniacally bark at him for not throwing the ball forward in the 2-1 win over the Democratic Republic of Congo, his response was hardly surprising. But what Spence said next is a better reflection of their relationship and why he is thriving in an England shirt at the World Cup under the German.
“He likes me, I guess,” Spence said when ITV journalist Gabriel Clarke asked why Tuchel continues to single him out. “Perspectives. It depends how you want to look at it.
“Maybe he believes I can do more. Maybe he believes I can reach new heights, new levels.”
From the outside, Tuchel’s critical fixation on Spence may appear unfair, or even slightly nasty. But the 25-year-old has experienced the exact opposite at club level, causing his career to meander and stall for several years before rebuilding momentum over the past 18 months at Tottenham Hotspur, and Tuchel’s tough love is proving precisely what he needs.
Jude Bellingham embraces Spence at the end of England’s victory over Norway (Masashi Hara/Getty Images)
Spence emerged into the national footballing conscience in early 2022, when he was electric as his then-Championship Nottingham Forest beat Arsenal 1-0 in the FA Cup. In front of a terrestrial television audience on ITV, a 21-year-old Spence was outstanding as a right wing-back for Steve Cooper’s Forest, earning the man-of-the-match award and plaudits from Arsenal legend Ian Wright. Wright was recorded on the pitch after the game telling Spence, “You’re supposed to be in the Premier League. You can’t play at that level and not be in the Premier League”.
He was outstanding as Forest marched to promotion to the English top division via the play-offs, and celebrated with a post on X pointed at former head coach Neil Warnock, who sent him on loan to Forest from his parent club Middlesbrough after a dispute. Warnock questioned his attitude and aptitude at the Riverside Stadium, suggesting he’d either play in the Premier League or in non-League (the fifth tier of English football and below), but he appeared to put those criticisms to bed over a stellar season at the City Ground.
In celebrating promotion, Spence posted an image on Twitter of him holding the play-off trophy with a cigar in his mouth, captioned “Oh, Where’s my Manners! Welcome to Twitter @warnockofficial,” after his former boss had recently joined the social media site.
He had plenty of suitors in the summer of 2022 after returning to Middlesbrough from his loan spell at the City Ground, eventually joining Tottenham for around £20million, marking a return to London after growing up in the south of the nation’s capital. But if Forest served as an environment where Spence was cared for and nurtured, he found no such love in north London under new head coach Antonio Conte.
Conte essentially disowned Spence from the start, describing him as an “investment of the club” and a “club signing”. After just six months and less than 10 combined minutes of action across four league appearances from the bench, Spence was sent out on loan to Rennes in France’s Ligue 1, without having the chance to prove himself as a Premier League player.
Spence struggled for first-team action in his early years at Spurs (Jon Hobley/Getty Images)
“It wasn’t a nice feeling,” Spence told the Rio Ferdinand Presents podcast. “Especially as I was coming to the club on a high, I was confident, I was buzzing, had just won promotion.
“Then it was like running into a brick wall. It shattered my confidence a bit, obviously I’m young. It’s not nice to hear.”
Ange Postecoglou joined Tottenham as head coach the following summer, but sent Spence back out on loan to Leeds United, a return to the second tier. After an unsuccessful loan period marred by injury and concerns over time-keeping, which ended with the Yorkshire club sending him back to north London prematurely, Tottenham were ready to cut ties with the full-back, agreeing to send Spence to Genoa in Italy with an £8.5million option to buy. The Italian side opted not to take up the option at the end of his loan spell, which turned out to be a blessing in disguise for the club and Postecoglou.
Amid an injury crisis in the 2024-25 season, Postecoglou turned to Spence with few alternatives. At that point, Spence felt a million miles away from a regular Premier League starting berth, let alone a first England call-up, not least an eventual selection for a World Cup squad. After waiting 881 days from signing for Tottenham in the summer of 2022, Spence finally made his first start for the club on December 15, and assisted for James Maddison inside the first minute of a dominant 5-0 win. While he has not been a regular starter, competing with internationals like Pedro Porro and Destiny Udogie for minutes, Spence has since established himself as a core member of Tottenham’s playing group with an impressive fitness record and the ability to play on either side of defence.
Spence enjoying a joke during a World Cup media conference (Richard Pelham/Getty Images)
Yet there’s a sense that, until very recently, he had not entirely won over English football. For that, he bears some responsibility. In an interview with Talksport, Warnock said, “You can’t say Daniel Farke, myself and [Antonio] Conte were all wrong,” and he’s probably right. Last season, Spence and team-mate Micky van de Ven ignored then-Spurs head coach Thomas Frank’s instruction to applaud the home fans on the pitch after a poor 1-0 defeat to Chelsea, and walked straight down the tunnel to their dressing room. It was a move criticised by Tuchel, who said he “didn’t like it,” and later spoke to Spence about the responsibilities of being an England player. Sources, who prefer to remain anonymous to protect relationships, recognise that Spence is an introverted character who can come across as quite aloof, and that this image may not help his cause in moments like these.
While he has been a regular inclusion in Tuchel’s England squads since winning the first of his 13 caps in a 5-0 win over Malta last September, an inconsistent season at club level meant he was somewhat of a surprise call-up. Tuchel justified his selection by describing him as the fastest player in the squad and a one-v-one defensive specialist, but with more decorated alternatives like Real Madrid’s Trent Alexander-Arnold or more in-form full-backs such as Newcastle’s Lewis Hall and Luke Shaw of Manchester United in reserve, some critics viewed it as an odd, perhaps even undeserved selection.
In that same interview with ITV, Spence also conceded that he is probably the most relaxed player in the England camp, but that should not be interpreted as uninterested or disengaged. It was notable that when Gabriel Clarke asked if the win over Mexico was the best moment of his career, he put it alongside his England debut and winning the Europa League with Tottenham in 2025. He described John Terry’s iconic “floor header” for England against Slovenia in the 2010 World Cup as a “core memory” of being a football fan. He is also the first Muslim player to play for England, and accepts responsibility as a trailblazer to “inspire young kids around the world that they can make it as well.”
Spence praying after England win their World Cup quarterfinal against Norway (Marvin Ibo Guengoer/Getty Images)
While you may have to read between the lines more than you would for Harry Kane or Jude Bellingham, who speak confidently and at length about their national pride, it is very apparent how much playing for his country means for Spence, who has spent his whole professional career overcoming doubters. And that passion has shone through at the World Cup, where Spence has been outstanding from the bench. He was involved in the fourth goal in the opening 4-2 win over Croatia, but his outings in the knockout stages have been even more impressive, defending heroically against Mexico in the last 16 before a dominant cameo against Norway on Saturday.
He has loosened up in front of the travelling media, too, conducting interviews with broadcasters and even gatecrashing a press conference, presenting as a “trainee reporter” to jokingly ask fellow team-mate Morgan Rogers whether he was the fastest player in the squad. He is close to Justin Cochrane, one of Tuchel’s assistants, with whom Spence worked under as a member of Thomas Frank’s staff at Tottenham. In a tournament where history and legacy are at stake, Spence appears to be enjoying life on and off the pitch more than ever.
So if Spence gets the nod against Argentina and you spot Tuchel barking instructions from the touchline, know it’s probably what he needs and exactly what he wants.
