Cole Palmer's Impact on England's Squad: A Tactical Dilemma
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 understanding with Morgan Rogers and Joao Pedro. He looks sharp, ruthless, and liberated.
“Cole has his numbers back,” Thomas Tuchel said. “Assists, decisive goals. I think he has a point to prove.”
He does. And so does Tuchel.
Leaving Palmer out of the World Cup squad already feels like a decision from another era. Injury and fatigue had dulled him last season after the Club World Cup. Now he looks rested, rebuilt, and close to the version that once felt inevitable for England. The question is no longer whether he should be in the squad. It’s where on earth Tuchel can actually fit him in.
Jude Bellingham has nailed down the No 10 role. The Real Madrid star was one of the World Cup’s outstanding performers and has not loosened his grip on that central creative spot. Out wide, Bukayo Saka is back to full speed on the right for Arsenal. On the left, Anthony Gordon is thriving at Barcelona and has already shown he can transfer that form into an England shirt.
Rogers has become another of Tuchel’s go-to men. The idea of Palmer and Rogers dovetailing for England as they do at Chelsea is tantalising, but it forces a tactical puzzle. Tuchel is overloaded with attackers who demand the ball, want responsibility, and are used to being the main event. Solving that is the kind of problem managers say they love. Living it is something else.
Mainoo’s Second Chance
Kobbie Mainoo knows all about being the odd man out. He went to the World Cup and never played a minute. Not one. This time, Tuchel has gone out of his way to say that will change.
“I expect him to be on the pitch and it’s my duty to get him on the pitch,” the England manager said. “That was totally on me. He didn’t put a foot wrong during the World Cup.”
Tuchel praised Mainoo’s behaviour, his work in training, and then admitted the brutal truth. Reece James was used in central midfield. Elliot Anderson and Declan Rice were trusted more.
“We trusted them more than we trusted Kobbie. It was difficult for him. It was on me.”
Mainoo has started the season strongly for Manchester United, and with a three-week camp and four fixtures on the calendar, there should be real minutes on offer. England’s midfield remains ferociously competitive, but the tone has changed. Mainoo is no longer an afterthought. He is part of the plan.
Alexander-Arnold: From Frozen Out To Fast-Tracked
Trent Alexander-Arnold in an England squad should never be a surprise. Yet this one is.
Tuchel had been blunt before: 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 replacement. The criticism that followed was predictable, especially when he complained about England’s lack of players capable of keeping the ball and controlling games.
Now Alexander-Arnold is back for the first time since the summer of 2025.
“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 has not forced this U-turn. One assist in five games is modest by his standards. His recent Champions League outing against Inter Milan, where Jose Mourinho used him in central midfield, only underlined the ongoing riddle: how do you maximise his brilliance on the ball while managing the risks without it?
Mourinho praised his attitude but highlighted his turnovers and the physical demands of the role. At right-back, he is fighting Denzel Dumfries this season after battling Dani Carvajal last year. The passing range is still outrageous. The defensive doubts have not gone away.
Tuchel now has to decide whether he can live with those flaws to access that vision. How he answers that over this international break could reshape Alexander-Arnold’s England future.
From Control To Chaos?
After the defeat to Argentina, Tuchel attacked England’s “DNA”, lamenting their inability to control tense, high-pressure matches with the ball in the way Spain routinely do. The recall of Palmer and Alexander-Arnold looked like a belated admission that he had left some of his best technicians at home.
Then he swerved.
“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 is what the Premier League reflects.”
He referenced the 6-4 thriller against France, a game that shredded tactical orthodoxy but lit up supporters.
“Football without any control is sometimes hard to digest for a coach,” Tuchel admitted. “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.”
He insists England will adapt their style to suit the players, not the other way round. If that means giving up some structure to unleash their attacking talent, so be it.
Gibbs-White Squeezed Out
The flip side of that attacking wealth is the harsh reality for Morgan Gibbs-White. On form, he has every right to feel aggrieved.
The Nottingham Forest playmaker scored 15 Premier League goals last season and added four assists, almost single-handedly dragging his club away from relegation. He has started this campaign in the same vein. It still wasn’t enough.
Palmer’s recall drops him into a No 10 pool already crammed with Bellingham, Rogers and Eberechi Eze.
“He was close but it’s always the same,” Tuchel said. “It makes no sense to choose three, four or five No 10s. It just doesn’t help anyone.”
Gibbs-White might reasonably look at Eze’s inclusion and wonder. Eze, now at Arsenal, has not started a Premier League game this season and produced around half of Gibbs-White’s goal involvements last term. Tuchel has made his call. All Gibbs-White can do is keep hitting those numbers and wait.
Tuchel’s message to Palmer underlines the ruthlessness of the environment.
“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.”
The door is open. It is not unlocked.
Foden Drifting Away
Phil Foden is another casualty of the crowded No 10 lane. Left out of the World Cup squad, he briefly forced his way back into Tuchel’s plans with call-ups in March and November 2025. Now he is back on the outside.
His season with Manchester City had started promisingly before a red card in the Manchester derby halted his momentum. In a squad now leaning back towards technicians such as Palmer and Alexander-Arnold, Foden’s absence stings.
England are stacked in his zone of the pitch. To get back in, he will have to outshine players who are not just talented, but currently trusted. That is a different kind of battle.
The Kids Are Here
Tuchel has ripped up the age profile of his squad. Several senior figures have gone. Jordan Henderson, Ivan Toney, Ollie Watkins – all left out.
In their place, a wave of youth.
Myles Lewis-Skelly, Alex Scott and Rio Ngumoha are all in. All under 23. Ngumoha only turned 18 less than a month ago.
His name jumps off the squad list. The Liverpool forward travelled with England to Florida before the World Cup and has featured in five of their six games this season. No goals or assists yet, but his performances have been enough to convince Tuchel to promote him anyway.
Lewis-Skelly’s rise at Arsenal has been just as striking. Two assists from deep midfield for the unbeaten league leaders and, crucially, he has kept £75m signing Bruno Guimaraes out of the starting XI. That kind of statement carries weight in an England meeting room.
Scott, meanwhile, has picked up where he left off. Last season he was a central figure in a Bournemouth side that qualified for European football for the first time. That form drew interest from Chelsea and Manchester United. Now it has delivered an England call-up.
“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.”
Whether this influx of youth triggers a tactical reset is unclear. What is obvious is Tuchel’s willingness to accelerate the next generation into the spotlight.
The Squad, The Stakes, The Tests Ahead
The full squad underlines the shift. Jordan Pickford, Jason Steele and James Trafford in goal. A defence built around Alexander-Arnold, Jarrad Branthwaite, Trevoh Chalobah, Marc Guéhi, Lewis Hall, Ezri Konsa, Tino Livramento, Nico O’Reilly and Jarrell Quansah.
In midfield, Anderson, Bellingham, Lewis-Skelly, Mainoo, Palmer, Rice and Scott. Up front, Dominic Calvert-Lewin, Eze, Gordon, Harry Kane, Ngumoha, Marcus Rashford, Rogers and Saka.
It is younger, more technical in places, and heavier on risk-takers.
Spain at home on September 26. Czech Republic away three days later. Croatia away on October 3. Three Nations League fixtures that will not wait for Tuchel’s ideas to settle.
He has recalled Palmer. He has turned back to Alexander-Arnold. He has promised Mainoo minutes and thrown Ngumoha, Lewis-Skelly and Scott into the deep end.
Chaos or control? Over the next three games, we start to find out what kind of England Tuchel really wants to build.
