Tuchel justifies bold Bellingham decision to silence Keane as superb England duo primed to start at World Cup

Jude Bellingham and Co. face a fight to get back into this England side as Thomas Tuchel’s “team” justified his bold decision and silenced Roy Keane…

Last month’s trip to Belgrade was the coming-out party for this England side under Thomas Tuchel, and they picked up right where they left off on Thursday at Wembley as Wales were put to the sword in a breathtaking opening 20 minutes.

England’s stand-ins capitalised on injuries to key stars in the 5-0 win over Serbia by comfortably producing the best performance to date under Tuchel, thus allowing the head coach to send a message to several key players with a bold squad selection for this month’s break.

Tuchel has insisted on prioritising building a “team” rather than “collecting talented individuals”, with this hammered home before kick-off against Wales as “it was always the message since the new season was on” that every minute on the pitch counts.

The England boss showed loyalty to the players who served him so well in the previous international break, while he snubbed Jude Bellingham, Phil Foden and Jack Grealish. Bukayo Saka, too, would have been omitted had Noni Madueke not been injured.

Naturally, his rejection of fit-again Bellingham made the headlines, with this remaining a hot topic right up to kick-off.

Speaking pre-match, Roy Keane claimed that Tuchel had “created more problems by not selecting Bellingham”, while Ian Wright said it “didn’t make sense”.

But Bellingham became an afterthought once England took the lead after three minutes against Wales.

READ: Bellingham a genuine doubt for World Cup 2026 after Tuchel quotes New England Patriots documentary

Marc Guehi showed that he has more strings to his bow than purely being a dominant centre-back, latching onto a loose ball in the penalty area and expertly laying the ball back to Morgan Rogers, who swept the ball home past Karl Darlow to make it 1-0.

Poor defending from Wales contributed to this opener, and the same can be said for England’s second goal, which was criminal from the visitors’ perspective and came eight minutes later.

The second had been coming as England were utterly dominant in the opening stages against a Welsh side chasing shadows, with patient play following a corner resulting in Rogers’ cross, knocked on by Guehi for his second assist, being tapped home at the back post by Ollie Watkins, who had the time to take a touch before converting.

It was 3-0 by the 20th minute, and this goal was the pick of the bunch…

Again, England gave Wales the runaround with their crisp passing and were in on goal once Anthony Gordon, who was excellent throughout, positively skipped past his marker to break away.

Wales had a go at remaining solid as they were camped inside their penalty area, but the hosts worked it nicely around the edge before Saka did the rest, drifting inside on his left foot and firing home with a now-trademark finish to the back post.

It was football of the highest order from England, who outclassed Wales in all departments with far greater quality, intensity, movement and passing to pick them apart and have the game won before the halfway point of the opening half.

The Three Lions were brilliant to a man, but Gordon was arguably their best performer. It is always a breath of fresh air to watch the Newcastle standout, who is on the front foot with every action and fits perfectly into Tuchel’s England.

He also combined beautifully with Spurs full-back Djed Spence on the left, and you’d be forgiven for assuming that they had played together at club level for years before this match.

Tuchel is clearly a big fan of Marcus Rashford, but Gordon and Spence will currently take some budging from England’s starting XI for next year’s World Cup.

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Rogers also did himself no harm as he was back to his best this evening and was unfortunate not to grab a brace as he struck the bar from a well-worked corner after the interval.

England could and should have put at least five past Wales, as Gordon’s pinpoint low cross to Watkins was somehow blazed over from a yard out before more attempts followed in the closing stages.

Wales gained more of a foothold in the second half, but this was because England let them as they slightly took their foot off the gas as a string of substitutions impacted their flow. Jordan Pickford was alert to make a couple of decent saves when called into action, and his clean sheet was never really in doubt in a mightily impressive 3-0 victory.

Tuchel would be forgiven for feeling slightly smug after the final whistle, with his controversial calls on Bellingham and Co. fully justified by a second stellar England performance in a row, in which the immense depth of quality was made clear by Rogers, Gordon, Spence, Watkins and Elliot Anderson.

Bellingham and Kane will likely find themselves back in the starting XI by the time next year’s World Cup rolls around, but England’s recent resurgence is proof that Tuchel is right to opt for the “team” over “collecting talented individuals”.

No matter how good Bellingham, Kane, Foden and Grealish are, they will have to show an appetite to elbow themselves into Tuchel’s World Cup XI on merit, because the players currently ahead of them have done nothing wrong.

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