Palmer’s Dilemma: England’s New Attack Options
Cole Palmer has kicked the new season’s door clean off its hinges at Chelsea. Four goals, two assists in six games, and a telepathic understanding with Morgan Rogers and Joao Pedro. He looks like a player reborn.
“Cole has his numbers back,” Thomas Tuchel said. “Assists, decisive goals. I think he has a point to prove.”
He does – and he’s proving it. Enough that the England manager, who left him out of the World Cup squad, has had to swallow his pride and bring him back.
That omission may end up as the making of him. Palmer staggered through last season after the Club World Cup, injured and drained, a shadow of the sharp, inventive forward England thought they had. Now he’s rested, refreshed, and close to his peak again.
The obvious question lingers: could even a half-fit Palmer have helped England in North America? Many will argue yes. That debate will rage on.
Tuchel’s problem now is different. How does he fit Palmer into an attack that already has Jude Bellingham nailed on as the No 10, Bukayo Saka flying on the right for Arsenal and Anthony Gordon thriving on the left for Barcelona after a standout summer with England?
Rogers has become central to Tuchel’s plans too. Working out how to put both Chelsea attackers on the pitch together, without unbalancing a squad packed with forwards, is the kind of selection headache managers secretly enjoy. England suddenly have options everywhere. Tuchel has to prove he knows what to do with them.
Mainoo’s Second Chance
Kobbie Mainoo knows what it feels like to be on the outside. He was the only outfield player not to play a single minute at the World Cup. This time, Tuchel insists, the story changes.
“I expect him to be on the pitch and it’s my duty to get him on the pitch,” the England boss said. “That was totally on me. He didn’t put a foot wrong during the World Cup.
“He was class in behaviour on the training pitch. There was big competition; we played Reece (James) in central midfield also. Elliot Anderson is amazing for us; Declan Rice is a very unique player.
“We trusted them more than we trusted Kobbie. It was difficult for him. It was on me.”
Mainoo has started the season strongly for Manchester United and, crucially, Tuchel has made it clear there are no scars from Qatar. The midfield remains a brutal battleground for places, but a three-week camp with four fixtures should finally give the 19-year-old the platform he never got on the biggest stage.
Trent Back From the Cold
Trent Alexander-Arnold’s recall is the twist no one saw coming.
An Englishman starting games for Real Madrid should be automatic for his country. Under Tuchel, he was anything but. The manager repeatedly dismissed him as not the right “profile” of right-back, even when Tino Livramento’s pre-World Cup injury opened a door most coaches would have kicked down.
The snub jarred even more when Tuchel questioned England’s ability to keep the ball and control games under pressure. Alexander-Arnold, one of the country’s most gifted technicians, was watching on from home.
He hasn’t been in an England squad since the summer of 2025. Now he’s back.
“He was never non-selectable,” Tuchel insisted. “Now is his chance to show, come to camp, be the best version of himself. He comes as a right-back for us.”
His Real Madrid form alone didn’t force this change. One assist in five games, and even that came amid positional experiments. Jose Mourinho pushed him into central midfield in the Champions League win over Inter Milan because of injuries, praising his attitude but also highlighting his turnovers and the physical demands of the role.
At right-back, he’s still jostling with Dani Carvajal, and now Denzel Dumfries, for minutes. The passing range is still outrageous. The defensive doubts haven’t gone away.
Tuchel’s U-turn sets up a fascinating subplot. Does he really trust Alexander-Arnold as a defender? Or is this the start of a longer, more complicated conversation about where one of England’s most unusual talents actually belongs?
From Control to Chaos?
Tuchel’s soul-searching after the defeat to Argentina cut deep. He questioned England’s “DNA”, their inability to dominate high-pressure matches with the ball like Spain.
Recalling Palmer and Alexander-Arnold looked like an admission he’d left some of his best ball-players at home. Yet on Friday, he hinted at something different: maybe England should stop chasing control and lean into the storm.
“The more I reflect on it [the Argentina loss], it’s more buying into our strengths and playing more like in the second half against Croatia, or first half against France,” Tuchel said. “We get a lot of value out of it [this style]. This is what the Premier League reflects.
“Football is about adapting to situations, and football without any control is sometimes hard to digest for a coach. If you look at the 6-4 against France, people talk about it like it’s one of their nicest experiences ever to watch a football match.
“Maybe I have to compromise in my wish for control – maybe we need more chaos, to embrace the chaos. Maybe it brings out the best.
“We will adjust our style but always to put the strengths of the players on the first priority.”
The message is clear: if England can’t always suffocate games with the ball, they might as well become the most dangerous team in the chaos.
Gibbs-White Squeezed Out
Morgan Gibbs-White has every right to feel hard done by.
Fifteen Premier League goals and four assists for Nottingham Forest last season, the driving force behind their survival, and he’s picked up where he left off. Yet his name is missing from this squad.
The problem is simple and brutal: numbers. Palmer is back. Bellingham is immovable. Rogers and Eberechi Eze are in as well. Tuchel doesn’t see room for another No 10.
“He was close but it’s always the same,” Tuchel said. “It makes no sense to choose three, four or five No 10s. It just doesn’t help anyone. We can see the form that Morgan is in. He ended the season strongly and was the key player for Forest to not be relegated.”
The comparison with Eze will sting. The Arsenal playmaker has not started a Premier League game this season and produced roughly half of Gibbs-White’s goal involvements last term. Yet he’s in. Gibbs-White is out.
All he can do is keep swinging. And wait. Because as Tuchel made clear, Palmer’s recall comes with strings attached.
“It’s one thing to be chosen, like Cole, and get your ticket back to the squad, but it’s another thing to perform for England,” Tuchel said. “Cole, especially, needs to step up when he comes and show these kinds of numbers and performances to get his place, keep his shirt and justify the nomination.”
For Palmer, the door is open. For Gibbs-White, it’s jammed – but not locked.
Foden Drifting Away?
Phil Foden is another casualty of England’s crowded creative core.
Left out of Tuchel’s World Cup squad, the Manchester City star fought his way back into contention with call-ups in March and November 2025. This time, he’s missing again.
The timing will hurt. Foden had started the season promisingly before a red card in the Manchester derby cut him down mid-stride. With England stacked in the No 10 and wide attacking roles, that moment may have tipped the balance.
Now he’s staring at a long road back. As Tuchel turns again to technicians like Alexander-Arnold and Palmer, Foden finds himself looking on, wondering where exactly he fits in this new order.
Tuchel Turns to the Kids
If the World Cup squad was about experience, this one screams transition.
Jordan Henderson, Ivan Toney, Ollie Watkins – all out. In their place, a wave of youth: Myles Lewis-Skelly, Alex Scott, Rio Ngumoha. All under 23. Ngumoha only turned 18 less than a month ago.
His call-up is the headline grabber. The Liverpool teenager travelled with England to Florida before the World Cup and has featured in five of their six games this season. No goals or assists yet, but enough quality to convince Tuchel he’s ready for the next step.
Lewis-Skelly’s inclusion feels like the reward of meritocracy. The Arsenal midfielder has been superb for the unbeaten league leaders, dictating from deep, registering two assists and keeping £75m signing Bruno Guimaraes out of the champions’ starting XI.
Scott’s rise has been steadier but just as impressive. He was arguably the key piece in Bournemouth’s charge to European football last season, a campaign that earned him suitors such as Chelsea and Manchester United. Now he has the England nod to match.
“We had three players in prep camp with us [before the World Cup], Alex Scott, Rio Ngumoha and Josh [King], all three of them were fantastic members of the squad,” Tuchel said.
“Not only because they were nice and reliable and excellent characters, but they showed the quality, courage and curiosity on the pitch, which was very nice to see.”
Whether Tuchel reshapes his tactics around this younger core remains an open question. What’s clear is that he’s willing to let the next generation fight for places, not just watch from the sidelines.
England’s New-Look Squad
- Goalkeepers: Jordan Pickford (Everton), Jason Steele (Brighton & Hove Albion), James Trafford (Leeds United)
- Defenders: Trent Alexander-Arnold (Real Madrid), Jarrad Branthwaite (Everton), Trevoh Chalobah (Como), Marc Guéhi (Manchester City), Lewis Hall (Newcastle United), Ezri Konsa (Arsenal), Tino Livramento (Newcastle United), Nico O’Reilly (Manchester City), Jarrell Quansah (Bayer Leverkusen)
- Midfielders: Elliot Anderson (Manchester City), Jude Bellingham (Real Madrid), Myles Lewis-Skelly (Arsenal), Kobbie Mainoo (Manchester United), Cole Palmer (Chelsea), Declan Rice (Arsenal), Alex Scott (AFC Bournemouth)
- Forwards: Dominic Calvert-Lewin (Leeds United), Eberechi Eze (Arsenal), Anthony Gordon (Barcelona), Harry Kane (Bayern Munich), Rio Ngumoha (Liverpool), Marcus Rashford (Manchester United), Morgan Rogers (Chelsea), Bukayo Saka (Arsenal)
Nations League fixtures:
- Saturday September 26: Spain (H), 7.45pm
- Tuesday September 29: Czech Republic (A), 7.45pm
- Saturday October 3: Croatia (A), 5pm
Spain at home. Croatia away. A squad heavy on technicians and kids, light on old certainties. Tuchel has chosen chaos over comfort. Now we find out if England are built for it.
