Thomas Thomas has ruffled feathers with his first England squad since replacing Gareth Southgate as manager ahead of March’s World Cup qualifiers against Albania and Latvia. The German coach has navigated around injury absences by making some bold calls for the Wembley double-header, including surprise additions and snubs.
A wealth of talent, such as John Stones, Harry Maguire, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Kobbie Mainoo and Bukayo Saka, is unavailable. Yet, there are other eye-catching omissions, like that of Jarrad Branthwaite, Djed Spence, Morgan Gibbs-White, Conor Gallagher and Liam Delap. England fans have flooded onto X in the wake of the squad announcement to react to Tuchel’s controversial picks.
Joey Barton posted: “No Gibbs-White or Elliot Anderson? No Nwaneri? No Branthwaite? Four goalies? And Jordan Henderson?”
@cockroft_connor lamented: “Feel like Branthwaite, Gallagher and Morgan Gibbs-White have all been robbed…and who picks four keepers?”
@georgeachillea wrote: “Nah, honestly, Djed Spence has been robbed… been England’s best-performing fullback last couple months.”
@_ElliottJackson shared: “Very rare that you’ll get me overreacting to World Cup qualifier squads, but I would love to hear the rationale of Henderson over Wharton.”
@MinaFootball reacted: “Gibbs-White, Wharton, Spence, Anderson… just to name a few who most definitely deserved call-ups over some players here like Henderson & Foden. Side note: so happy to see Rashford back.”
@WelhamOfficial ranted: “This might be a worse England squad selection than anything Southgate gave us. I’d probably make about 10 changes to that. Gibbs White, Hudson Odoi, Spence, Nwaneri, Wharton, Gray, Branthwaite, Lewis Potter, to name a few.”
@tha_CEO_ aired his disagreement with an attacking inclusion by joking: “I can just about grasp Solanke over Watkins. But over Chris Wood????”
@MozzaNUFC is among the fans delighted with Dan Burn’s first England call-up, hailing: “I am so f***ing proud of him. All the s*** he’s put up with, the so-called fans knocking him because he’s not the quickest or a £40m-plus foreign name and because he was played out of position for a full season and hung out to dry. Kid’s a grafter and a leader and fully deserves this.”
@TacticallyMatt had a contrasting view about another defender, writing: “Quansah decision absolutely baffles me. Never plays, and when he has this season, he’s not been good. Proper ‘big club’ bias there.”
@UtdEIIis added to the largely positive reaction to Marcus Rashford’s recall, posting: “Tuchel loves Rashford so much. Back in the England squad. LETS GOOOOO.”
@DanielDaws1 joined plenty of discourse about Delap’s omission, venting: “Liam Delap has been superb but has been omitted purely because he plays for Ipswich. If he was sat on City’s bench getting splinters in his a***, he’s straight in. New manager. Same bias. Grim.”
Tuchel’s first match as England manager arrives in a week when the Three Lions start their 2026 World Cup qualifying campaign by hosting Albania.
Three days later, Latvia visit Wembley. Andorra and Serbia make up a favourable Group K.
Content Source: www.express.co.uk