- Thomas Tuchel had to name a 23-man England squad and leave two players out
- England face Latvia in their second World Cup qualifier after beating Albania 2-0
- LISTEN NOW: It’s All Kicking Off! Is England’s squad good enough to win the World Cup?
We now know the two stars who have failed to make the cut for England’s squad to face Latvia on Monday night.
Thomas Tuchel has been assessing his stars over the last week and got a good measure of some of them in the 2-0 win over Albania on Friday night.
The crop of World Cup hopefuls will get another chance to impress their new boss at Wembley against Latvia, with Tuchel hinting that the team ethos is more important to him than individual talent.
Anthony Gordon has left the England camp and returned to Newcastle due to injury, but two other stars will join him in watching on with no hope of playing.
Tino Livramento and Aaron Ramsdale have failed to make the 23-man squad, as confirmed in England’s official squad list on the UEFA website.
Morgan Gibbs-White and Jarell Quansah, who both missed out on Friday’s squad, have come into the fold.
Thomas Tuchel has axed Tino Livramento and Aaron Ramsdale from his England squad
Livramento made the squad to face Albania, but did not play, and is excluded for the Latvia one
Aaron Ramsdale (left) has now been left out of both of Tuchel’s first two matchday squads
Livramento did make the squad against Albania, although he didn’t play, but Rasmdale has missed out on both of them.
‘We have to get the process right to find the best group,’ Tuchel said ahead of the match.
‘If that means we leave very good and talented players out of the squad this can happen.
‘In the next 16 months it is important we find the right team and not the most talented 26 players.
‘We need to get the team right. We need to get the team spirit right because it’s one thing to play qualifiers, it’s another thing to play tournament football.’
Both Phil Foden and Marcus Rashford remain in the squad despite criticism of their performances on Friday.
Roy Keane was particularly acerbic in his assessment, warning that Foden risks being chopped from the squad altogether if he does not step up his performances.
Tuchel said after the game: ‘I think both of our wingers who started [Foden and Rashford] were not as impactful as they normally can be, or as they normally are in club football.
Marcus Rashford and Phil Foden have made the squad despite criticism of their last game
Tuchel says that maintaining the ‘best group’ is better than prioritising individual talent
‘At the moment, I’m not too sure why we struggled to bring the ball to them quicker and to bring the ball in more open positions to them. I need to review the match.’
He then added in his pre-match press conference for the Latvia clash: ‘I’ve spoken to both of them, also in front of the group. They know that I appreciate the effort, especially off the ball.
‘We can see in the numbers and when we watch the match again how much effort they put into defending high and into the counter-press, also in their sprinting numbers.
‘Marcus had a lot of runs when we had the ball, where we did not see him, where we did not use him. He was a little bit unlucky maybe with the timing. From time to time we oversaw him.
‘Phil is just maybe not finding the momentum at the moment that he can have. But both of them are very positive, have every right to be positive and know exactly what we want from them. Ideally we try to bring them in more one-on-one situations and ideally they have the confidence to take the one-on-ones.
‘Phil needs maybe a little bit closer connections to a No 10 than we could provide in this match. And Marcus created one big chance for Jude Bellingham, and, like I said, had some runs off the ball where we did not use him.
‘But, off the ball, the effort was there and that’s what counts.’
