Tuchel

England head coach Thomas Tuchel made the journey to Madrid on his latest World Cup reconnaissance mission and was richly rewarded by a thrilling Champions League tie between Real Madrid and Bayern Munich.

Tuchel’s eyes were trained on Real Madrid pair Trent Alexander-Arnold and Jude Bellingham, as well as captain Harry Kane in his role as Bayern’s prime goalscorer.

He will have left with suspicions confirmed about Alexander-Arnold, as well as concrete evidence from Bellingham and Kane that they are surely indispensable when England’s World Cup campaign kicks off against Croatia in Arlington on 17 June.

Champions League nights at the Bernabeu are always special occasions, with supporters swarming around the magnificent arena hours before kick-off and thousands of fans clad in white gathering on Plaze de los Sagrados Corazones to welcome Real Madrid’s team bus.

To add to the drama, a warm Madrid afternoon suddenly turned to blackened skies and a deluge to set a spectacular stage for this meeting of European heavyweights.

As a classic unfolded, the game held contrasting fortunes for those Tuchel had under his microscope.

Alexander-Arnold is perhaps the most intriguing case study of the trio Tuchel was scrutinising, lavishly gifted and playing at the club most regard as the world’s biggest, and yet seemingly with no part to play in England’s summer strategy.

The 27-year-old, who moved from Liverpool last summer, has had a rocky introduction to life at Real and also suffered the ignominy of being left out of Tuchel’s 35-man England squad for friendlies against Uruguay and Japan.

And then, if that was not painful enough, when Tuchel called on replacements, he ignored Alexander-Arnold in favour of Ben White, not a regular at Arsenal this season and someone who had gone into self-imposed exile after the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.

For Alexander-Arnold to change Tuchel’s mind at this late stage will not be easy, and his mixed display here may have confirmed misgivings about him rather than enhanced his prospects.

In a poor first half display, Alexander-Arnold not only wasted possession far too often, but also almost gifted Bayern a goal with pass straight to Michael Olise. He was then caught napping by former Liverpool team-mate Luis Diaz as the forward put Bayern in front.

Tuchel has voiced his concerns about Alexander-Arnold’s defending and this was it in full view. And yet he then showed why he has admirers who find his exclusion from Tuchel’s plans puzzling.

As Real finally woke up with Bayern leading 2-0, it was Alexander-Arnold who delivered a series of dangerous set-pieces before firing in an inviting low cross for Kylian Mbappe to pull a goal back.

This was Alexander-Arnold in microcosm, and was not the sort of performance to have Tuchel shuffling the names already formed in his mind for World Cup selection.

The inconsistent nature of his performance is confirmed by his pass completion rate of 69.2%, the lowest of anyone in the match.

Former England goalkeeper Paul Robinson, at Wembley for BBC Radio 5 Live, said: “This is the exact situation no England fan wants. We’ve talked about it for over a season with this World Cup coming up. What do England do without Harry Kane?

“This is what England and Thomas Tuchel do not want. He doesn’t have an answer to this question. Hence why we’re seeing this new formation again, with the interchange and false nine.

“We’ve spoken about Dominic Calvert-Lewin, Dominic Solanke, Ollie Watkins. Nobody stuck their arm up and said, ‘I’ll be his replacement’. that’s why we’re seeing this.”

Robinson added: “It was a very disappointing evening for Thomas Tuchel. The experiment that he tried in the first half with the front four clearly didn’t work.

“It didn’t take him long in the second half to change it. You do give England credit because when those changes were made there was a lot more cohesion.

“The one area that Thomas Tuchel has got a problem is if there is a problem with Harry Kane. If that happens, then England have a real problem after watching that.”

Tuchel answered the question about an over-reliance on Kane, saying: “Well, why would Argentina not rely on Lionel Messi, or Portugal not rely on Cristiano Ronaldo? This is totally normal. Key figures left camp for us and we saw that a bit.

“We lacked a punch in the last 20 metres in both matches. We encouraged the players. It was difficult for us.”

Kane’s potential absence is an immediate concern, leaving Tuchel short of viable alternatives when he needs them most, especially given these two toothless performances without him.

English strikers are suddenly a malaise.

Only 10 English strikers have appeared in the Premier League in the current campaign, with Chelsea’s 22-year-old Liam Delap the only one aged under 26.

Brighton’s Danny Welbeck, who turns 35 at the end of the month, might just have had a good international break by not being involved.

Welbeck and Calvert-Lewin are the only English strikers to have scored 10 or more Premier League goals this season – with 43 scored by English strikers.

It’s a far cry from the first season of the Premier League era in 1992-93, when 20 English strikers passed the 10-goal mark.

In recent years, however, what was already a steep decline has fallen off a cliff. Last season, only 67 goals were scored by English strikers, less than half the number in 2020-21.

Kane’s departure from Tottenham for Germany has played a part, of course, but he left for Bayern in 2023 and English strikers still scored 96 goals in 2023-24.

The cupboard is bare, underscoring just how indispensable Kane is.

This was a sobering night for England and Tuchel. This performance demonstrated that they simple cannot live without Harry Kane.

Three top-20 sides faced by Thomas Tuchel’s England – and still no wins.

The Three Lions breezed through qualification for the World Cup winning all of their eight games without conceding a goal.

But after losing 1-0 to Japan, the world’s 18th-ranked side, at Wembley in England’s last match before Tuchel names his World Cup squad, questions about whether the Three Lions struggle when they come up against elite nations are being asked.

After their loss at Wembley, which saw Japan become the first Asian side to beat England, the Three Lions end the March international break without a win.

There is an argument that Tuchel experiemented with his line-ups in last June’s 3-1 loss to 14th-ranked Senegal, the 1-1 draw with 17th-ranked Uruguay and in the Japan defeat, something he would not do at a major tournament.

But critics will suggest that the England manager should be using these games to find his best XI, and get them ready for the challenge that is coming at this summer’s World Cup, especially as the sides that England did not face the same tests in qualification.

Serbia, England’s toughest oppnent in qualification, are ranked 39th in the world, and were comfortably beaten 5-0 away by England and 2-0 at Wembley in November.

The biggest worry for England and for Tuchel is what they will do without captain and record goalscorer Harry Kane if he is not available.

Kane missed the game against Japan after picking up a knock in training and England, who lacked ideas in attack, do not have a candidate who is ready to be his back-up.

Manchester City midfielder Phil Foden was trialled as a false nine and did not have a good night but Tuchel has said this window has provided him “more clarity” than questions about his side.

“I am disappointed, everyone is.” Tuchel said. “I knew that we had a top exam in this window because our players are heavy in club football and in European football in the most physical toughest league that there is.

“We played against two top-20 teams, well drilled and very good opponents who arrived with their best line-up

“We had big changes in the middle of camp, suddenly after the [Uruguay] match we had seven or eight injuries who had to leave.

“It is not an excuse, it is just an explanation why things are not perfectly smooth and perfectly at the highest level we expect.”

On a night of bizarre incidents, two of them centred around the goals.

White bundled home England’s opener from a corner, but there was a check by the video assistant referee (VAR) with Adam Wharton appearing to block Gimenez in the build-up.

Former Arsenal striker Ian Wright said on ITV: “Come the World Cup, they’d probably look at that and give it as a foul.”

USA Women head coach Emma Hayes added: “VAR was on and off tonight. I think nine times out of 10 blocking someone off like that is a foul and I was surprised it wasn’t given.”

Then came Uruguay’s equaliser.

White and Federico Vinas came together inside the box – and the referee originally allowed play to continue. But he was asked to go to the monitor by VAR after which he awarded a penalty that Valverde scored.

“I think the referee was in a very good position when he gave the initial decision,” former Tottenham goalkeeper Paul Robinson said on BBC Radio 5 live.

“That’s nothing more than clumsy from White. There is connection but he got the ball first. One of those decisions where if it’s not given on field you don’t interfere.”

England manager Thomas Tuchel explains his decisions for selecting Manchester United players Harry Maguire and Kobbie Mainoo for his upcoming camp.

He also says it was a “tough decision” to not include Trent Alexander-Arnold in the expanded 35-man squad.

The Three Lions continue their World Cup preparations with friendlies at Wembley Stadium against Uruguay on 27 March and Japan on 31 March.

Teams must submit their final World Cup squads by Saturday, 30 May.

READ MORE: ‘Last opportunity to impress’ – Tuchel names 35-man England squad

The issue that has created the most noise since Tuchel took charge is about how he has dealt with Jude Bellingham and the battle for the number 10 position.

The Real Madrid midfielder was left out of the October camp after injury despite wanting to join up as Tuchel favoured keeping a settled group after excellent performances.

Aston Villa midfielder Morgan Rogers impressed in qualifying, starting five of England’s eight group games, and has become the first-choice number 10.

“Rather than finding positions for my best players just so that I can have them on the field, I prefer to put everyone in their best positions and have some competition,” Tuchel said when speaking about the pair going up against each other.

There is no denying Bellingham is one of the best midfielders in the world when he is fit and in form, but the midfielder is currently working his way back from a hamstring injury and has not played since 1 February.

It’s easy to forget that Bellingham is just 22, given he has already produced some iconic moments for England such as his last-gasp bicycle kick against Slovakia at Euro 2024 and his assist for Cole Palmer’s goal in the final.

Tuchel has made a point about how his England team need to be settled and united, but if Bellingham is producing his best for Madrid at the end of the season, the England manager has a very difficult decision on his hands.

Chelsea’s Cole Palmer, who has also had injury problems this season, has barely played under Tuchel, featuring for just 65 minutes.

And Phil Foden’s role is not clear in this England squad – he was called up as a back-up striker for the last camp and assisted Eberechi Eze in the win over Serbia at Wembley in November from that position.