As you might have heard, England are now knocked out of the 2026 World Cup.
A 2-1 defeat to Argentina in the semi-finals.
A lot of people pointing the finger at Thomas Tuchel.
The England boss accused of going too defensive after taking the lead through Anthony Gordon ten minutes into the second half.
I think those tactics did end up backfiring on Thomas Tuchel but to me the criticism is way over the top?
Why?
Well I think pretty much everybody, certainly in the English media, arrives at the England argument with their thinking based on a seriously untrue premise.
Thomas Tuchel may well have got his tactics wrong in the later stages of that Argentina match BUT one small thing none of them are wanting to talk about.
This England team and squad aren’t great.
They are good I would say BUT not all that good.
I think the delusion comes from believing that as the vast majority of the team and squad are England players playing in the all powerful Premier League, the richest and best league in the world, then we must have a load of elite players to choose from.
If only that were the case.
Here is a question for you, see if you can guess the right answer.
Each season all the players in the English top tier vote for their Premier League team of the year, the best eleven players across that season.
The 2025/26 Premier League team of the season won’t be unveiled until August but we do know the six players nominated to be the PFA player of the season, the half dozen who have picked up the most votes.
We also of course know the 11 who were voted to be the 2024/25 Premier League team of the season, that elite eleven revealed in August 2025 in each position.
So here’s the question for you, of the combined 17 Premier League players combined from these two lists above, how many were in the England squad at the 2026 World Cup?
Here are the two lists:
2024/25 Premier League team of the season:
Matz Sels, Milos Kerkez, Gabriel, Virgil van Dijk, William Saliba, Alexis Mac Allister, Ryan Gravenberch, Declan Rice, Mohamed Salah, Chris Wood, Alexander Isak
The six players who have got the most votes to be 2025/26 PFA player of the season:
Gabriel, Declan Rice, David Raya, Erling Haaland, Bruno Fernandes, Rayan Cherki
That’s right, ONE England player in the combined lists.
Though he is both lists so I suppose some of you will claim two!
Where are all the England superstars???
The best players in the Premier League play for other countries!
Declan Rice is the only (England) one in these lists and he has been badly struggling for fitness at the World Cup and has been ill as well. He wasn’t 100% but had to play against Argentina.
Elliot Anderson is a decent player but Manchester City have paid a huge premium on him because he is English and so that massively helps when meeting Champions League criteria for their team and squad.
Rayan Cherki is in the running for 2025/26 PFA player of the season and yet he was limited to a few minutes here and there for France. Look at all the attacking options they have!!!
England have one elite striker but he turns 33 in 12 days time and can’t even run around. France with Mbappe, Olise, Dembele, Barcola…
David Raya is the best goalkeeper in the Premier League but can’t even get on the pitch for Spain!! England have Jordan Pickford who has been at Everton almost a decade and none of the teams with money have ever tried to buy him. I wonder why…
Jude Bellingham is our one true potential superstar I think but even he had a poor season for Real Madrid, only six goals and four assists in La Liga. Ironically, not a single Real Madrid player made the Spain squad.
When Spain defeated France on Tuesday, the subs they brought on were Pedri, Ferran Torres, Marcos Llorente, Mikel Merino and Nico Williams.
I don’t think Argentina are as good as France or Spain but look at the quality they brought off the bench compared to England’s and the impact they had.
I think it is a total delusion this perception (by those of us in England) of the quality of the England players and it does nobody any favours. Thomas Tuchel at the very least achieved as much as we could have hoped for with these England players.