'Jude Bellingham facing brutal England snub' by 'star

The generous position to take from the Daily Mail‘s ongoing obsession with Jude Bellingham (see Mediawatch from both Tuesday and Wednesday) is that Oliver Holt has been stitched up by the headline…

Why Thomas Tuchel will not pander to the egos of Jude Bellingham, Cole Palmer and Co, writes OLIVER HOLT – as second-string stars take their chance in Serbia

…as he never actually mentions Cole Palmer’s ego – not, as far as we know, a documented problem – in this latest piece.

But he does write that ‘the idea that Bellingham or Palmer or other star players might dictate to Tuchel has gone now’, which is a very odd thing to write about Palmer in particular as he has played a grand total of 63 poor minutes for Tuchel and has only ever started five England games in his whole career. He has never dictated a single thing to any of his three England managers.

Maybe the sub-editors were trying to save Holt from coming across as utterly obsessed with Bellingham after he destroyed the ‘dark side’ of the Bellingham family at the weekend, and berated Jude for not being interested in talking to the media beyond his ‘contractual obligations’. How dare he only do his job?

And now here he is after a 5-0 England win over Serbia, focusing not on the players ON the pitch, but those OFF it.

Apparently, Tuchel ‘allowed himself a wry smile when he was told of the national panic that swept the country when David Beckham contracted an injury that threatened to rule him out of the 2002 World Cup and the repeat collective trauma when Wayne Rooney was a doubt for the 2006 tournament in Germany’.

The ‘wry smile’ was probably confusion about why the f*** he was being asked about events from 20-plus years ago.

In the past, England managers have paid lip-service to the idea of competition for places and then stuck with the biggest names anyway. Reputations have been indulged, sometimes at the expense of balance in the side. Managers have been unwilling to upset stars by leaving them out. Tuchel appears set on a different approach.

Yes because Gareth Southgate never dropped Marcus Rashford, Jack Grealish, Raheem Sterling and others. Oh no. He famously just stuck with the same old names. How soon we forget (when it suits our agenda).

And can we remind Mr Holt that Thomas Tuchel has not axed any big names yet; Bellingham, Palmer and Phil Foden did not play this week because they were injured, not because ‘Tuchel is fast moving away from a mentality where the England team and its supporters are psychologically dependent on the presence of so-called star players’.

Neither Jude Bellingham, nor Cole Palmer, nor Phil Foden, nor Bukayo Saka played against Serbia and not only did Tuchel refuse to give guarantees they would win their places back when they were fit, he took another barely-disguised swipe at a toxic attitude he believes had been allowed to take hold in the side and which he is determined to eradicate.

This is ludicrous. Which manager would ever guarantee that any footballer would get his place back when he was fit? Every single England manager in history has quite rightly said that they would not hesitate to drop underperforming players.

Tuchel did not mention him by name but the references to ‘eyeballing’, ‘frustration’ and ‘attitude after a mistake’ will be interpreted by many as thinly-veiled criticism of Bellingham’s antics on the pitch in some recent appearances for the national team.

It will certainly be interpreted that way by some. Namely the Daily Mail.

The idea that Bellingham would not walk straight back into the side is inconceivable to most but not to Tuchel. If the Real Madrid midfielder wants to play in the number 10 role, he has competition from Palmer, Foden, Ebereche Eze and, not least, from Rogers.

Pesky fact: Bellingham has started twice as a central midfielder under Tuchel and only once as a 10. As it stands, Rogers has played more football in that position for Tuchel than Bellingham.

It’s almost like – and this seems crazy – Bellingham is not the story from this 5-0 win over Serbia.

‘Rogers was the man-of-the-match against Serbia and he was also the very epitome of the attitude and the work-rate and the team ethic that Tuchel craves,’ writes Holt, who really should have a word with his mate Craig Hope, who made Elliot Anderson his man of the match in Belgrade. ‘Rogers is also brimming with infectious enthusiasm. He is the kind of personality who would be a prime asset in a travelling party.’

Is that shorthand for ‘he talks to the media beyond his contractual obligations’?

The victory over Serbia may come to be seen as a turning point in Tuchel’s reign. It was a gift for him. It changed things. It vindicated his policy of trusting relatively untried players and shunning the star system.

This is just nonsense; there is literally no evidence that he is ‘shunning the star system’. In fact, he got considerable grief for recalling Marcus Rashford and particularly Ruben Loftus-Cheek. Against Andorra in June, he started Jordan Henderson, FFS. Harry Kane has started every single England game since his appointment.

To be fair, the Daily Mail are not alone in assuming Tuchel will drop Bellingham, even though he’s never dropped Bellingham.

‘‘Brave’ Tuchel not afraid to drop top stars after England demolition in World Cup warning to Bellingham, Palmer and Co’ says The Sun, but the real nonsense comes from Football Insider:

Jude Bellingham facing brutal England snub amid Cole Palmer, Elliot Anderson verdict

And who says he will ‘face brutal England snub’? talkSPORT‘s Hugh Woozencroft, of course; why listen to anybody else?

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