Tuchel’s first England squad

fenaddick said:

Squad for Wales and Latvia games

Goalkeepers: Dean Henderson (Crystal Palace), Jordan Pickford (Everton), James Trafford (Manchester City)

Defenders: Dan Burn (Newcastle United), Marc Guehi (Crystal Palace), Reece James (Chelsea), Ezri Konsa (Aston Villa), Myles Lewis-Skelly (Arsenal), Jarell Quansah (Bayer Leverkusen), Djed Spence (Tottenham Hotspur), John Stones (Manchester City)

Midfielders: Elliot Anderson (Nottingham Forest), Morgan Gibbs-White (Nottingham Forest), Jordan Henderson (Brentford), Ruben Loftus-Cheek (AC Milan), Declan Rice (Arsenal), Morgan Rogers (Aston Villa)

Forwards: Jarrod Bowen (West Ham United), Eberechi Eze (Arsenal), Anthony Gordon (Newcastle United), Harry Kane (Bayern Munich), Marcus Rashford (Barcelona, loan from Manchester United), Bukayo Saka (Arsenal), Ollie Watkins (Aston Villa)

Some surprising selections.

Trafford over Nick Pope?
Jordan Henderson still there, but no Adam Wharton.
Gibbs-White when he and Forest have been awful. 
Rogers when he and Villa have been awful.
No Foden who has looked decent the last few games.
Loftus-Cheek in there when he has been benched for Milan's last 2 league games.
No Grealish who i think has the most assists in the PL this season.

Obviously we will beat Latvia but it's a strange squad.

I presume there's some notable injuries in midfield for us, as looking at it from a world class view, that's a weak midfield. Probably only have Rice down as world class quality. 

He's just said that this was down to the team spirit in the last get together "Are there players that deserve to be in the squad? Yes, for sure. The competition is on to make it into the squad and then in the team. For this camp we wanted to make it a straightforward decision."

I think he's firing a shot in the case of Bellingham and Foden and a message to others. It  doesn't matter who you are and he will reward those that are available for England and won't put up with players who think they can drift in and out. Obviously one can argue that injury can play a massive part in that but we've seen over the years so many players who pull out of England squads only to be available straight after for their clubs. Equally, he is saying that you have to be playing for your club to get in the squad.

Addick Addict said:

He's just said that this was down to the team spirit in the last get together "Are there players that deserve to be in the squad? Yes, for sure. The competition is on to make it into the squad and then in the team. For this camp we wanted to make it a straightforward decision."

I think he's firing a shot in the case of Bellingham and Foden and a message to others. It  doesn't matter who you are and he will reward those that are available for England and won't put up with players who think they can drift in and out. Obviously one can argue that injury can play a massive part in that but we've seen over the years so many players who pull out of England squads only to be available straight after for their clubs. Equally, he is saying that you have to be playing for your club to get in the squad.

Tuchel has previous for picking fights with players for no real reason. 

Wharton is a strange ommission IMHO.

Yeah I'm surprised Wharton has been overlooked, even if Tuchel wants to pair Roce and Anderson (and fair enough, he's done well so far), Wharton seems the best backup to Anderson so worth having a look at.

fenaddick said:

DamoNorthStand said:

No Bellingham? But Henderson instead.

Righto.

Presume the Bellingham thing is down to fitness, he's played 100 minutes of football this season and we won't need him to beat Latvia so best to let him continue to build up fitness with RM

Been really impressed with Rogers in basically Bellingham's spot.

Think Bellingham will likely win the place back, but good we're less reliant on him and are hopefully playing as a team.

Squad is shaping up quite nice , i still don't really see Jordan H adding much, i know he is supposedly a key member and good to have around but looks out of place. 

Alex Scott/ Wharton both good to see in there for the CDM roles, Anderson played well last time but isn't naturally a defensive player, so would be good to see those who are more familiar at their clubs. Wharton is so good, i hope he does well and makes the position his own. 

It will be interesting to see how we fit both Bellingham and Foden back into it, personally i think Foden plays better central but him and Bellingham don't really work together so one or the other for me. Also i think the key is the wingers Saka/ Gordon getting in behind Kane or making the space.

ValleyGary said:

The defence worries me. Lack of a quality left back most concerning, as Lewis-Skelly can’t get a game at Arsenal at the moment.

I nearly put the same regarding the defence, like Konsa/ Guehi/ Stones are solid CB's , RB/LB feels like we are missing a couple players who are decent. LB again why we haven't given Mitchell a crack yet? also Lewis-Skelly is playing enough to keep fit so should be an option. 

I was suprised Southgate didn't pick Mitchell for the Euros squad last year given Shaw and Chilwell weren't fit and he'd already picked Mitchell before.

But I don't rate him that much.

Henderson in the squad is the waste of a player.

Alright, if he's 'Good to have around the squad', stick him in a blazer with a big 'Here to Help' badge, and let him arrange a bingo night 'For the lads, like.', or be on hand to give a supportive hug to a player who's just ballooned one over the bar from three yards out and is immediately subbed. A sort of 'Emotional Support Animal'.

When we're up against it in the world cup, the last thing we need is him tip-toeing around in the centre-circle and pointing to where he thinks people should be passing the ball to.
If he's in the final squad for the WC, Christ, it's enough to make you spit.