There is a reason the Football Association made a decision that was a slight against English coaches. They appointed Thomas Tuchel to make big calls.
No old pals routine, no ego-stroking, no slave to reputation. And the bottom line is that Tuchel cannot be lauded for his managerial record and plain-speaking, no-nonsense approach but then be hammered for making one or two ballsy selections.
Particularly with a squad of 26, he could have made a couple of picks that were based on what a player CAN deliver rather than what he HAS delivered over recent weeks and months. But it would have been a bit of a cop-out.
National selection, even for tournaments, should partly be about reward - reward for hard work, endeavour and excellence. As brilliant as they are, Phil Foden and Cole Palmer have not been excellent this season. Far from it.
There simply has to be an element of players needing to be in some sort of form and Palmer has been involved in one goal in his last 16 matches. Of these two super-talented individuals, Foden should be the one feeling more aggrieved.
But the truth is that Foden has not overly impressed when getting his chances in an England shirt under Tuchel. Considering his club form in recent months, Morgan Gibbs-White is probably entitled to feel more hard done by than Foden or Palmer, but Tuchel is well-blessed when it comes to players who operate in the same areas as the Nottingham Forest man.
Gibbs-White is unlucky, and the same can be said of Adam Wharton, but the Crystal Palace midfielder went to Euro 2024 and did not kick a ball and perhaps Tuchel did not want to put him through the same experience in what is going to be a very long camp in the United States. Elliot Anderson and Declan Rice are certainties for the starting line-up and Wharton would have been a training ground player.
Instead, Jordan Henderson will fulfil that role. That is what Henderson, who turns 36 in just under four weeks’ time, will be doing - enforcing discipline, motivating players whose chances might be limited, leading the dressing-room, advising captain Harry Kane.
Whether you agree with the need for a character like that, Tuchel believes he needs one in his squad. To have Henderson in the camp is a bold call because he knows it will be so unpopular and selecting Ivan Toney is a bold call. But a good one.
Toney made a crucial impact at a previous tournament and has scored 42 goals and produced 10 assists for his Saudi club, Al-Ahli, this season. He is a consummate penalty taker, which is not something to undervalue at a World Cup where conditions might well produce many drawn matches.
Any squad, of course, will divide opinion and a lot of people would agree with Harry Maguire that he deserved to be named. But the fact that Maguire decided to go public and announce his ‘shock’ at being omitted probably tells you why Tuchel is not taking him.
Maguire has had a few decent games for Manchester United and thinks he should be a shoo-in for the national team. Why should Maguire be ‘shocked’? It took Tuchel a year to pick him for a squad. In his first international under Tuchel, he was half-decent in a game against Uruguay at Wembley that England could only draw.
He then played a few minutes in the loss to Japan. Tuchel looked at Maguire closely in training and decided he preferred other centre-halves. Fair enough. And judging by Maguire’s reaction, he preferred others with smaller egos.
It is a no-nonsense decision. And that is why the FA are paying Tuchel the big bucks.
