KEIR RADNEDGE COMMENTARY —- Thomas Tuchel set out a steadfast defence of his England selection strategy, his players and his tactics after the a dispiriting World Cup farewell to the fans with a 1-1 draw against Uruguay and 1-0 defeat by Japan. Fans might have preferred to recall Winston Churchill’s observation about the old Soviet Union.

Tuchel said he “hates losing” but his player-stuffed training camp had been important to learn more about his players. Fans will hope he learned much, much more on the training ground than was evident out on the Wembley pitch.

Building team cohesion was obviously not a priority since Tuchel used 27 players with eight substitutions in each game. England now have only two more matches, against New Zealand and Costa Rica in north America before the finals – but they will be long after his 26-man squad is nailed down for better or worse.

Of course Tuchel’s options were not helped by minor injuries which denied him the services of Harry Kane and Jude Bellingham plus Arsenal’s Declan Rice and Bukayo Saka. However he incurred unnecessary controversy with his late call-up of Ben White.

Arsenal fullback quit England’s squad at the 2022 World Cup after what has been reported as a row with the coaching staff. He was booed by fans in both games for what they perceived as disloyalty and even when his name was announced as scorer of England’s goal against Uruguay.

The most notable overall losers were Trent Alexander-Arnold, who was not even called up, and Phil Foden.

The Manchester City man was a No10 against Uruguay and a false No9 against Japan. He struggled to make an impression in both roles. Logically, this should open the door for Bellingham but he has hardly played for Tuchel and was not apparently fit enough for even a part-time appearance against Uruguay or Japan.

The Real Madrid star remains an enigma as far as Tuchel’s England are concerned. Possibly not being fit for the two matches will work in his favour.

Kane, meanwhile, remains as important as ever.

Tuchel said: “In the absence of Harry Kane we don’t have the same threat, Bayern Munich doesn’t either. Top teams rely on top players and top nations rely on top players, it’s absolutely normal. Harry dropped out so we not only lost him as a player but as a personality. It’s always disrupting when the captain drops out. We can win games without Harry, we have won without Harry, we will win without Harry.”

How England can do that, based on the last two matches, remains a mystery.

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