Thomas Tuchel will risk the wrath of club managers by starting their players twice in the space of four days during the international break.
England’s new head coach is focused on raising standards before the World Cup qualifier against Latvia on Monday night and he believes it would send out the wrong signal if he rotates for the sake of it, even with the domestic season reaching a defining stage.
Maintaining good relations was not always easy for the German’s predecessor, Gareth Southgate. Pep Guardiola was unimpressed about losing John Stones to injury when the Manchester City defender started both of England’s friendlies against Brazil and Belgium last year.
However, while Tuchel had a similar view to Guardiola when he worked at club level, he stressed his priorities have shifted and there will be no favours when it comes to managing his side’s physical demands.
The 51-year-old coach, whose options on the wing have been limited by Anthony Gordon withdrawing from the squad after sustaining a hip injury during England’s 2-0 win against Albania on Friday, pointed out that Arsenal overlooked a chance to rest Declan Rice in the second leg of their Champions League last-16 tie against PSV Eindhoven.
“Given the fact Declan Rice played after a 7-1 first leg the next match with Arsenal, I didn’t have the feeling that they think so much about us,” Tuchel said.
“So I don’t think we have to break our heads about this. I take care about the players. We take care about the schedule. But it would be the wrong signal to tell players: ‘Hey, you have tough matches coming up so I rest you now.’ We have a qualifier to play, we do what’s good for us, we monitor them, we are in contact with the clubs and we won’t take any unprofessional risks.
“I feel responsible for the players. I don’t want the player to be injured, I want the players to play quarter‑finals of the Champions League because I want to watch it. We take care about us and the clubs take care about themselves and the main focus is taking care of the players.”
A more pressing issue for Tuchel is finding the right balance in attack. He has a glut of creative players but he cannot fit them all into the team. He warned that there would be some high‑profile omissions from his World Cup squad if they qualify.
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“It has to be balanced,” he said. “I will tell this also to the players: with all respect this is not now just to get a win over Latvia. This is about our standards. How do we win, how do we play and how do we impose ourselves and deserve a win against Latvia? It’s to raise the standards.
“There are a lot of No 10 positions. It’s just not possible we play all these No 10 positions. We have to get the process right to find the best group. If that means we leave very good and talented players out of the squad this can happen. In the next 16 months it is important we find the right team and not the most talented 26 players.”
Tuchel said that Phil Foden, who struggled against Albania, is missing “confidence and flow” for club and country, yet he insisted that he can fit the City playmaker and Jude Bellingham into the same team, even though both want to play as No 10s.
“One hundred per cent they can play together,” Tuchel insisted. “I don’t see one reason why they should not. The numbers of Phil are unbelievably good for Man City. They are not so good for the national team, so we need to try to build something to see the Phil Foden from Man City.”