ITV WAS hit with a whopping 443 Ofcom complaints following their coverage of England’s thrilling World Cup win over Norway.

The Three Lions booked their place in the semi-finals thanks to a 2-1 victory over the Scandinavians on Saturday.

ITV are in hot water after fans hit out at Gabriel Clarke’s line of questioning

The reporter incensed Thomas Tuchel after the final whistle

But furious fans slammed ITV reporter Gabriel Clarke, 62, for his controversial post-match interviews with England boss Thomas Tuchel and man of the moment Jude Bellingham.

And the broadcaster was flooded with criticism from stunned TV viewers.

Ofcom revealed the majority of the complainants hit out at Clarke’s line of questioning to Tuchel and Bellingham.

The England head coach, 52, blasted his side’s performance against Norway – just minutes after the final whistle.

Tuchel said: “I’m not happy with the performance. We made life very, very difficult for ourselves.

“The result is fantastic, we’re in the last four. It’s amazing but we’re not happy with the performance.

“The commitment is there but we made life very difficult for us in the way we played, how we played.

“Sloppy, a lot of technical mistakes, not fast enough, not repetitive enough. We were lucky.”

However, the Three Lions gaffer was even more incensed when Clarke suggested his team’s mentality was an issue.

Tuchel snapped back: “It’s not a mentality problem – this is pure mentality.

“How can you ask about mentality now? This is pure mentality, you can bottle it up and sell it.

“It’s the quality of our games. That’s it. It has nothing to do with mentality.”

Clarke then spoke to Bellingham – who is in the running to win the Golden Boot after his double against Norway took his tally to six goals for the tournament.

He told the Real Madrid superstar that Tuchel was “not very happy” with the display.

Bellingham, 23, responded: “Yeah, well, whatever. Whatever. It’s difficult out there. It’s a tough shift.”

Tuchel hit out at ITV when he became aware of the England No10’s post-match reaction.

He told talkSPORT: “What do you expect of a player that just played 120 minutes and gave literally everything if you shorten the comment of his coach, if you don’t tell him that ‘he was world class’, if you don’t tell him, ‘he has world class actions’?

“If you just cut all this and tell him, ‘Oh, your coach said you were sloppy’, what do you expect?

“Yeah, of course you get the comment that you get and then you try to blow it up and people try to create misunderstandings and cracks where no cracks are.

“We come from the same place, we come from being competitive. I am a competitive coach. I push this team to the limit and that was my assessment.

“I think the question was unfair in this moment to Jude because he cut all the compliments out of my assessment and just asked about the critical points, so I can understand.

“What do you expect of a player that just gave everything and stands there in front of a microphone in a flash interview?

“It’s just what it is but we’re as close as ever, and close more than ever before.

Harry Kane has accused Clarke of attempting to create friction within the camp

“You can see that on the field. The energy and mentality in camp is excellent in the last days and we are ready to go for it [against Argentina].”

England skipper Harry Kane then sensationally accused Clarke of attempting to create friction within the Three Lions camp.

The striker, 32, said: “When you’re playing a game, especially a game like that, and you get asked a question two minutes after the final whistle when he hasn’t known what the manager has said it’s like, what do you want Jude to say?

“We’ve just been through a battle, it was really tough out there. I think it’s easy to try and create this division.

“It always seems to be an English mentality, an English thing to do at these major tournaments.

“But it’s the complete opposite, this group is where we are because of our togetherness. Not just the players but the coach and the staff and everyone involved.

“Things just get made out to be so much more than they really are.”

England will face Spain – who overcame France in their semi – in the World Cup final if they beat Argentina tonight.

Source: https://www.thesun.co.uk/sport/39764665/itv-ofcom-complaints-england-gabriel-clarke-tuchel-bellingham/