THE MAGIC TUCH
Thomas Tuchel’s first England XI predicted as German expected to ditch the youngsters for Southgate stars
Tuchel could have an interesting decision to make regarding the England captaincy
THOMAS TUCHEL has one job — win the World Cup.
It is wishful thinking to believe the incoming England manager will be particularly bothered about blooding more young players.
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The fact Tuchel’s contract is for 18 months merely underlines that it is all about the present and not the future.
Officially, he starts work on January 1 and, while he has exchanged texts with Lee Carsley, the pair will meet for the first time in the new year.
They will reflect on Carsley’s six games as interim manager.
With the draw for the World Cup qualifiers on December 13, they will be able to plan for 2025.
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While Sunday’s 5-0 win over Ireland showcased some of England’s rising stars, expect many of them to either take a back seat or return to the Under-21s with Carsley.
Tuchel is certain to call on experience as he builds towards the 2026 World Cup in the United States, Canada and Mexico.
Liverpool midfielder Curtis Jones will definitely have a part to play under the German.
Left-footed left-back Lewis Hall, a rare species in England, also has a chance in the next squad, along with Morgan Rogers and Noni Madueke.
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But Morgan Gibbs-White, Tino Livramento and Taylor Harwood-Bellis will all have to be patient. Angel Gomes, currently at French club Lille, is out of contract at the end of the season and if he wants to remain on the Tuchel radar, might have to return to the Premier League.
What will be a feature of the Tuchel regime is the German’s preference of sticking with tried-and-tested internationals who all played a part in the Gareth Southgate era.
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Harry Maguire, axed from Carsley’s second squad, will surely return.
Providing he can sort out his varying ailments, left-back Luke Shaw will be parachuted into Tuchel’s starting XI, as long as he does not injure himself again on landing.
If he has a few injury issues in central defence, it would hardly be a surprise if Tuchel turned to Eric Dier, who he signed from Tottenham in January while still the manager of Bayern Munich.
Dier, 30, who often kept Matthijs de Ligt out of the team at Bayern, would be oven-ready to be thrown into a Three Lions squad.
The same applies to midfielder Mason Mount, providing he finally overcomes his issues with form and injuries at Manchester United.
Under Tuchel, when he was Chelsea manager, Mount delivered the assist for Kai Havertz’s Champions League winner in the 2021 final against Manchester City.
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Equally, if he can sort himself out under new United manager Ruben Amorim, Marcus Rashford could still have a chance of returning to the England fold.
Rashford’s relationship with the international team has been uneasy — and he used to frustrate Southgate with his withdrawals due to injury before playing in the next United game — but a record of 17 goals in 60 caps will not go unnoticed by Tuchel. And he is only 27.
Clearly, Tuchel’s biggest challenge will be to get the right balance in midfield.
We will not see a repeat of Carsley’s decision to try and fit Jude Bellingham, Phil Foden, Bukayo Saka, Anthony Gordon and Cole Palmer into the same starting line-up like he did in the 2-1 home loss to Greece.
'YOU'VE GOT A LOT OF GOOD PLAYERS'
Interestingly, Carsley admitted that other national coaches believe this embarrassment of riches in a specific area is actually an issue for England.
He said: “A lot of the international coaches at that Uefa thing I went to, at the debrief of Euro 2024, said, ‘You’ve got a lot of good players’ as if that’s a negative thing.
“If they’re all in form at exactly the same time, then it’s a challenge but players do come in and out of form.”
Tuchel knows he will have to take a firm grip of the team.
The fact Jack Grealish and Bellingham took to social media to praise Carsley — while delivering clear digs at Southgate — illustrates that modern players can be hard to please and also have short memories.
CAPTAINCY DILEMMA
High on Tuchel’s to-do list will be the captaincy.
The fact Tuchel signed Harry Kane from Spurs shows you exactly what he thinks of the country’s record goalscorer and the pair have a close bond.
Whether Kane is a good captain is up for debate and Tuchel’s view on this will be fascinating.
Many believe Bellingham should be England’s next leader but Declan Rice — who does seem to be more of a team player — might be better.
Regardless, whether it is Kane, Bellingham or Rice who lifts the trophy after the World Cup final, no one will care.
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But whether Tuchel is able to get the team that far remains to be seen.
What is beyond doubt is that the German is about to embark on the biggest challenge of his career.
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