At half-time in England's World Cup round-of-32 match with Congo DR, Thomas Tuchel waited for the adrenaline to subside a touch in the changing room, and then he delivered his succinct message. The team were 1-0 down, but the mood was calm. The players listened, Harry Kane responded, and an hour later they were planning for Mexico.
Benjamin Weber, the sporting director at Augsburg, has seen countless Tuchel half-time talks. He worked as a video analyst with Tuchel for nearly 11 years at Mainz, Borussia Dortmund, Paris Saint-Germain and Chelsea. England's second-half response against Congo DR came as no surprise to him.
"When you bring intelligence and emotions together in speech, it's just the best," Weber says to ESPN. "He does this, he can bring them together, and he always found the right words."
Tuchel even used his new, eye-catching shoes as a form of motivation while at Chelsea. The players found his shoes hilarious; he vowed to wear them again if they reached the Champions League final.
Weber has seen every side of Tuchel but when you boil down all aspects of the England head coach's personality and philosophy it comes back to two fundamental consistencies.
"He wants to win and he finds a way to adapt to any situation," Weber says. "Firstly, this winning mentality is not just in football, but also when you play tennis or padel with him. He loves competitions. But on adapting, he always likes to have an idea, a way of solving problems and it's such a positive mindset. I learnt a lot from him."
Fundamentally, Tuchel has the final say. But he's open to collaboration when it comes to problem-solving. So as they prepare for Mexico and how to tackle altitude, the atmosphere, and the challenge itself, he'll listen to opinions from all those around him, before making a call on tactics.
"Working with Thomas? Well, I lost some hair, as you can see," Weber laughs, "but it's not hard. You get the reward. And when you win, he recognises the staff. You have that in daily business too: how he's treating the people, how he's treating the chef, the kit guys. If you want to win a football game, that's the main thing and it's nice to have a plan together.
"It's always an exchange to find the final plan. I don't know why I always remember this, but we were on a plane, and we had this long discussion over how we'd tackle Wolves with Chelsea..."
It was their first match together in charge of Chelsea so an unknown. Every coach and analyst had their own idea, but after talking it through, they went from a small acorn of an idea and developed it into their gameplan.
"He saw how they played as a back five, and we watched some clips and thought we should match them. He was thinking [Cesar] Azpilicueta can work as a centre back, Thiago Silva in his age maybe, so it all came together: just find a way to get the win. It's not exhausting, it's just nice.
"But it's about when you see his history, wherever he's been, he's been one of their best coaches. I think in time, he loves winning, but he loves to work in this atmosphere."
It could have been a very different story for Tuchel. Back in 1998 he was a centre back at SSV Ulm but suffered a career-ending knee cartilage injury. For two years, he was working behind a bar, until Ralf Rangnick took him to VfB Stuttgart as a youth team coach. In 2005, Augsburg brought him in to work with their youth team, and by the 2007-08 season, he was appointed Augsburg II coach.
Michael Ströll is now Augsburg's CEO having held nearly every type of role at the Bundesliga club, but back then, he was playing in that team under Tuchel. His ambition was clear, even back then.
"He won the title at Augsburg, and though it's a long time back, you could see how deep he goes with details," Ströll tells ESPN. "He is very focused, very ambitious. He hated to lose and was always a few steps ahead in his mind -- so it's not just the next step, it's the one after that, and after that and for me, that's one big reason why he's so successful.
"He knew exactly what he wanted to do but if he's influenced by his staff, then he's very happy to listen to that. But when he's made his mind up, it's that way, 100%."
Augsburg are ambitious. They pride themselves in outperforming expectations and became Bundesliga mainstays despite having a budget far inferior to other clubs in the league. They reached the Europa League back in the 2015-16 season and knocked over Bayern Munich at their Allianz Arena last term. As they continue to upset the applecart, they've also got a proud history of playing a part in the journeys of both Tuchel and Julian Nagelsmann. Nagelsmann was a player at Augsburg, but his career was cut short when he was 20 due to several injuries.
Perhaps there's something in the water at Augsburg that inspires these coaching talents. After he's stopped laughing, Ströll says: "I don't think there's a masterplan there. Thomas was at the beginning, and Julian was a player in the Under-23s with me, but he was injured a lot. He scouted for Thomas and the club. But if you look where they've come from, it's incredible.
"The club then was shady buildings, with a dry pitch, so not ideal in developing world-class head coaches, but perhaps that was important in their careers as they had to work hard, nothing was for granted, and without high class facilities, they really had to put in the effort. I think it was important they started on a low level with almost nothing."
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Four of Augsburg's players were in World Cup squads. Switzerland's Fabian Rieder and Croatia's Kristijan Jakic are in the round-of-32, while Tunisia's Ismaël Gharbi and Austria's Michael Gregoritsch have bowed out. Nagelsmann's Germany have also gone.
So that leaves Tuchel's England, one of Augsburg's old sons.
"I just know that he loves England, and how the people make him feel so comfortable there," Weber says. "The fit makes total sense. And for England, it makes perfect sense. He never really talked about it when we worked together as in football, despite him being so good at planning, there are some things you just cannot plan. It's right place, right moment, and England is the right place for him."
