Thomas Tuchel has won the Champions League before with Chelsea, but the England national team manager is still known as a coach whose ego often times outweighs what he is bringing to the table. England fans already got that feeling and were questioning him significantly with both his disrespect of Jude Bellingham before the 2026 World Cup and his incredulous snub of star right back Trent Alexander-Arnold.
Although Djed Spence was one of the breakout performers for England at the tournament and deserved his spot, that does not change the fact that Tuchel made a huge mistake leaving Trent off his final squad, especially since the Real Madrid man was playing at a very high level at the Santiago Bernabeu in the month or so before the season ended.
Trent really could have helped England at the World Cup with all the injuries they suffered at the fullback positions, particularly to the very injury prone Reece James. And in the 2-1 loss to Argentina, watching Ezri Konsa's errant crosses and the total lack of threat from that right flank in terms of creation, it was hard not to shake the feeling that maybe Trent could have changed the game, especially with his early deliveries.
England badly missed Trent vs. Argentina
Because England were thoroughly lacking creativity. Besides Harry Kane and Jude Bellingham literally creating chances out of thin air on their own, England had nothing going in terms of chance creation. Declan Rice led the team in chances created, but that is misleading since most of them were from set plays. Noni Madueke and Anthony Gordon are not primary creators while Bukayo Saka is way off his form.
Trent Alexander-Arnold is one of the best passers of the football of the last 20 years, and that is no exaggeration. What he can do in terms of pinpointing crosses, particularly ones well before the penalty area, and weighted through balls is extraordinary, and the only English player who can even sit at his table as a passer is Harry Kane himself.
But Kane can't pass it to himself, and he can't sit back if he has to be the box presence when England need goals. Part of the problem with leaving off Trent was not just about the comparison to the other fullbacks, but also what England lost in terms of his special skill set and ability to change games, particularly in crunch time. England were toothless against Argentina after the first goal, and Trent would have brought something.
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