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The England World Cup squad is officially out, but the reaction was already in after it had leaked out in the press on Thursday night.
The big headlines screamed about the absence of Phil Foden and Cole Palmer – and, to a lesser extent, Trent Alexander-Arnold, whose England omission was so widely expected that it took a few outlets a moment to remind themselves he is a notable name.
Has Thomas Tuchel got the big decisions right? We can’t answer that yet, obviously. Only a gruelling summer’s work will give us the answer. But from where we sit, it all looks supremely justifiable.
Thomas Tuchel's England World Cup squad prioritises proven chemistry over hypothetical improvement
Things got a bit ridiculous during Euro 2024, when several pundits somehow found themselves essentially suggesting with a straight face that Gareth Southgate ought to find a way to play Foden, Palmer, Bukayo Saka, Jude Bellingham, Anthony Gordon, Eberechi Eze and Harry Kane all in the same side.
There was a similar phenomenon during the Lionesses’ Euro 2025 triumph, where there was a clamour for Chloe Kelly and Michelle Agyemang to be promoted from super-subs to somehow playing alongside Lauren James, Beth Mead and Lauren Hemp.
| Row 0 - Cell 0 | Goals | Assists |
Harry Kane | 7 | 0 |
Bukayo Saka | 2 | 1 |
Eberechi Eze | 2 | 0 |
Marc Guehi | 1 | 3 |
Declan Rice | 1 | 2 |
Marcus Rashford | 1 | 1 |
Morgan Rogers | 1 | 1 |
Ezri Konsa | 1 | 1 |
Noni Madueke | 1 | 1 |
Anthony Gordon | 1 | 0 |
Ben White | 1 | 0 |
Ollie Watkins | 1 | 0 |
Phil Foden | 0 | 1 |
Jarrod Bowen | 0 | 1 |
Reece James | 0 | 1 |
John Stones | 0 | 1 |
That is a transparently ridiculous way to think about the game: most sides do end up having to do a bit of defending at some point in a major tournament, after all.
But it is a reflex encouraged by the often top-heavy nature of tournament squads - particularly the 26-man sides that go to men’s tournaments.
Realistically, a squad needs at most two players for every position (three is mandatory for goalkeepers), and taking an extra defensive-minded player feels like a waste when you know those roles are likely to be relatively settled throughout the tournament.
The greater incentive, then, is to fill the remaining slots with extra attackers, just in case you might need them for a specific opponent or to replace the quality that you would lose in the event of an injury or suspension.
Tuchel’s World Cup squad is no exception to that. He is taking three no.10s, three centre-forwards, and four wingers on the plane to North America.
That is plenty – and the ‘controversial’ choices he has made are arguable, but marginally so.
Are Palmer and Foden better than Noni Madueke? Yes, we’re more than happy to say that. But they are also completely different players for different roles.
Selecting Madueke alongside Saka, Gordon and Marcus Rashford makes clear Tuchel wants direct running and natural wing play to provide threat and service. There is a specific game plan to serve, and shoehorning in ‘better’ players breaks that plan.
Foden has been granted that wing role for England for years and has never impressed. Palmer perhaps has a better chance of making it work – he mostly played off the right wing at Euro 2024 – but has played just one competitive game for Tuchel, and that was nearly a year ago, against minnows Andorra.
Palmer started at no.10 in that game and made little enough impact that he was subbed off on 65 minutes. England won 1-0. Harry Kane’s winning goal was created by Madueke.
Foden and Palmer both got a chance to make an impression in the March friendlies against Uruguay and Japan. England were poor in both games.
In between times, England rounded out a flawless qualification campaign by winning 5-0 twice, 3-0 once, and 2-0 three times. Palmer and Foden played just 53 minutes between them in those games (all Foden).
Above all else, though, Tuchel’s selection decisions in last autumn’s three rounds of qualifying games told us we should expect this kind of squad.
The manager was clearly enamoured of the side that claimed that five-goal win over Serbia – the first time his England side had really properly clicked. Tuchel more or less stuck with it throughout the next couple of months, experimented a bit in March, and has decided to stick with what he knows works.
The only two players from the 23-man matchday squad for that Serbia game who are not in the World Cup squad are Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Morgan Gibbs-White. They have been replaced, in effect, by Mainoo and Bellingham. That seems…pretty hard to argue against.
There are other valid arguments to be made with the squad. Jordan Henderson over Adam Wharton? Djed Spence over Alexander-Arnold? Jarrell Quansah over Harry Maguire? Ivan Toney over Dominic Calvert-Lewin?
But even there, we are arguing about decisions made over second, third or fourth choice players for their respective positions. In light of that, it’s hard to blame Tuchel for going with the dynamic, both on and off the pitch, for which he has the most proof that it actually works.
