Tuchel sends Maguire clear message over England future - 'I didn't like it'

Thomas Tuchel recalled Trent Alexander-Arnold with a stern warning - and then made it clear there is no way back for Harry Maguire. Tuchel told Alexander-Arnold that he has “no choice” but to learn to defend if he wants to be part of his long term England plans.

Real Madrid full-back Alexander-Arnold was left out of England’s World Cup squad but has now been offered an olive branch for the Nations League campaign. But Tuchel was not so charitable towards Maguire who was also axed from the 26-man squad for the summer.

Maguire went public with his disappointment and Tuchel said the Manchester United defender “did not help” himself as he also revealed his exclusion before the announcement. However, Tuchel says Alexander-Arnold now has a big “chance” in these round of games.

But when asked whether the attacking right back must defend, Tuchel said: “He has to, he has to. It’s necessary. My conviction is that he will but he has no choice.

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“I know what he is capable of. I know about his talent. I know what he is saying. That he is desperate to play for England and he will fight for his shirt. So here we are. He is in camp and he has the chance. It’s a long camp and it’s a good moment to to show up.”

Tuchel had not spoken to Alexander-Arnold before calling him up this time but had seen how the Real Madrid star said publicly he wants to come back. It also follows Ben White and Reece James missing out through injury.

Tuchel said: “I spoke to him before the World Cup and told him my decision and this time it was the good news. He heard the good news over the nomination.”

But Tuchel had a sterner attitude towards Maguire whose mum said she was “absolutely disgusted” by his exclusion in the summer. Tuchel, who called up Everton’s Jarrad Branthwaite ahead of Maguire, did not shut the door completely but left no one in any doubt that it would be virtually impossible to see the United defender back in an England shirt.

When asked whether the reaction to his omission made it difficult to pick Maguire, Tuchel added: “It doesn't help. It does not help.

“I will not hold it against him for the rest of his life because I'm not that type of person. I can forget easily and quickly, but I didn't like it and it doesn't help.”

Should Harry Maguire have been called up? Have your say in the comments section.

Tuchel went on to insist he has “no doubt” that he still has the full support of his players. The England boss was searingly honest and brutal with his criticism after the World Cup semi-final defeat to Argentina in the summer as he questioned England’s football DNA.

Tuchel also surprised his players with his defensive substitutions, as he let the game slip away and then claimed they had not followed instructions. It undoubtedly annoyed members of the squad in the wake of the Argentina defeat but Tuchel says that the players are still with him and they will be stronger for the experience ahead of Euro 2028.

“I have no doubt how keen they are. No doubt,“ Tuchel affirmed. "Because I know them, I was seven weeks with them. We had a qualification campaign together, we are 18 months together, I have no doubt that we step up and produce performance in the next cycle. I'm responsible for that.

“I feel that it's not a new beginning that we are starting now, so we build on a solid and very valuable foundation, and the target is to win the home Euros.”

Tuchel admitted this week that he still feels “scarred” by the experience of the summer when England came so close - and then blew it against Argentina in the semi final. England finishing third after beating France in the play-off still represents their best-ever performance in a World Cup on foreign soil.

But in picking his first squad after that tournament, there was a lot of self reflection and honesty about England’s failings, his own regrets and an insistence that fans that he sees say it was a success. Tuchel admitted, however, that trying to get England to play more like Spain with fans also expecting the speed and intensity of a Premier League is a huge task.

And he went back to that DNA comment. “I'm just wrestling with myself, because even if you control matches in the Premier League, how many English players are there in these teams that really try to control matches?” asked Tuchel.

“Is this in our DNA? Do we really value control? Is this something that makes us feel good in a match? Is this something that comes easy to us? Do we even realise: ‘oh, we're controlling a midfield, everything is fine?’ Or do we go like, ‘yeah, but we're stuck in midfield. We should go, we should attack.’

“This is also something I'm still a mixed, because I saw training sessions on the very highest level of my career. But I see training sessions with a lot of speed, with a lot of ball speed, with a lot of physicality, with a lot of dribbles.

“So, it makes me just struggle, how and when, because we're talking about the highest pressure moments, we talk about semi-final against Argentina, 80 per cent of the stadium is Argentinian. So now can you please become Spain for 15 minutes?

“I would still say it's not how English fans cherish a match. I don't think that an English supporter goes to a Premier League match and wants to see a controlled match and 1-0 late.

“I think deep down in the core, English players - and it's a beautiful thing, it's a beautiful, beautiful thing - and the spectators, they go for it. Let's go. Let's play six-three, let's play four- three. Let’s not play 1-0. We want to put the ball up front.

“And this is what I feel now that I have a tournament as an experience, I feel that this team is ready to fight, is always ready to go, and this is the beauty of it.

“Come high pressure moments, where we can play better football, where we maybe lack even a little bit of courage or this energy. So maybe it's more, maybe even going down that route.

But surely it is Tuchel’s job to coach the players to keep the ball? “I’m not sure that I have the time to coach them to [keep the ball.] I should coach them to keep the ball? Ok, I need to think about this…” said Tuchel with more than a touch of sarcasm.

“I am the biggest critic of myself, and reflection is sometimes necessary to get better, and experience is a crucial part of coaching. But 99 percent of people who have come up to me have special memories. The downside of not only being ambitious, but having the full belief that we can go and win it, it hurts even more if you don't make it.

“So this is where we are. But I think, coming back to the positives, we built this brotherhood and we had a fantastic spirit, and the team showed this never-give-in mentality, and we will not compromise on that.”