THOMAS TUCHEL insists he is ‘brave’ enough to leave out some of England’s biggest stars after his back-up boys demolished Serbia.
Jude Bellingham, Bukayo Saka and Cole Palmer all missed out through injury while Trent Alexander-Arnold and Phil Foden were overlooked.
Understudies Morgan Rogers, Noni Madueke and Anthony Gordon shone in the 5-0 thumping in Belgrade which virtually ensured England will be Stateside next summer for the 2026 World Cup.
Asked whether he was prepared to leave out players who missed Tuesday’s outstanding win, Tuchel said: “I am always brave. You know that.
“I don’t talk now about hypothetical names that can be left out. Let’s see who’s fit and available.
“But I think we’ve taken some brave decisions already. We nominated a smaller squad to keep the competition going.
“The competition is on. If you are in camp, you are in your best behaviour, your best shape, best form and you make the best of it.
“It’s a privilege to be in camp and then fight for your place. You can help everyone to be better and to grow – and this is what we did.”
And Tuchel believes there will be no need to get the prayer mats out if a key player such as Bellingham is not fit to play in America next year – as his side have proven they are not reliant on one or two stars.
In previous tournaments, broken metatarsals for David Beckham and Wayne Rooney have left the nation praying for divine intervention – but Tuchel is adamant there will be no repeat next year.
The German said: “There was no attitude after a mistake, there was no frustration, there was no waving, there was no eyeballing, there was no bad words. It was just a team ready to work and put 90 minutes effort in.
“This is a team sport. This win over Serbia was team work in its purest form. They have the quality to play for us and the hunger to play for their country and everyone gets his chance.
“If a big player misses out on a tournament, we need to have solutions, if he misses a camp, we need to have solutions.
“We have to focus on the guys who are available and who are ready to be the best versions of themselves and the best team-mate possible and this is what we did.”
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