Thomas Tuchel’s love-in with Jordan Henderson does not say much for the leadership skills of Declan Rice and Co, writes IAN LADYMAN
Five months and two games into his reign as England manager and Thomas Tuchel has identified one problem familiar to Gareth Southgate and one we all thought we had left behind. The only question that remains is which one will hurt us most in America next summer.
With a World Cup now a little more than a year away, Tuchel is accepting of the fact England will travel to the USA without an elite level holding player. To compensate, he may end up playing with two. For those out there who battered Southgate continuously for reaching the same conclusion during his time, this should ring some very loud and clear bells.
But more startling is the fact that Tuchel is concerned that English football is short of homegrown leaders. I must admit that I thought – after eight years of Southgate team building and culture setting – we would have had that one fixed by now.
Southgate made much of environment and responsibility and leadership. It was one of the core principles of his reign. But then Tuchel walked through the door, had a look at the best that is available to him and decided straight away that he needed Jordan Henderson.
Twelve months away from Tuchel actually picking and announcing his squad for the World Cup, it is already quite clear that – barring injuries and other unforeseen issues – Henderson will be in it. Not for what the 34-year-old will be able to contribute on the field in the suffocating heat of an American summer but for what he offers as a leader.
Tuchel is adamant and will not be swayed. The head coach understands that nobody else gets it. He appreciates that the question will continue to be asked of one of the strangest England call-ups for many years.
Thomas Tuchel has made it clear he wants Jordan Henderson in his squad for his leadership
Many view Declan Rice as a future England captain but Tuchel appears less convinced
Captain Harry Kane and Jordan Pickford are senior pros now, but questions must be asked as to why Tuchel still feels he needs to add another leader to his squad in the shape of Henderson
But the fact he feels he needs Henderson’s influence so badly makes one wonder just what on earth players such as Declan Rice, Harry Kane, Jordan Pickford, Kyle Walker and Jude Bellingham have been doing all this time. That little bunch have 381 England caps between them yet now work under an England coach who feels the need to recall Henderson from the wilderness just to set an example. How very odd.
Personality is important in any team setting and that only exaggerates and amplifies during long periods spent on tour or in camp. There are already players on the fringes of the England set up, for example, who are being kept there because Tuchel is unsure of how their presence would impact on team mood. Equally, a player like Newcastle defender Dan Burn is in a good place with the England manager because of things he brings above and beyond his football.
But the point remains that if Tuchel needs Henderson as badly as he says he does then something fundamental is wrong and that’s a dangerous place to be for a squad that is supposed to have a chance of winning the biggest tournament of all next summer.
The Premier League does hold some clues to this malaise. Who, for example, are the stand-out and most obvious leaders at some of our big clubs?
At Liverpool it’s Virgil van Dijk while at Arsenal Rice sits behind Martin Odegaard and Jorginho when it comes to captaincy. At Manchester United, it’s Bruno Fernandes, at Manchester City it has been players such as Rodri and Kevin de Bruyne, at Tottenham it is arguably Heung-Min Son and at Chelsea it really is hard to tell.
There is a distinct shortage of English names in this conversation. Even England skipper Kane – now at Bayern Munich – was not club captain during his years at Spurs. That was always the French goalkeeper Hugo Lloris.
Some people in football tell me this all points back to academy football and a culture that encourages a certain softness. I am not sure about that. Our academies are not perfect but they have not failed us when it comes to producing footballers capable of thriving and surviving in exacting and elite environments.
However overt leadership is different and this is an England squad that will need some.
Bellingham remains a maverick who – in terms of positional discipline and his countenance around the camp – needs some rough edges removing while England may yet head to America with a relatively green back line in need of nurture. Harry Maguire is not in this squad while John Stones has fitness issues. There is no experience available at left-back while Tuchel is unsure of Trent Alexander-Arnold – in terms of discipline – and Walker – in terms of his legs – on the other side.
Jude Bellingham has also been touted as a future captain, but he remains a maverick with some maturing still to do
Harry Maguire and John Stones are both into their thirties, and Tuchel needs to start looking for who can lead this England team forwards
When questioned, Tuchel does not shy away from any of this. Nor does he the subject of what do at ‘number 6’. Rice is an exceptional footballer but one who has grown used to playing further forward at Arsenal. Should Tuchel clip his wings or let him fly? He is currently wrestling with the dilemma.
But if not Rice then who? It’s a hoary old theme and one that Southgate worried about ahead of last year’s European Championships and was unable to fix once we got there.
An Alexander-Arnold experiment came and went as did an attempt to plug the gap with Conor Gallagher. In the end, Kobbie Mainoo of Manchester United did a good job but the 20-year-old has had a regressive, injury-interrupted season and is not in the squad for Saturday’s qualifier with Andorra and the Senegal friendly that follows.
There was a time when Henderson was the answer to the problem but those days have gone. So the former Liverpool captain is in Tuchel’s squad for a different reason entirely and the more I think about that the more disconcerting and strange it really feels.
Liverpool’s loss is Brentford’s gain
There were star performers and heroes right across Arne Slot’s Liverpool team as they won the Premier League and one of them was a bloke who didn’t play very much.
Caoimhin Kelleher was Liverpool’s reserve goalkeeper and as such made only ten starts as cover for the occasionally injured Alisson Becker. But such was Kelleher’s form and temperament, what could have been a difficult spell in his team’s league season last autumn passed by without a single game being lost.
With Kelleher in goal, Liverpool beat Bournemouth, Chelsea, Brighton, Aston Villa, Southampton and Manchester City and drew big games at Arsenal and Newcastle too.
The Republic of Ireland international has been at Liverpool for 10 years and is 26 years old. He is right to leave Anfield for Brentford and all the signs are that the west London club are getting a very good goalkeeper indeed.
Caoimhin Kelleher was an unsung hero as Liverpool secured the Premier League title
Thomas Frank’s Brentford have bought themselves a very good goalkeeper in Kelleher
Paqueta saga has gone on far too long
It was August 2023 that news broke of Lucas Paqueta’s implication in a spot-fixing probe and still he waits to discover his fate.
We learn now that the FA hearing into the West Ham player’s alleged indiscretion is complete but that it will be two months or more before Paqueta is told of the outcome.
So August 2023 morphs into August 2025. Whichever way you look at it, this is just far too long. For the player, his club and indeed for the Premier League.
