Lewis Hall, Thomas Tuchel & Ezri Konsaplaceholder image
Lewis Hall, Thomas Tuchel & Ezri Konsa | Getty Images
Thomas Tuchel has to make key decisions in three positions ahead of the World Cup - so who will start for England?
15 months on from Thomas Tuchel’s appointment as manager, much of the likely starting line-up for England’s World Cup opener against Croatia seems to be set in stone. There will be a few players who harbour hopes of impressing enough in the March internationals to instil some second thoughts in the head coach’s mind, but for the most part he seems to have settled on his favourites.
Eight of the starting places seem to be decided, and (injuries permitting) few pundits would bet against Jordan Pickford, Marc Guéhi, Reece James, Declan Rice, Elliot Anderson, Anthony Gordon, Bukayo Saka and Harry Kane being on the team sheet in Arlington, Texas on 17 June.
That is, of course, only eight players. There are, perhaps, three places up for grabs, and the coming games against Uruguay and Japan will be the final auditions for many players hoping to book a place on the plane over the Atlantic and a place in Tuchel’s starting XI. So who will round out the side against Croatia when football’s biggest tournament gets underway?
Will Jude Bellingham get the nod in attacking midfield?
To start with what’s likely the easiest question to answer – all indications are that Tuchel will start Jude Bellingham in the number 10 role, despite reservations over his form for Real Madrid this season and questions over his attitude.
While Tuchel himself inadvertently added fuel to the tabloid accusations that Bellingham is too arrogant when he commented that his mother found his on-field behaviour “a bit repulsive,” the England manager has also described Bellingham as “special” and has said that he wants the “edge” the undeniably self-assured midfielder offers his side.
It’s also worth noting that Tuchel selected Bellingham to start in England’s last match against Albania in November, with previous omissions largely the result of injury. Morgan Rogers made a solid case for his inclusion while deputising and could make a late run into the side with some strong late-season form, while the sheer quality of Cole Palmer, Eberechi Eze and Phil Foden gives any of those three a chance, but Bellingham remains the front-runner. He has both the broadest skill-set of any of his rivals and the proven ability to win games by himself in an England shirt. It would be a mild shock if he was on the bench against Croatia.
Is Newcastle’s Lewis Hall a serious contender for the left-back role?
The single most glaring opening in the England side is at left-back, a position that nobody has nailed down since Tuchel took over – and it remains entirely unclear who will get the nod in a few months’ time.
There are three options in the current squad, discounting Tino Livramento who can fill in if required: Nico O’Reilly, hero of Manchester City’s EFL Cup win, Lewis Hall, recalled for the first time since 2024, and Djed Spence, who has been one of the brightest performers in a struggling Spurs side – a tremendously low bar to clear, admittedly.
O’Reilly probably has the edge. He was given the starting role against Albania and Serbia in the winter, after all, and has the technical quality to come inside and support the midfield effectively, which is how Tuchel seems to envision the role. Spence can do much the same thing and may well be a real threat to O’Reilly’s place, but has started only one England match on the left, and is perhaps on less impressive form.
Hall is something of a wildcard in this context. Although a fine player, he is naturally an overlapping, attacking wing-back, and may have to adapt significantly to find a place in Tuchel’s system. With Luke Shaw overlooked and Myles Lewis-Skelly left out having lost his place at club level, however, Hall – who started his youth career as a midfielder - has every chance should he ace his audition over the coming week. The final decision is very much up in the air.
Who will partner Marc Guéhi in defence?
The other big question mark lies just a little way along the defensive line, at centre-back. The persistently impressive Marc Guéhi seems to be nailed on for one of those two berths, but it’s not certain who might stand alongside him.
Ezri Konsa has been excellent when deployed in central defence for England since Tuchel took charge, and is probably the leading candidate as it stands, but the head coach also has obvious admiration for John Stones, who started in that position in each of the last four England matches – all games, however, in which Guéhi was unavailable, making it less clear which of the pair Tuchel might favour.
The March friendlies should offer more clarity, but others in the squad will be given their chances to impress, too: Dan Burn has been a reliable presence as a rotational player for England under the current regime, Harry Maguire is back in the fold off the back of improved form for Manchester United, and Fikayo Tomori has been called up as well. It’s likely Konsa or Stones who starts, however.
A few other players in the expanded 35-man squad to face Uruguay and Japan might fancy their chance of pressing a claim for a spot, but all face uphill battles. Marcus Rashford has largely acted as Anthony Gordon’s deputy down the left, for instance, while Elliot Anderson appears to have a clear lead over Adam Wharton, Jordan Henderson and Kobbie Mainoo when it comes to partnering Declan Rice in central midfield. If Bellingham does indeed claim the number 10 role for himself, then it’s at left-back and centre-half that Tuchel really needs to do his homework.
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