There’s a biography of Thomas Tuchel entitled Rulebreaker, and it performs to a sure picture: an innovator, the sort of maverick many England followers have been calling for when the nationwide group saved falling simply quick beneath the straight-laced Gareth Southgate.
However in naming his first England squad on Friday — and particularly by recalling Jordan Henderson on the age of 34 — Tuchel underlined two inconvenient truths.
One, he’s a much more conservative coach than some wish to suppose, and two, for all the thrill surrounding this era of gamers, there may be additionally a scarcity of expertise and management in key positions.
That’s the reason, reasonably than name up Nottingham Forest’s Elliot Anderson, Crystal Palace’s Adam Wharton, Bournemouth’s Lewis Cook dinner or Lille’s Angel Gomes, he selected to recall Henderson, whose worldwide profession appeared over.
It’s why he has retained Kyle Walker, additionally 34 and now on mortgage at Milan after dropping kind and favour at Manchester Metropolis, and why, of the 2 uncapped gamers in his squad, one in every of them, Newcastle United defender Dan Burn, will probably be 33 in Could.
The theme of Tuchel’s first squad is “tried and trusted”.
GO FURTHER
Thomas Tuchel selecting a 34-year-old Jordan Henderson for England underlines two inconvenient truths
