England assistant coach Anthony Barry on Tuchel & World Cup

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1:49Anthony Barry:Hi, I'm Alex Howell, Senior Football News Reporter at the BBC. I've been speaking to England Assistant Manager Anthony Barry. We spoke about his relationship with manager Thomas Tuchel, his coaching journey and what England need to win the World Cup. Hope you enjoy. You've extended your contract with Thomas until 2028 before the World Cup. Why were you so ready to commit before you've been to a tournament?

2:12Alex Howell:Why would we not be ready to commit? It's a fantastic job. It's a job that we love. Thomas and I fell in love with the job quickly. We work in an amazing environment where the hierarchy above us is elite. They allow us to do the job in the way we wish. We have a group of players that are simply a joy to train when we actually get them. We miss them a lot of the time, but when we're with them, it's totally a pleasure and a joy to coach them. So there's many things to love about the job, to like about the job, and Thomas and I certainly feel that way. And when the opportunity came along to extend, it was a no-brainer.

2:45Anthony Barry:You kind of come to the package now, don't you? You and Thomas, you've both met Chelsea, Bayern and now England. So where did you meet him and why do you think you clicked so well together?

2:55Alex Howell:Yeah, I'm the yin to his yang. It's little and large from the outside, the Scouser and the German. I'm pretty sure it looks a bit strange at times, but we met at Chelsea. I was already there with Frank Lampard on his staff. When Frank left the job, Thomas came in and I stayed. We worked together for two years, probably not as close as we are now. we had other staff from Germany and Hungary who were elite and world-class assistant coaches as well and then I stayed at Chelsea when Thomas left and by the time he arrived in Munich he he asked me to join him in Munich and then of course once we finished there we we came together to international football and to the England team so it's something that a relationship's grown along the way we certainly weren't that close at the start but in certainly in a working capacity and then in a social way we became closer and closer and now we spend a lot of time together speaking working fighting building teams all of the above but he's a person and a character that I admire and I'm in all of.

3:55Anthony Barry:You're the only English coach in this setup and it's the pinnacle of for any coach working with the England team so do you feel an extra sense of importance because of that?

4:05Alex Howell:No I certainly don't feel important or importance I have a responsibility to try and be in a elite assistant coach if I can be that's the demands of the role. We also have Justin Cochran who comes with us part time who's also been an excellent support to Thomas and I. So we're really a team, I don't feel any level of importance and responsibility because I've coached international football before and I know the rhythm and I know how it works and I try to share that experience with Thomas but it's always a collective idea we just try to build the best team possible and the best England team we can.

4:39Anthony Barry:The big thing obviously everyone is looking forward to is the World Cup. You've got some big decisions to make with Thomas. So what goes into picking a World Cup squad?

4:49Alex Howell:A lot, really. A lot. A meticulous approach on how to construct a squad, what does it need in terms of the assets on the pitch, but also the social idea, the psychological idea. How do we take a group of people to the US that hopefully want to be together for seven to eight weeks. So there's many moving parts, many components. Also right now we're learning about the injuries can actually change the squad that you think you might build and you think you might take. But day to day Thomas and I are spending time in St George's Parks in the car on the way to games. We are constantly speaking about how do we create and cultivate new ways to win football matches but also build a squad that we're proud of and that the fans are proud of as well.

5:31Anthony Barry:Because you've been to a World Cup before haven't you? So what did you learn and what do you think you can take from that to this tournament?

5:37Alex Howell:I learned that it's hard to win and they don't give them away. Even though we have an elite group and we have an elite head coach, still there's many hurdles to cross. There's many other teams around the world, not to mention France, Spain, Argentina, Brazil, that also have elite managers and elite players. So it will only be a small margin that decides who wins this tournament. It's something that I learned in Qatar with Belgium. We also had an elite squad and I went to the Euros with Portugal. Again, we had an elite squad, but it's not so simple to get over the line and we have to squeeze everything we can out of these players.

6:11Anthony Barry:Will this World Cup in America be even more unique because of how hot it's going to be?

6:15Alex Howell:It will certainly be a challenge. It's an extra hurdle we have to overcome. We can't shy away from it. The heat will impact the whole tournament, I'm sure. The heat will impact the product of the football on the pitch. It's not really a fantastic environment to produce elite football, especially at the end of a long season. but there'll be certainly no excuses from our point. We know the heat is there, we have time to prepare for it. We will arrive early in the US for the players to acclimatise and become as ready as they can be and then when we go to play in games we have to beat the opponent, we have to beat the heat and this is the challenge for us.

6:50Anthony Barry:And with that you've written a dissertation before haven't you about throw-ins and we've seen this season in particular maybe more of a highlight on set pieces. Do you think they have a bigger part to play because of the heat, the drinks breaks and a different style of football?

7:05Alex Howell:I have to be honest, I'm not sure it will have a bigger part to play. I think set pieces have always been huge in football. I just think right now it's really a trend. It's really spoken about in social media. We have set piece specialists now, so it's almost become football plus set pieces. But that's not how Thomas and I see it. I think all of the great teams over the times have always been good at set pieces. You go back to Sir Alex's Man United with Pallister and Bruce scoring late goals. You go back to Stoke with the long throw-in. I just think now it has a lot bigger spotlight on it. People speak about it as if it has more importance, but for us it's always been a huge part of the game and will be in the US.

7:44Anthony Barry:Do you think style actually matters if you win? Arsenal, for example, are getting criticised for the style of football they play, but it looks like they're going to win the Premier League. Are you too fussed about that? What do you think about it?

7:56Alex Howell:I'm completely in awe of Arsenal and what they are doing and what Mikel has built there, the team they have, the personality they have in the group, the way they play this year, I think they've been fantastic. So anybody who speaks ill of them or speaks about them in a negative way, I certainly wouldn't agree with. For us and for every coaching staff, you always have your own style. And there's many ways to win a football match. We will stick to our style, our methodology that's constantly evolving because football is constantly evolving. But overall, you have to find a way to win. We want to win the tournament.

8:28Alex Howell:We want to do it our way. And I think the more belief you have in your own way of working, it actually, the players feel that. If you have a real clear way of working, how you want to win games, how you want to be productive on the pitch, then there's also an emotional side to that with the players, that they feel good, feel confident, and this almost brings you closer to the finishing line and winning games.

8:49Anthony Barry:Does that all link in, because when Thomas has spoken in press conferences about that club feel, you're really keen to make it feel like a club, is that linked to the way you want to play as well?

8:59Alex Howell:Of course, yeah. We want it to feel like home when they come here. We want to build a brotherhood. We want 26 guys to get on the plane and really want to be together in the airports, in the hotels, on the pitch. I've always been a believer in international football. The X's and the O's and the tactics, they are part of the game and they're important. But in international football, really, Thomas and I will get 50 training days with the guys before we arrive in the US. how big an impact can we really make on that side? For me, the petrol in the car is the team spirit. It's the connection to each other.

9:31Alex Howell:As I said before, many teams have elite players, but if you can really get them to come together, have this team spirit, then that's normally the energy that drives the team forward and even more important in international football and club.

9:43Anthony Barry:And then just the last couple, Chelsea won the Club World Cup last year in America. So it shows that English sides can win even the heat. Were there things from that tournament that you have taken that you're put in England's preparation for the World Cup as well?

9:57Alex Howell:Of course, absolutely that. That's the main point, that an English team can win there, that they can go out after a long Premier League season and be successful playing against the best teams in Europe and from South America. So, of course, it gives us a vote of confidence that, OK, someone can do it, and it's already been done before. We learnt a lot in the Club World Cup about training facilities, about the heat. Thomas and I were out there for the tournament. we get feedback from our players about what it was like to play, the way the grass moves the ball what type of boots to wear on the pitch, so there was a lot of learning we also have an elite, elite physical team in the background working on game models, how we can play in the heat, where we can press where we can run, how we can run, and also to understand the cadence and the rhythm of the whole tournament, because some tournaments are indoors, so we can play a European game, then three days later we may have to adapt, so it's constantly understanding the challenge game by game, step by step, but the club World Cup for us

10:52Anthony Barry:gave us a nice lift that Chelsea could be successful. And then finally, what is success for this England team? Is it only winning the World Cup for you?

11:01Alex Howell:I think everyone will deem what success is. If we win the World Cup, of course it's successful. Any levels below that, then people will have their own opinion. We know what the mission is. We know why Thomas and I took the job. We absolutely want to try and win the World Cup. and along the way we want to have a process that we're proud of. We want the wider staff here, there's maybe 60 of us that will travel to the US. We want everybody to have the best six weeks of their life and that's how we will pitch it to the players, pitch it to the staff. Let's really go out there and make memories together.

11:30Alex Howell:In the end, hopefully we come on with the goals. That is the aim and we're certainly not shying away from that and we haven't since the day we took the job. But we have to go step by step. We have to take the process on and right now we have to have a good match.

11:44Anthony Barry:Thanks, I think. Good luck.

12:14Anthony Barry:like you have to and that helped us drive on and win the FA club. The Wayne Rooney Show. Watch your night, player. Listen on sound.