We rate Mokbel in here? Ornstein is obvious, an actual journo, but it’s hard to see who consistently is fairly on point.
I am not a Man City fan but from the games I have seen he hasn't. That is Doku or Ait-Nouri. O'Reilly crashes the box. Which works for Man City, but England look better with an overlapping full back.
I guess these squad selections represent tuchel as a manager. We knew he was a methodical manager when we appointed him. He puts defensive solidity before creativity. At Chelsea he put defence first and out coached pep in the final. We're just going to have to trust that he knows what he's doing and we'll have to expect loads of turgid football. He'll live and die on his sword by this squad
I don't really mind negative selections if there's at least a obvious plan to them. Southgate used to get pelters for being negative but 2018-2022 Southgate I at least understood what he was trying to do and why he set out his teams the way he did in tournaments, even if I didn't always agree. My problem with Tuchel's selections is they're very clearly at odds with how he seemingly wants to play. This is most notable in midfield where we need a physically dominant midfield pairing who will cover ground and put in lots of defensive actions, which he has with Anderson/Rice.....but then that's it. No one to cover them. Mainoo is a interesting player but he's not going to replace those two to any extent. A geriatric Henderson got overran by the likes of Wales when he's been subbed on so what hope there. England aside from 2022 have ultimately failed to get over the line in tournaments due to the midfield losing control of games and Tuchel seems to have zero wider plan for addressing that. You can already see the gaping hole appearing where a midfield should be against decent sides in the tournament once we pass the hour mark. But you also see it elsewhere. He rightly mentioned Maguire's lack of mobility being an issue, and Tuchel's England team has been at its best with a mobile defence who can push up. But then why is Burn in the squad, why is Lewis-Skelly the back up left back? Spence wouldn't have "deserved" to go if he'd been fit based on the season he's had, but i'd have understood how he fit what Tuchel wants. Lewis-Skelly just doesn't in anyway.
Maguire has become the new Grealish in that his selection (or otherwise) seems to command a ridiculously outsized reaction. His own response is also laughable; how can he be "shocked" at his omission when he was only picked in one squad under Tuchel, who even said he was behind five other players or something? On the squad itself, I see a few people suggesting he's sticking to what worked well in the latter half of the qualifying campaign, but then... where does Toney fit into that? Some of this just feels a bit hail Mary.
If Tuchel leaves out all of all Palmer, Gibbs White and Foden, but still takes the two athletes; Rogers and Gordon. I'm not supporting England, I'm officially switching to Scotland as they'll probably get further than us with that squad
Heat maps in themselves don't really show enough to make a definitive statement. And even then I haven't seen a heat map that shows O'Reilly really overlapping. It's mostly moving centrally from outside. He also doesn't make many crosses. A good indicator of the lack of width.
Thomas Tuchel has been brutal with England World Cup squad calls - now they must pay off - The Mirror Thomas Tuchel has been brutal with his World Cup selection calls - now they must pay off for England boss | @johncrossmirrorhttps://t.co/4QOAg2degA pic.twitter.com/aM9IHqIriQ— Mirror Football (@MirrorFootball) May 21, 2026
Still a good squad on paper and hopefully Tuchel knows what he's doing. Think he's got the starting XI in a good spot, but the bench isn't as deep as it could be. I kinda like how he's not persisting with some big names who haven't performed for club and country this season. I'd personally still have taken Palmer though but happy Spence isn't there which means we'll have a guaranteed left-footed left back. I'm optimistic, but there's limited choices there. I have to be because I'm going to the Croatia game with my dad: Our first ever England and World Cup game. The last time England went into a major tournament with low expectations we made it to the semifinals in Russia. This team however does have plenty of elite talent and probably the best midfield England's brought to a major tournament since Euro 2004.
Surely nobody picked this 26 in the competition on the England app? Is this all just a cunning ploy not to have to give the shirt away to a winner?!
Yeah I think the reaction everywhere is a bit much. I just don't really rate any side, there's no world class team around right now. Like Spain 2010 would absolutely blow away everyone in this period, as would Germany 2014. France 2018.... eh, the weakest of that group and Argentina 2022 got weaker again.
Could be the most disappointing squad since the 98 world cup. If these claims are true. Leaving out so many flair players .
That's what has upset me the most. I could understand leaving foden OR palmer out but to drop two potential match winners is diabolical. Eze could produce something. We are heavily reliant on kane Bellingham and saka now to produce something. Our bench is going to be shockingly bad
Who will be penalty takers? TAA and Palmer missing from last time and would be in the core group of 6/7 who would be big contenders to take one.
I also remember Tuchel going about how needing every single training session before he started giving days off and the March experiment.