Maximum pressure on England manager Thomas Tuchel, who today announced his 26-man squad for the World Cup. And honestly, this is easily one of the biggest bombs we have seen in recent weeks when it comes to squad selections. So much talent left out and so many people demanding explanations. I am going to focus more on the controversies and doubts, especially regarding the absences and some of the names included instead.
Starting with the defence: Maguire, after a very strong season, is left out, yet you see John Stones being called up despite spending practically the entire season injured, or Quansah, who absolutely has talent and a bright future, but still has not been tested at this level. And Maguire? He was always called up, always part of the group, important even when he was struggling, and now that he is actually playing well, he does not go? It does not make much sense.
Then there is the Lewis Hall situation. Not selected, despite clearly being the second-best left-back in the country behind O’Reilly, who was called up. O’Reilly was converted into a left-back by Guardiola and had a great season, fair enough. But even so, Hall being left out raises questions. And still within the defensive area comes the biggest absurdity: Trent left out. This one is genuinely difficult to understand. In a chaotic Real Madrid side, he still had a respectable season and does not even get selected? Not even as an option? And then you take Djed Spence, who honestly did not even have that impressive a season. Here, quality and reputation should matter.
The midfield also creates huge debate: Cole Palmer, Phil Foden, Adam Wharton and Gibbs-White all left out. I can at least understand Foden because he has not been performing consistently for quite a while now. But Wharton and Gibbs-White? Wharton is on the verge of a massive move with ridiculous transfer values already being discussed, while Gibbs-White was one of the very few players carrying Nottingham Forest all season, creating, scoring and even entering discussions for top 10 players in the Premier League.
As for Palmer, he was competing for spots with Eze and Morgan Rogers and there I can at least accept the decision because somebody had to miss out. It is not a complete scandal, but purely in terms of reputation and expectations, it still feels significant.
Up front there are more doubts: Jarrod Bowen left out despite being one of the only players still trying to carry West Ham, while Noni Madueke goes despite being a bench player at Arsenal. That also does not fully add up. On the other hand, I do like the Ivan Toney call-up because he had a great season in Saudi Arabia, finishing as the Saudi Pro League top scorer.
Conclusion
The pressure on Tuchel is now enormous. He was already under pressure, but with these decisions he has pushed it even higher. This is exactly the kind of situation where, if things go wrong, there will be no excuses. Just like it would have been for Ancelotti had he not selected Neymar, which is probably one reason why he did take him to avoid that direct pressure.
Tuchel did the opposite. If England fail to have a great World Cup, all of this will fall directly on him. Too many major names have been left out, some without much justification, and now the objective is very clear: win, because that is what England expect.