Palmer’s Dilemma: England’s Tactical Puzzle for Tuchel
Cole Palmer has kicked the new season’s door clean off its hinges at Chelsea. Four goals, two assists in six games, and a telepathic connection with Morgan Rogers and Joao Pedro that has turned Chelsea’s attack into must-watch television.
“Cole has his numbers back,” Thomas Tuchel said. “Assists, decisive goals. I think he has a point to prove.”
He does. And he’s proving it.
Tuchel had effectively backed himself into a corner. After leaving Palmer out of his World Cup squad, the England manager could hardly ignore a player in this kind of rhythm. The recall felt inevitable.
The snub, though, might have been the making of him. Palmer limped through last season, drained by the previous summer’s Club World Cup and hampered by injury. He looked like a faded version of himself. Now he looks rested, sharp, and dangerous again.
Could even that diminished Palmer have helped England in North America? Plenty will say yes. That argument will run and run.
The real question now is different: where on earth does Tuchel put him?
Jude Bellingham owns the No 10 role after his World Cup. The Real Madrid star didn’t just play well; he dominated. Bukayo Saka is back, fit and electric on the right for Arsenal. On the left, Anthony Gordon is thriving at Barcelona, carrying his form from a strong summer with England straight into La Liga.
Rogers has become central to Tuchel’s plans too. The idea of fitting both Chelsea creators – Palmer and Rogers – into the same England XI is thrilling, but it’s also a tactical puzzle. Tuchel is spoiled for choice. That doesn’t make the decisions any easier.
Mainoo’s Second Chance
Kobbie Mainoo went to the World Cup and barely existed. The Manchester United midfielder was the only outfield player not to play a single minute.
Tuchel didn’t dodge that.
“I expect him to be on the pitch and it’s my duty to get him on the pitch,” he said. “That was totally on me. He didn’t put a foot wrong during the World Cup.
“He was class in behaviour on the training pitch. There was big competition; we played Reece (James) in central midfield also. Elliot Anderson is amazing for us; Declan Rice is a very unique player.
“We trusted them more than we trusted Kobbie. It was difficult for him. It was on me.”
This time, the tone is different. Mainoo has started the season strongly for United, and Tuchel is effectively guaranteeing minutes. In a midfield packed with Rice, Anderson, Bellingham, Palmer, Myles Lewis-Skelly and Alex Scott, that’s no small statement.
A three-week camp with four fixtures should give Mainoo chances that never came in North America. The door is open. Now he has to walk through it.
Alexander-Arnold: From Frozen Out to Fast-Tracked
An English right-back starting for Real Madrid should be an automatic pick. With Trent Alexander-Arnold, it hasn’t been.
Tuchel had been blunt in the past: Alexander-Arnold was not the profile of right-back he wanted. Even when Tino Livramento was injured before the World Cup, Tuchel resisted the obvious call-up. The omission jarred even more when he later questioned England’s ability to keep the ball and control games under pressure.
Now, everything has flipped.
Alexander-Arnold has not been in an England squad since the summer of 2025. Suddenly, he’s back.
“He was never non-selectable,” Tuchel insisted. “Now is his chance to show, come to camp, be the best version of himself. He comes as a right-back for us.”
His Real Madrid form alone hasn’t forced this. One assist in five appearances is tidy, not spectacular. His recent outing in central midfield in the Champions League win over Inter Milan, forced by injuries, underlined the ongoing debate: how do you unlock his full potential?
Jose Mourinho praised his application in that midfield role but pointed to lost possessions and the physical strain of playing inside. At right-back, he’s still fighting for his place. Last season it was Dani Carvajal. This season, summer signing Denzel Dumfries is the challenger.
The picture hasn’t changed: sublime on the ball, questions without it. What has changed is Tuchel’s stance. He now wants to see Alexander-Arnold as a right-back in his system.
How that experiment unfolds – and whether it lasts – will be one of the defining threads of this international break.
From Control to Chaos?
After the defeat to Argentina, Tuchel went after England’s ‘DNA’, accusing his side of failing to control big matches with the ball in the way Spain can. His latest squad, with Palmer and Alexander-Arnold restored, looked like a quiet admission he had left some of his best technicians at home for the World Cup.
Yet when he spoke on Friday, Tuchel sounded like a coach rethinking his ideals.
“The more I reflect on it [the Argentina loss], it’s more buying into our strengths and playing more like in the second half against Croatia, or first half against France,” he said. “We get a lot of value out of it [this style]. This is what the Premier League reflects.
“Football is about adapting to situations, and football without any control is sometimes hard to digest for a coach. If you look at the 6-4 against France, people talk about it like it’s one of their nicest experiences ever to watch a football match.
“Maybe I have to compromise in my wish for control - maybe we need more chaos, to embrace the chaos. Maybe it brings out the best.
“We will adjust our style but always to put the strengths of the players on the first priority.”
Tuchel sounds like a man prepared to lean into England’s wild side. If he really follows through, this squad has the talent to turn that chaos into something terrifying for opponents.
Gibbs-White Squeezed Out
Someone always pays the price.
This time, Morgan Gibbs-White has every right to feel hard done by. The Nottingham Forest playmaker hit 15 Premier League goals and four assists last season, dragging his club away from relegation. He’s carried that form into this campaign.
Yet he’s out.
The problem is the logjam at No 10. Palmer is back. Bellingham is immovable. Rogers is in. Eberechi Eze is there too. Tuchel was blunt.
“He was close but it’s always the same,” he said. “It makes no sense to choose three, four or five No 10s. It just doesn’t help anyone. We can see the form that Morgan is in. He ended the season strongly and was the key player for Forest to not be relegated.”
Gibbs-White might look at Eze and wonder. The Arsenal man hasn’t started a Premier League game this season and produced roughly half as many goal involvements as Gibbs-White last term. The numbers lean one way. The selection leans another.
Tuchel’s message to everyone in that role was clear.
“It’s one thing to be chosen, like Cole, and get your ticket back to the squad, but it’s another thing to perform for England,” he said. “Cole, especially, needs to step up when he comes and show these kinds of numbers and performances to get his place, keep his shirt and justify the nomination.”
For Gibbs-White, the only option is to keep swinging. If Palmer doesn’t translate club form to country, the queue behind him is ready.
Foden on the Outside
Phil Foden knows that feeling already.
Left out of the World Cup squad, the Manchester City star returned in Tuchel’s camps in March and November 2025. Now he’s gone again, dropped after a promising start to the season was cut short by a red card in the Manchester derby.
In an area where England are stacked with options, every misstep counts double. With Tuchel turning back to technicians like Alexander-Arnold and Palmer, Foden’s absence lands heavily.
Tuchel Turns to the Kids
Look down the squad list and another theme jumps out: Tuchel has ripped up some of the old order.
Jordan Henderson, Ivan Toney, Ollie Watkins – long-time England figures – are gone. In their place, a wave of youth: Myles Lewis-Skelly, Alex Scott, Rio Ngumoha. All under 23. Ngumoha only turned 18 less than a month ago.
His name leaps off the page. The Liverpool teenager travelled with England to Florida before the World Cup and has featured in five of Liverpool’s six games this season. No goals or assists yet, but enough presence and promise to earn a full call-up.
Lewis-Skelly has been one of the quiet revelations of the early season. Playing deep in midfield for unbeaten leaders Arsenal, he has two assists and has kept £75m summer signing Bruno Guimaraes out of the starting XI.
Scott, meanwhile, has simply carried on from last year. He was arguably the key cog in the Bournemouth side that reached European football for the first time, performances that drew serious interest from Chelsea and Manchester United. Now he has his England shot.
“We had three players in prep camp with us [before the World Cup], Alex Scott, Rio Ngumoha and Josh [King], all three of them were fantastic members of the squad,” Tuchel said.
“Not only because they were nice and reliable and excellent characters, but they showed the quality, courage and curiosity on the pitch, which was very nice to see.”
This isn’t just a token nod to the future. Tuchel has cleared space for them. Whether he rebuilds the team’s tactics around this younger core is still unclear, but his first post-World Cup squad makes one thing obvious: reputations alone no longer guarantee a place.
The Squad, the Tests, the Stakes
The full group underlines the blend Tuchel is chasing.
- Goalkeepers: Jordan Pickford, Jason Steele, James Trafford.
- Defenders: Trent Alexander-Arnold, Jarrad Branthwaite, Trevoh Chalobah, Marc Guéhi, Lewis Hall, Ezri Konsa, Tino Livramento, Nico O’Reilly, Jarrell Quansah.
- Midfielders: Elliot Anderson, Jude Bellingham, Myles Lewis-Skelly, Kobbie Mainoo, Cole Palmer, Declan Rice, Alex Scott.
- Forwards: Dominic Calvert-Lewin, Eberechi Eze, Anthony Gordon, Harry Kane, Rio Ngumoha, Marcus Rashford, Morgan Rogers, Bukayo Saka.
Spain at home on September 26. Czech Republic away on September 29. Croatia away on October 3. Three Nations League fixtures, three different kinds of test.
Tuchel has recalled flair, promoted youth, and flirted with chaos. Now the question hangs over everything: with this talent, and this shift in thinking, does England finally become the team opponents fear – or just a more entertaining version of the same old story?
