- Thomas Tuchel has decided to keep his England lineup a secret until matchday
- Gareth Southgate and Lee Carsley informed players who were picked a day early
- LISTEN NOW: It’s All Kicking Off! Is England’s squad good enough to win the World Cup?
Thomas Tuchel has kept England stars on their toes by delaying naming his Three Lions team until matchday.
In a break from the norm under Gareth Southgate and interim boss Lee Carsley, the head coach is leaving it later to divulge his selections.
While keeping the entire squad engaged, the move also acts as a deterrent to leaking team news on the eve of matches — something Southgate took issue with during last summer’s European Championship.
Tuchel, heading into his second game in charge against Latvia on Monday, kept the team under wraps until a meeting at lunchtime before the victory over Albania on Friday.
He suggested that heavy legs could see him shuffle the pack at Wembley and also revealed worry over Anthony Gordon’s hip injury.
Morgan Rogers had appeared to be pushing for a full senior debut, lining up in shape during training on Thursday, before Marcus Rashford and Phil Foden were preferred.
England manager Thomas Tuchel will not tell his team who is playing until the day of the game
Tuchel handed international debuts to Dan Burn (left) and Myles Lewis-Skelly (right) on Friday
He was critical of Phil Foden (No 7) and Marcus Rashford (No 11) after the 2-0 win over Albania
However, Tuchel criticised both Rashford and Foden after the game.
‘We hope for more impact in these positions,’ Tuchel said. ‘More dribbling and more aggressive runs towards the box. In general that was missing. The chances come from the little runs behind the line. They were not as decisive as they can be.’
On Foden, Tuchel added: ‘We will encourage him to do what he does best, to go at defenders, to go into dribbles.
‘Both our wingers who started were not as impactful as they can be in club football. I’m not so sure why we struggled to bring the ball quickly to them.
‘We lacked runs off the ball. It was a little bit too much passing, not enough dribbling, not aggressive enough towards goal. They trained very well, they were decisive in training. That’s why I also think they deserved [to start], they were very good in the last weeks with their clubs. We will keep on encouraging them.’
