England Senior National Team General Discussion Thread

Assist for Curtis Jones,

Not sure he is certain to be selected. Should at least be ahead of Jordan Henderson but all the media think his place is already penciled in.

🚨❤️ Michael Carrick: “Kobbie Mainoo was great alongside Casemiro. They gave us a foundation really - with Licha and Harry”.

“I felt it was a game for experience and knowing what it feels like. It was a bit of a calculated gamble to see if Mainoo could get through it”. pic.twitter.com/ZTpVZpYOCM

— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) January 17, 2026

 

I'd say he's in the group below Rice and Anderson, who are certainties if fit. From what we know of Tuchel's plans, Henderson is probably the third most likely to go, although he has lost his place in the Brentford team.

 

It seems like he's not even fit enough to sprint. It's been like this every game since he came back from that 6 week rest period.

 

Was it a throw away line in an opinion piece? Who was the journalist?
What makes you believe the rumour is true?

 

He’s just scored from the spot but he’s nowhere near right imo. Surely Chelsea needs a fit and purring Palmer, not a half cooked one. They need to get him sorted out one way or another mainly just for them even though for us it’s obviously a bonus.

 

He's livened up a lot since moving to the right, his best position in my opinion. He gets marked out of the game in the #10 and offers too little off the ball.

 

It's probably the worst performance I've seen from him. His movements are so lethargic and there's no intensity to anything he does. The injury he has makes explosive actions much more difficult and that's a huge part of his game.

Whatever choices are being made about this injury, I hope they're being made in the best interests of his long-term health. This injury has prematurely washed its fair share of players before. Always remember how badly it ruined Kaka.

 

Ian Ladyman said it. He reported an unknown person putting it to Tuchel that said player should be recalled and Tuchel replying never.

 

I’m trying to decipher what you’ve written, why wouldn’t they just name the player? Almost like it’s complete BS, but if you choose to believe it fair enough.

 

3 English starters for Nottingham Forest (Anderson, Hudson-Odoi and Gibbs-White) + 3 on the bench
3 English starters for Arsenal (White, Rice and Madueke) + 3 on the bench ( Including Saka)

 

Kane scores.

 

This is the source:

Tuchel can be rigid but is unapologetic about it. There is one senior and respected player, for example, that he steadfastly refuses to select because he ‘will expect to play every game’. When it was put to him that people can change, he replied: ‘Not in this instance. I don’t want him with us’.​

(un-paywalled link)

It's a strange passage. If it were true, that would suggest that Tuchel discussed the player with a journalist somewhat off the record, they concluded that they couldn't report which player it was without betraying his confidence, but they felt that he'd be fine with them reporting that he'd said it about someone. That doesn't make a lot of sense of me, so my basic assumption is that there isn't any truth to it, but it would admittedly be an unusually specific thing to make up completely.

Regardless, I don't see why it would have to be one of those three players even if it was true. I'm also not sure why it matters.

 

The thing with these journalists is that they know they can get away with reporting these ambiguous lines, because no one can prove it true or not, Tuchel said X about an unnamed player! They know they can write this shit because they can’t be called out in it.

The insinuation (which was purely guesswork) was it was about Maguire, but that seems pretty unlikely to me, because Maguire stayed at Man United knowing he wasn’t first choice, he doesn’t seem like the type that would demand starting for England at this stage of his career.

 

Yeah I agree with that either way. It could be anyone or no-one, but I don't see why Maguire would be more likely than, say, Alexander-Arnold or whoever.

 

Could be Trent who it is meant to be about but is he senior? Made me think they want us to think it is someone 30+ like Maguire, Shaw or Walker.

 

13 goals in 7 matches, the quality of attacking players in the league is at an all time low. Absolutely disgusting state of affairs.

The worst part of it is that it’s not as if it’s even due to the defenders being great.

 

Like you I don't believe this is true for a second, but were it true the only player it would make sense about would be Ben White imo.

 

Imagine if Man Utd go on a run now and Shaw,Maguire and Mainoo get in the world cup squad.. That would be some comeback.

 

This is the kind of ridiculous speculation fireburn gets told off for

 

Brilliant satire

 

They are 5th in the league. But seriously I bet at least 1 of them goes.

 

Apparently Foden has a suspected broken hand. He fell on it during the first half, not sure when but might be a reason he was quiet yesterday.

 

Pep has denied that. Could just be the media struggling to understand why he was subbed at half time,

 

England winger Jadon Sancho, who is on loan at Aston Villa, could be set to return to Borussia Dortmund for a third time with the German club wanting to sign the 25-year-old on a free when his contract at Manchester United expires at the end of the season. (Fichajes - in Spanish), external

 

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— CompUploader (@CompUploads) January 18, 2026

Anderson vs Arsenal