England squad announced for Nations League games
Trent Alexander-Arnold, Alex Scott, Cole Palmer and Rio Ngumoha are in. There is no place for Phil Foden.
Full squad to come below.
Goalkeepers: Jordan Pickford, James Trafford, Jason Steele
Defenders: Trent Alexander Arnold, Jarrod Branthwaite, Trevor Chalobah, Marc Guehi, 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.
Key events
And hear to guide you through that presser, and more updates, is David Tindall. Over to you, good sir.
Thomas Tuchel’s press conference is live from 11am BST so stay tuned for updates that. It should be interesting to hear him asked about the likes of Trent Alexander-Arnold and Cole Palmer, and what has changed his mind on those players and others.
Lewis Hall is definitely one I’d like him to be questioned on. The Newcastle left-back was supreme last season and surely merited a World Cup spot given the lack of other left-backs selected. What has changed between then and now?
Inter have just been mentioned, so that’s a good excuse to plug this nice interview by Nicky Bandini with AC Milan legend Alessandro Costacurta, who has been speaking about saying goodbye to the iconic San Siro.
An email from Adrian Riley has highlighted another glaring omission from Tuchel’s England squad:
I thought one of England’s most improved players at the World Cup was Djed Spence, after being surprised he made the squad. Now, sold by Tottenham, dropped by England. I get that he wanted more playing time than he was getting at Spurs, but why isn’t he in the squad?
Spence did have an injury, Adrian, which has meant he’s not yet played for Inter. It will be interesting to see whether he features against Roma tomorrow.
Arteta: Pro Ref must ‘try to improve’ after Arsenal meeting
Ed Aarons
Mikel Arteta has refused to divulge the details of Arsenal’s meeting with Pro Ref after they complained about the penalty awarded to Sunderland last week.
It is understood that the referees’ body has been in touch with the Premier League champions after they requested clarification over the decision at the Stadium of Light in Arsenal’s 2-0 win.
“This is a conversation that will remain private as usual,” said Arteta.
Asked whether he wanted Pro Ref to apologise like it did to Manchester United after Erling Haaland’s goal was incorrectly awarded in last week’s Manchester derby, he said: “It’s not about the apology, it’s just agreeing that the decision should have been different or not. Maybe they have a different opinion and try to improve and move forward together.”
It’s worth mentioning that Dan Burn, Dean Henderson, Jordan Henderson, John Stones and Ben White are all injured, so might have been picked otherwise. We know Tuchel loves having Henderson (the midfielder) in his squad.
Another startling absence is Reece James, who isn’t believed to be injured. Tuchel could simply be managing his minutes, given how many fitness issues the Chelsea captain has had.
Your emails are now pouring in – mostly on the subject of England’s World Cup failings rather than this squad announcement, but there’s time.
David Hopkins weighs in on the Tuchel debate:
Just to join in the Tuchel pile-in, wasn’t the specific selling point that he would be the one to get England over the line in tight games, in the way that Southgate couldn’t? It looked like maybe that was happening in the Mexico game (albeit through the medium of Dan Burn’s massive head), but the Argentina cave-in was far worse than any of Southgate’s perceived inertia. I was genuinely surprised he hadn’t been sacked when I woke up the next morning, and I’m not sure his chippy interviews since will have bought him much goodwill.
Morgan Gibbs-White, Harry Maguire and Phil Foden, then, are the main players out in the cold, having also been shunned by Tuchel in the summer.
It’s also interesting that Tuchel has retained Kobbie Mainoo, who has started the season brightly for Manchester United, having taken him to the World Cup without giving him any minutes. Surely Mainoo will feature in the coming four games at some point.
It seems Elliot Anderson and Declan Rice will remain Tuchel’s first choice midfield duo, but then there is Mainoo, Lewis-Skelly – who is considered a midfielder rather than a left-back – and Scott to compete with.
That full squad is now in the post below. Slight correction, with Eze actually in despite several outlets reporting that he wouldn’t be.
I make that eight players who weren’t in the World Cup party involved: Alexander-Arnold, Branthwaite, Hall, Lewis-Skelly, Scott and Calvert-Lewin. Jason Steele and Rio Ngumoha were with the squad at times in the summer, but weren’t officially named in the 26.
England squad announced for Nations League games
Trent Alexander-Arnold, Alex Scott, Cole Palmer and Rio Ngumoha are in. There is no place for Phil Foden.
Full squad to come below.
Goalkeepers: Jordan Pickford, James Trafford, Jason Steele
Defenders: Trent Alexander Arnold, Jarrod Branthwaite, Trevor Chalobah, Marc Guehi, 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.
This was Alex Scott’s first major interview, back in 2023. He’s been tipped for the top for a good while.
It seems Thomas Tuchel has a fair bit of making up to do after his costly decisions in England’s World Cup semi-final defeat to Argentina (yes, I’m mentioning it, sorry).
An email from James in Bangkok reflects what some supporters are clearly feeling regarding the manager:
Anyone else feeling like we’ve seen through Tuchel already? Seems a bit embarrassing that he’s still there, naming squads, trying to battle our ‘loser’ DNA. When we already know, that when it really comes down to it, he’s a bottle job.
It’s a salient point, James. Tuchel definitely needs to prove England can cut the mustard against better teams, rather than shrink into their shells like they did in Atlanta in July.
A few outlets are reporting that Alex Scott is set to be named in the England squad. The Bournemouth midfielder has started the season impressively, after being linked with Chelsea and others in the summer, and registered a Player of the Match performance in the Cherries’ win over Real Sociedad in the Europa League last night.
The 23-year-old is uncapped at senior international level, though has represented England Under-21s on 11 occasions. Born in Guernsey, he came through the ranks at Bristol City after moving from the Channel Island.
How on earth, with all due respect, are Hull City fourth in the Premier League?
WhoScored’s Harry Paterson has attempted to explain the Tigers’ rapid start, which is confounding most onlookers.
It’s been a harrowing start to the season for Sir Jim Ratcliffe and Ineos.
Manchester United’s women are bottom of the WSL after two games, Michael Carrick is already under pressure after an unconvincing early spell in the Premier League was compounded by a League Cup defeat to Brighton in midweek, while Sir Jim’s other football projects, Nice and Lausanne, are both also rock bottom of their respective leagues in France and Switzerland.
“Built for more,” is a slogan Ineos have used in the past. The aforementioned teams sure need a bit more than they’ve produced so far this season.
Tom Garry
Manchester United women’s head coach, Eva Olid, says her side’s difficult start will help them become stronger and that she is undeterred by criticism of their opening two defeats.
The former Hearts manager, who arrived at United in August, endured a 5-0 loss against Chelsea last Sunday after beginning with a 2-1 defeat at London City Lionesses.
“The beginning, how you start, doesn’t define you [for] the rest of the season,” Olid said before Saturday’s tough-looking trip to face Arsenal.
“Two or three matches don’t define you, how you are or how you are going to be as a team. There have been transition changes but we know where we go, the direction and we know how we are doing will give us the success in the long term.
“All the teams, through the season, have a difficult moment. Our difficult moment is the start. But we are learning as a team to grow because the difficult moments make you grow. And once we are past this difficult moment and start our momentum, we will be so much better than without the difficult moment.”
Some match reports from last night’s action, as Crystal Palace and Bournemouth enjoyed themselves in the Europa League; the same cannot be said for Celtic. Meanwhile, Manchester City’s youngsters had a fun evening out in the Carabao Cup against Norwich.
The England squad should be announced at 10am (BST), with Tuchel chatting to the media at 11am. The expectation is that Chelsea’s Cole Palmer will be named in that squad, having of course missed out on the World Cup.
It will be interesting to see who else comes in from the cold, and who doesn’t make the cut. Alex Scott and Morgan Gibbs-White are two names in contention.
Preamble
Happy Friday to you all and welcome along to another live news blog, which today will take in the naming of the first post-World Cup England squad by Thomas Tuchel. The Three Lions are preparing for a bumper international break, which includes Uefa Nations League games against Spain, Czech Republic (twice) and Croatia. Just nobody mention the Argentina semi-final, OK?
That also means this is the last set of Premier League fixtures for a whole three weeks – 10 October is when it all resumes again – with plenty of teams hoping to head into the extended break on a high note. Brentford v Chelsea kicks off the action tonight, with plenty of eye-catching games including Tottenham v Aston Villa, Bournemouth v Liverpool and Fulham v Manchester United and a full complement of fixtures in the EFL and around Europe, of course. We’ll bring you the latest team news ahead of those games, with a number of managers holding their pre-match press conferences.
Stick with us throughout the day, and feel free to drop us an email with your Friday thoughts. Grab a coffee and enjoy.