Cole Palmer and Trent Alexander-Arnold: Tuchel's New England Strategy

Cole Palmer’s numbers are back – and so is the noise around him.

Four goals, two assists, six games for Chelsea. The sharp one-touch combinations with Morgan Rogers and Joao Pedro have lit up the early weeks of the season and forced Thomas Tuchel into a decision he ducked before the World Cup.

This time, he could not ignore him.

“Cole has his numbers back,” Tuchel said. “Assists, decisive goals. I think he has a point to prove.”

He does – to his manager as much as to anyone else. Left out of the World Cup squad, battered by injury and drained after the Club World Cup, Palmer spent last season looking like a faded version of the player England thought they had.

Now he looks refreshed. Dangerous again. And back in the England squad.

Where does Palmer actually fit?

The problem for Tuchel is not Palmer’s form. It’s the map of his attack.

Jude Bellingham owns the No 10 shirt after a World Cup in which he became one of the stars of the tournament. Bukayo Saka is fit again and flying on the right for Arsenal. Anthony Gordon has taken the left wing at Barcelona and turned it into a stage, after impressing in that role for England in the summer.

Then there is Rogers, a central figure for Tuchel and now a key Chelsea partner for Palmer. The temptation to get both Stamford Bridge creators on the pitch together will be strong. The reality: Tuchel is already drowning in attacking options.

Could even a below-par Palmer have helped England in North America? Many will say yes. That argument belongs to the past. The real question is whether Tuchel tears up his World Cup blueprint to make room for a player who now looks impossible to leave out.

Mainoo’s second chance

Kobbie Mainoo knows what it is like to be part of a major tournament and not feel it. The Manchester United midfielder was the only outfield player not to play a single minute at the World Cup.

Tuchel did not dodge responsibility.

“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.”

Mainoo has started this season strongly for United and remains deep in the fight for minutes in a stacked England midfield. Rice is locked in. Anderson has Tuchel’s trust. Bellingham is non-negotiable. Yet a three-week camp with four fixtures should finally give Mainoo the opportunity he never had in North America.

This time, Tuchel has promised. Now he has to find the space.

Trent’s return – and Tuchel’s U-turn

Trent Alexander-Arnold wearing an England shirt again should be routine. It feels anything but.

The Real Madrid defender has not been in an England squad since the summer of 2025. In that time, Tuchel repeatedly chose other profiles at right-back, even when Tino Livramento’s pre-World Cup injury opened a door that seemed made for Alexander-Arnold’s technical quality.

Tuchel even questioned the national pool’s ability to keep the ball and control matches under pressure. The omission of one of England’s most gifted passers became harder to explain.

Now Alexander-Arnold is 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 club form alone has not forced the change. One assist in five appearances for Real Madrid is modest by his standards. When Jose Mourinho pushed him into central midfield for the Champions League win over Inter Milan, the Real boss praised his application but also highlighted his loss of possession and the physical demands of the role.

Alexander-Arnold still faces fierce competition at right-back at club level, where Denzel Dumfries now rivals him as Dani Carvajal once did. The same is true with England, where his brilliance on the ball is constantly weighed against the defensive questions that never quite go away.

Tuchel has now changed his stance. How he uses Alexander-Arnold – and whether this is a short-term experiment or the start of a long-term shift – will be one of the stories of this international break.

From control to chaos

After the World Cup defeat to Argentina, Tuchel took aim at England’s “DNA”, lamenting their inability to dictate high-pressure games with the ball the way Spain do.

The recall of Palmer and Alexander-Arnold looked like an admission that he had left out some of his best technicians when it mattered most.

Then came a twist.

On Friday, Tuchel suggested England might need to lean into something very different.

“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.”

So Tuchel wants more technical players, but also more chaos. More control of the ball, but less control of the game. England’s identity under him may be about to change – not towards Spain, but towards something wilder, more Premier League in its rhythm and risk.

Gibbs-White squeezed out

When the squad list dropped, one name jumped out for its absence.

Morgan Gibbs-White has every right to feel aggrieved. Fifteen Premier League goals and four assists for Nottingham Forest last season, a key figure in their survival, and he has carried that form into this campaign.

It has not been enough.

The No 10 role is suffocatingly crowded. Palmer is back. Bellingham is undroppable. Rogers is in. Eberechi Eze is there as well. Tuchel’s verdict 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’s inclusion and wonder. The Arsenal playmaker has not started a Premier League game this season and produced roughly half as many goal involvements as Gibbs-White last term. The numbers favour the Forest man.

The shirt does not.

For now, all he can do is keep pushing – and wait to see whether Palmer turns club form into international impact.

“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,” Tuchel added. “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 message is clear: the door is open, but it will not stay open for long.

Foden on the outside

Gibbs-White is not the only creator squeezed to the margins.

Phil Foden’s England career under Tuchel is drifting. The Manchester City star missed the World Cup squad and, despite being recalled in March and again in November 2025, finds himself omitted once more.

This time, the blow lands just after he had begun the season brightly, only for his momentum to be cut by a red card in the Manchester derby.

England are loaded in his area of the pitch. Bellingham, Palmer, Rogers, Eze, Saka, Gordon – all fighting for the same pockets of grass. With Tuchel now turning back to other technicians such as Alexander-Arnold, Foden’s latest exclusion will sting.

His battle is no longer just to start. It is to get back in the room.

The next generation takes centre stage

Tuchel’s first post-World Cup squad is not just about recalls. It is about a clear tilt towards youth.

Jordan Henderson, Ivan Toney, Ollie Watkins – senior figures, all missing. In their place, a cluster of young talent.

• Myles Lewis-Skelly.
• Alex Scott.
• Rio Ngumoha.

All under 23. Ngumoha only turned 18 less than a month ago.

Ngumoha’s inclusion is the headline. The Liverpool teenager travelled with England’s squad to Florida for their pre-tournament camp and has featured in five of their six games this season. No goals, no assists yet, but enough quality to convince Tuchel he is ready for the step.

Lewis-Skelly’s case is easier to make. Arsenal are unbeaten at the top of the league and the deep-lying midfielder has recorded two assists while keeping £75m signing Bruno Guimaraes out of the champions’ starting line-up.

Scott, meanwhile, has simply carried on. After driving Bournemouth to European qualification for the first time in their history last season, he spent the summer linked with Chelsea and Manchester United. He stayed put – and kept performing.

“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 Tuchel reshapes his tactics around this new wave is unclear. What is obvious is that he is no longer clinging to the safety of experience.

The squad, the tests, and the tension ahead

The squad itself underlines the mix of old and new.

Jordan Pickford, Jason Steele and James Trafford in goal. At the back, Alexander-Arnold, Jarrad Branthwaite, Trevoh Chalobah, Marc Guéhi, Lewis Hall, Ezri Konsa, 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 a group built for variety. For risk. For the “chaos” Tuchel now talks about embracing.

The schedule offers no hiding place. Spain at home on September 26. Czech Republic away three days later. Then Croatia away on October 3.

By the end of that run, we will know more. Can Palmer force his way into a structure that already belongs to Bellingham and Saka? Will Alexander-Arnold finally look like an England right-back Tuchel trusts? Does chaos really suit this group better than control?

Tuchel has made his choices. Now he has to live with what they unleash.