5 hours ago
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Jude Bellingham is back in the England squad and that’s only right. Thomas Tuchel, the England head coach, would have lost all credibility had he wilfully ignored the return to form of one of our very best players.
But for Bellingham the challenge only really starts here. Now it’s all about finding his way back into the England team.
As we inch closer to the start of next summer’s World Cup, several key ideas and certainties have already formed in Tuchel’s mind.
For example, Declan Rice and Elliot Anderson have the two deep midfield positions in the palm of their hands. Morgan Rogers, Aston Villa’s fabulous attacking talent, is leading the way when it comes to the all-important position at ‘ten’ – just behind Harry Kane.
So where does Bellingham fit in? Does he have the mentality to prove himself all over again to a national team coach? He went to the 2024 European Championships as a future England captain and first name on Gareth Southgate’s team sheet. He is a Real Madrid Galactico and Champions League winner.
Jude Bellingham's England battle is only really just starting ahead of next year's World Cup
Thomas Tuchel went about fixing England in a way that none of us really saw coming
Given all that, can the 22-year-old take a deep breath and accept that he has a battle to get on the plane next summer and then another one to get in the starting eleven? Could he stomach life as an England impact substitute?
It seems faintly ridiculous to even be thinking this, never mind writing it. But this is the reality for Bellingham and indeed others such as Phil Foden. Tuchel has drawn his line in the sand in terms of what he has said and indeed done when it comes to issues such as team spirit and collective purpose.
Tuchel hasn’t delivered sound bites on this issue for the sake of it. Having observed the England squad live and breathe and work and play over two camps that culminated in that dismal defeat to Senegal last June, he realised what was wrong and went about fixing it in a way that none of us really saw coming.
Bellingham’s response to all of that has reflected well on him thus far. His form for Real since recovering from shoulder surgery has been impressive. He was one of his team’s better players as they lost to Liverpool in the Champions League on Tuesday night.
But the point remains that the battle for reacceptance is only half won. Tuchel and his staff are obsessively invested in how their players interact and behave on and off the field. Bellingham would do well to be aware of that over the course of the next two weeks.
In terms of where he plays, Tuchel was slightly contradictory when he spoke about that at his press conference at Wembley today. While admitting that Bellingham’s best position is at ‘ten’, he also floated the possibility of him playing as a false nine and that is particularly intriguing given than he has selected only Kane as a striker in this squad.
Tuchel has spoken privately about this possibility before. He also sees Foden playing there at some stage. Over the course of two dead rubber games against Serbia and Albania, it’s an experiment that may see the light of day at some point.
Tuchel also sees Foden playing in a possible false nine role, which is a Bellingham option too
The England manager does worry about Bellingham’s positional discipline and while that is something that the player himself must work to correct, there are ways that Tuchel can mitigate. Playing Bellingham as a nine is one way. When he plays deeper, he wanders and gets attracted too often to the ball. When he does that, he damages this England team.
Maybe that tells us something about the Bellingham psyche. We remember the way he celebrated that incredible winning goal against Slovakia in Germany in the 2024 Euros. ‘Who else?’ he mouthed to the watching world after his overhead kick turned despair to hope in the last 16 in Gelsenkirchen.
If he has learned anything over the course of the last few weeks then it should be that there are indeed other options available. In terms of the England squad and the England team.
Bellingham has been in left in no doubt that this is an England collective. It is not him and ten others. Has the message got through? We are about to find out.
