Jude is England’s best Tournament Player since 1966

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0:32Now we've got, I'm going to say it again We've got two superheroes, right? We've got Harry Kane, Jude Bellenham And I believe we have a manager that is capable of galvanising a group When the chips are down and going, no, no, no Guys, refocus, get back into HD with me, 4K Because it's gone hazy at this point in the game Which it does, for even the best players And he gives them a bit of clarity again

1:00yes guys this is Rio Reacts and we are out here in LA with Airbnb flying about all over this place Venice Beach is the place to be man I'm telling you but I told you I'd take you everywhere I told you I'd show you everything and we're doing that the game Fletch what are you thinking you were on the stage earlier by the way as well they loved you DJing I'm DJing everywhere now resident DJ at the world cup it was great to get around loads of England fans I've been here for a long time now and I've been to different fan parks, I've been to different games, but I haven't been to a place where I've been surrounded by a load of English.

1:29It was just nice to feel that today. There's so many England fans wherever you go. Wherever you go in the US, there's England fans everywhere today. Absolutely rammed at Venice Beach. I want to ask you about something, right? Yeah. So you've posed a really good question and we've all been talking about it today. Okay. So you are making the suggestion. Yeah. And I don't think you're wrong. Okay. But I think I'm going to throw a few caveats in. Okay. that Jude Bellingham is the best England player in a World Cup finals tournament since 1966 when England won it. And I'm saying it with my chest. Yep.

2:04Yes, Jude Bellingham is the best England player that we've had in tournament football since 1966. Are you including Euros as well? Anything. Any tournament. Okay. Any tournament. Now, who are you putting forward to be ahead of him? This is how it works. I get set up as the one that's got to go against you. I know how this works. No, but you're great at this. You're great at this. We've done it before. There's only a few players that you'd even have in the conversation. Based on the fact, after 1970... Name them, name them. Well, I will. But after 1970 in Mexico, England didn't qualify in 74 or 78.

2:38Flamed out in 82. And they got in 86. But Gary Lineker won the golden boot. Yep. 1990, Paul Gascoigne, excellent. Gary Lineker, loads of goals again. Yep. after that there's not a great deal until Harry Kane no Rooney Rooney at Euros was phenomenal in the Euros but not a World Cup I think the World Cup counts for more a lot more a lot more let's get to the point so I think you're right you think you're right now I do and I think every goal he scores it changes the argument so each game each minute each moment it changes the narrative but I look Gary was really important in 86 golden boot England went out though in the quarter finals 1990 390 semi-final.

3:19I think ultimately England, if they get to the final, it's an opening showcase. If Bellingham's the reason why they got there because he's winning games for England. He's not just playing well, he's winning games. Yeah, and knockout football's come and he's just turned up again. He said, I'm going to turn the volume up a little bit or the heater up on the cooker. And he's just... There ain't many players that you go, like the biggest occasions where they go, guys, I'm him. Who else? And like, you look at it now, are we becoming over reliant on him maybe but my point is still that i think we've got two superheroes we've got jude and we've got kane's with kane's on it and jude isn't we're gonna get through probably let me ask you a question are we over reliant with france over rely on zindar zin sedan we're argentina over reliant on diego maradona if you can rely on the player yeah you're never over reliant and he looks like a player that thrives on that yeah i'll put the country on my back in this tournament, I'm going to win games for you.

4:17If the player is the player who wants that pressure, who accepts that pressure and then thrives under that pressure and produces and delivers, it doesn't matter if you're over reliant on them, if they're delivering, if they're performing. We've seen it with Cristiano Ronaldo's teams, we've seen it with Messi's teams and Mbappe's club teams and the World Cup team that he played in. They've reliant on him, but that's absolutely fine if they deliver. But also what I'm seeing that's becoming more and more apparent now, the other players, and this is so important, the other players are so accepting in that Jude is the guy.

4:48There were so many murmurings in the previous tournament that old Jude and people started trying to write him off and say, Jude's got too much of an ego maybe, or he's too this, or he's too that. We're trying to find stories as to, but the kid just knows how to perform and turn up at the biggest moments. There were certain headlines that said, leave Jude at home. Can you imagine this England team? What was his name again? What's his name? Craig Hope is the fellow you're looking for can you imagine England without him can you imagine him Craig Hope how he feels right now I'm waiting for the public apology yeah but yeah imagine if we had left Judah imagine if the manager had folded to the demands of people like that reporter or some fans if they were out there by the way we're not digging anybody out if you put your name to that kind of comment then you you're going to be discussed at a stage like this when the player that you've suggested has to stay at home is arguably the best player in the tournament.

5:44I want to ask you something though, right? So you said to me towards the end of the match, he's not the man of the match. Yeah, I thought Anderson was... Elliot's the man of the match. Elliot Anderson I thought was great. So as a former player, a world-class player... Thanks. Do you want a player that plays really well or do you want a player that wins you the game? Because Jude's won the game for England today. But I can say, I can make very good arguments is that you might not win the game without either of their performances and impact moments. So you need the blend of both. I've played in many games, and you're going to ask me what game, I can't remember, but there's many games, okay, where, I don't know, Ruvenistra scored two goals, but then Scholes walks off with a man of the match or a defender does because they have moments in that game that aren't as match-defining, but you know that without them moments or the bits of play that that person had or contributed, we may not get to win the game still.

6:37But listen, there's no doubt in my mind, if Jude gets man of the match, he deserves it. He's a match winner. See, I get the argument if you score one goal and you get the man of the match. Yeah. I get that. If you score two in a game where England didn't play well, by the way, let's give Norway a ton of credit. Yeah, yeah, they deserve huge credit. One or two people, a lot of people would have written Norway off. It's all about Erling Haaland. It wasn't. They were great as a team. They went above and beyond today. And they were really proud of what they did today. but he again he did it in the Azteca he said listen come and get on my back and I'll win us the game and he did it today and who's to say he won't do it in the semi-final against Argentina or Switzerland there may be a final as well that's a real ability isn't it to say I can do this just follow me and that's what he expects to that's the point he expects to and then if he doesn't I think he's disappointed and says well that was my moment again where some people go you know what thank god I've got out of the way of that one right man we've got loads still to come right on this pod, but we'll be back shortly after this.

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8:28You're a favorite people who grow in the moment and shrink in the moment. He grows, doesn't he? Yeah. I mean, people like Wayne Rooney. like Paul Scholes like these guys where you go to the biggest moments and you go you look around in the change room and that's the impact that he'll be having now is that guys will be looking around in the change room who haven't been at this stage who haven't been at the biggest games like this and will go Jude looks good looks relaxed looks focused I'm going to follow you they won't say this but they'll shuffle him behind and they'll follow him out Answer me this right you've had it on how heavy is the England shirt and how heavy is the England shirt when you get to this stage of a World Cup, when people are starting to say - Well, I didn't get to this stage, just so you know.

9:08But we, but - Do you know what I mean? Yeah, but it was massively heavy. Like I've said this before, players that are household names, Hall of Famers, et cetera, I heard say, they're talking about newspaper reporters with marks out of 10 on the coach on the way home from a game. Like the difference is we were really kind of, we were kind of closer to the media in that they had some venom behind the words they were writing. and there was venom and they were trying to trap people in different things and aspects of their lives. And it's almost like it felt to us, it was us against them and they wanted us to do bad.

9:41Whereas now, I think the work that Gareth Southgate has done in terms of the relationship between the media and the players and that players understanding how to deal with them, I think it's been magic. But this manager is taking it on again. And I think he's created even more of a rapport with those players to go, whatever's going on outside there, they don't matter. What we're doing here is going to be life-defining. and we can win it. And there's a belief that I can sense. Talk to me about him. Because I look at this World Cup now and we've essentially split the game into four quarters. So the two hydration breaks, match breaks, whatever you want to call them.

10:15If you've got a really good in-game manager, he's worth his weight in gold in this tournament. Everything he's done, when he's done it, not everybody's always said, great decision. But it all seems to work. You didn't, did you? No, I didn't today. Jed Spence came on, devastated. was but there was a situation where reese james went into central midfield and not kobe mayner there's a lot of things that you look at and say the conventional wisdom would be this yeah but he's going off experience he's going off of somebody that is smelling what the game needs rather than what people would want to be in that situation like everyone's sitting on their home and they're on their armchairs he's saying i need someone like jed spence who is athletic who can deal with one v ones who'll get out to people and can get us up the pitch which we would game need we need to get out he's he's managed Rhys James in the biggest moments of Rhys James's career when they won the Champions League he knows what he can deliver so he's trusting what I know against what people think he should have done with a Kobe mainer who's actually a ready-made midfielder and replacement but he's going with what his instincts are as a manager and what he knows and I would rather the manager do that whether I believe in his decision or or I think his decision is right I like a manager that goes and smells it and is aggressive with his instincts and that's what the two substitutions he made early sacker comes on straight away as a comes on another attacking some some managers would have gone previously right if jordan henderson was there for instance so at midfielder like for like right okay so let me cut in then okay let's kind of do the elephant in the room the criticism of england in previous tournaments under gareth southgate was yeah when it got to the critical moment in a match england v france southgate versus Deschamps.

11:56Deschamps would manage that situation better, make better substitutions and England then would lose. They'd go out. Have we now got the manager at this stage of a World Cup that can make us the A side of that conversation? That we've got the Trump card now. We've got a manager that when it really gets hot in the kitchen, he's going to say, listen, I know exactly what to do. I'm going to make the right move and my team are going to be okay. Is this, is this, Is this why the FRA wanted Thomas Tuchel so badly? And it'll play out how it's meant to play out. But one thing I will say, he's not going to go out on the back foot.

12:33That's the key point. We've got to great positions, to finals, where we've gone ahead and you're expecting us to just go on again. And I know it's not easy to do that, but you need someone in that building, the manager, namely, to go, right, guys, get behind me, follow this. And it's putting your foot on the opponent's throat and getting over the line. And Thomas Tuchel has won things, won things at different clubs, won the biggest club tournament in the Champions League through being assertive, through being aggressive. He's substitutions, the hydration breaks here. Almost every one of them has had an impact because he's going, there's players there that are fit for purpose to do a certain thing.

13:13Dan Byrne come on in the last game against Mexico. He done what is on the tin. Boot, head, kick, everything out the box. Done it perfectly. John Stones in the last game. John Stones again today. Jed Spence comes on. Some people might not think, oh, he's the best fullback in the league or whatever. It doesn't need to be. There's a purpose as to why he's here. The manager's not gone with reputations and names because if he would have done, Trent would have been here. So how important is that then? Because not only are we relying on Jude Bellingham, we've relied on Harry Kane, we've relied on different people, right?

13:44But every time he says... Sorry, sorry, just on that. When the manager's like that, yeah? Yeah. The confidence that then transpires into the squad is crazy because what you're seeing is what he's asking you to do and what he's saying is going to happen in the game is playing out. That ties into the question though, Reid, because whenever he says to anybody, can you go on and do this? In this World Cup, they're doing it. In previous World Cups, that's not been the case. Yeah, because he's been in those situations and that's a massive, massive point. When people talk about, oh, he doesn't have the experience, etc.

14:13Sometimes you've got a squad that can elevate you as a coach. Sometimes you need a coach that can just take and drag the lads over the line. Now we've got, I'm going to say it again, we've got two superheroes, right? we've got Harry Kane, Jude Bellingham. And I believe we have a manager that is capable of galvanizing a group when the chips are down and going, no, no, no, guys, refocus, get back into HD with me, 4K, because it's gone hazy at this point in the game, which it does for even the best players. And he gives them a bit of clarity again. If you look at the best teams of the last, say, I don't know, six years, right?

14:48The managers, especially in the Champions League or other, there are kind of outliers. I thought Arsenal were quite conservative in the way they won the league but you look at Luis Enrique the way his team plays aggressive on the front foot makes very very front foot decisions Pep's teams over the last year he's aggressive he's so aggressive too cool he falls in I'm not saying he's at their level I'm just saying that in terms of his mindset in games when things are going wrong or he thinks things need changing he's not he's not one of those guys who's afraid to make that decision he's very assertive bang I'm going to go and if I'm going to lose right I'd rather lose like that.

15:23Yeah. Does he win the World Cup from here? I think we do. I've said it from early in the tournament. I just think there's, when the chips are down, when things aren't going well, we can work things out. It's like a jigsaw puzzle. We're able to find the right piece at the right time. And I think that's really one of the things that we have maybe over the others. Argentina have managed to do that, but Argentina have looked closer to going out than we have. Let me just tell you this, right? He's done this from various parts of Europe, various parts of the world. Venice Beach suits him down to the ground.

15:49That's why I've got the vest on.

15:54Thank you.

16:29Thank you.

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