Tuchel insists 'zero risk-taking' preceded Alex Scott injury that could sideline him two months

Thomas Tuchel has defended England’s management of Alex Scott after the Bournemouth midfielder suffered a thigh injury that could keep him out for up to two months, insisting there were “only green lights” from both the player and medical staff before the problem was discovered.

Scott, 23, had impressed on his full England debut in Saturday’s 7-0 win away to Croatia, having previously come off the bench in the 2-0 Nations League victory in Czechia. Tuchel had planned to start him in Tuesday’s home fixture against Czechia, but what appeared to be minor pre-match discomfort escalated into a significant lay-off once scans were completed.

“It’s a bit of a strange one,” Tuchel said. “Alex trained both training sessions before the match full against Croatia. He did extra work after the training sessions. We knew that he was in treatment, but there were only green lights from himself, from the medics.”

The England manager revealed that Scott himself was unaware of the severity during the Croatia match. “When we asked him if he wanted to come off, he said, ‘No’. After the match, he said, ‘Yeah, OK, it was the right thing to do, but I could have played 90 minutes, I don’t feel an injury.’ Even on the day after, before we did the scan, he felt that he’s not injured.”

Tuchel acknowledged the disconnect between the player’s physical sensations and the objective medical findings. “It doesn’t match his feelings and doesn’t match at all the process into the match and during the match. There was zero risk-taking from our side. There was no awareness that there is any risk something could happen like this. It’s a kind of a one-off, strange one.”

The injury is a significant blow for Bournemouth, with Scott set to miss fixtures across domestic and European competition as well as England’s November international window. Tuchel expressed sympathy for the club while standing by the decision to play him.

“I can 100 per cent understand that Bournemouth is not happy and sad because they lose a key player,” he said. “But I can just say from the moment we took the decision to let him play, there was absolutely no risk whatsoever apparent to me.”

Arsenal defender Ezri Konsa also left the England camp on Monday after aggravating a pre-existing issue during the Croatia game, though Tuchel described that situation as “nothing major” in comparison.