"I don’t take calls from Premier League managers," Thomas Tuchel said, and he made the same point again when he called resting players "madness". England go into a window of four games in 11 days, with Tuchel insisting he will not tailor selection around club concern. He also said England must be proactive and not play an economic style.
England's packed run of fixtures
England play Spain at Wembley on Saturday, then Czech Republic away on Tuesday, Croatia away next Saturday and Czech Republic again at Wembley on Tuesday October 6. One source framed the run as four games in 10 days, while another counted it as 11, but either way the schedule is compressed.
That helps explain why the club-v-country row has sharpened, even if Tuchel is not budging. He said he would love not to rotate, but is not sure it is possible, and an ideal scenario would be for six or seven players minimum to start again.
The workload argument around England's squad
The concern is obvious around players who have already been asked to do a lot. Declan Rice has made five Premier League appearances for Arsenal this season and has played 414 league minutes. Cole Palmer has 447 Premier League minutes this season, while Tuchel also said England have only 23 players in the squad.
Five withdrawals were made before the group even got together, including Rice, Palmer, Kobbie Mainoo, Tino Livramento and Marcus Rashford. Tuchel's line is still the same, though, and the next test of it comes on 29 September against the Czech Republic.
Written by Jack Mercer with AI-assisted research, cross-checked against 2 outlets. How we work →
