England's Depth: Tuchel's Tough Choices and Impact Substitutes
Thomas Tuchel stood on the touchline in Dallas with a problem most England managers could only dream of: too many good options, not enough minutes. Croatia were beaten, the Three Lions purring, and yet the real story sat in the spaces between the starting XI and the substitutes’ bench.
Gordon over Rashford: a ruthless call pays off
On the left flank, Tuchel made the kind of decision that usually ignites a week of talk shows. Anthony Gordon in, Marcus Rashford out. The Manchester United forward, a World Cup veteran, left on the bench while the man Barcelona have signed to replace him at club level got the nod.
It was a brave call. It was also the right one.
Gordon barely touched the ball – 17 touches all game – but that number hides more than it reveals. He hunted Croatia’s defenders, chased lost causes, stretched the pitch with run after run in behind. He dragged the back line into places they didn’t want to go. He wasn’t there to rack up highlight-reel moments; he was there to break Croatia’s structure.
That work set the tone. It also set the stage.
When England needed fresh legs after 72 minutes, Tuchel finally turned to Rashford. Thirteen minutes later, the United forward finished off a flowing move with the kind of calm, clinical strike that has defined his best spells in an England shirt. One chance, one goal. Impact made.
“Marcus is just pushing and pushing and pushing in training at the highest level,” Tuchel said afterwards. “I am very, very happy for him that he got his [goal] and I hope he stays hungry for the next one and the next one because he was absolutely impressive over the last 17 days and he really deserved his goal.”
For England, this is the new reality: the player once seen as the first name on the team sheet now comes on as a closer.
Rogers, Bellingham and a ‘tough, tough’ decision
If Rashford’s role underlined England’s depth, Morgan Rogers’ situation screamed it.
Tuchel has been open about his admiration for the Aston Villa attacker, who is already being linked with a move up the food chain. Rogers is direct, inventive, and fearless between the lines. He is also, as Tuchel admitted, desperately unlucky.
“The tough, tough decision was to take to say to Morgan Rogers that he will not start, because he deserves 100 percent to start, and he has done so well for us,” Tuchel said after the game.
When your “tough” call is choosing Jude Bellingham over anyone, you know the bar is high. Bellingham remains the superior all-round footballer, the heartbeat of this side, but Rogers is not far behind in terms of influence. There is even a strong case that both could operate together in the same XI.
On this night, Rogers had to wait. When he came on around the 70-minute mark, he played like a man determined to change the manager’s mind. He buzzed around behind the front line, constantly available, constantly dangerous. His most telling contribution didn’t even involve a touch: a clever decoy run that helped open the space for England’s decisive fourth goal.
That is what Tuchel has at his disposal – substitutes who don’t just fill time, but tilt games.
Saka wrapped in cotton wool, Madueke steps in
On the opposite flank, another big call. Bukayo Saka is, when fit, one of England’s elite. But after an injury-riddled season at Arsenal and with an Achilles issue still being managed, Tuchel chose caution. Noni Madueke started; Saka waited.
Madueke brought energy and directness, asking questions on the break. Then, with the game stretched and Croatia tiring, Saka was unleashed for the final 20 minutes.
He needed no warm-up period. Sharp in tight areas, quick to combine, he slipped straight into rhythm and capped his cameo with an assist for Rashford’s goal. A reminder, if one was needed, that when the stakes rise, Saka is not a luxury – he is a certainty.
“Bukayo is ready and will get more and more ready,” Tuchel said. “I think once we go to the last game of this group, he will be ready. He was strong in training on Tuesday in small spaces. It was just a matter of if the game was open and was up and down.”
Group-stage football gives Tuchel the freedom to manage minutes. Later, when knockout tension replaces experimentation, Saka’s name will be inked in, not pencilled.
Spence seizes his chance
On the right side of defence, another supporting act demanded attention. Djed Spence, filling in for Reece James, delivered the kind of performance that turns a “backup” into a genuine selection dilemma.
He defended with discipline, then surged forward with purpose, driving England up the pitch and giving their counters a new dimension. At one point he nearly crowned his night with a goal, denied only by a sharp piece of goalkeeping. That, too, is the story of this squad: even the deputies look dangerous.
Stars on standby
Then there are those who never even crossed the white line.
Ollie Watkins, one of the most in-form strikers in Europe at the end of the club season, stayed rooted to the bench. So did Eberechi Eze, whose ability to unpick a defence is as rare as it is valuable. Kobbie Mainoo, who would walk into most midfields at this tournament based on his Manchester United form, watched it all unfold from the sidelines.
Not so long ago, England’s bench told a very different tale. Many still remember the 2018 World Cup semi-final in Moscow, when Gareth Southgate looked behind him against Croatia and saw Danny Welbeck and Fabian Delph as his attacking alternatives. Back then, Rashford and Jamie Vardy were the only real game-changers in reserve.
This version of England is unrecognisable. It is stacked.
That depth creates its own tension. These are not squad-fillers, happy just to wear the tracksuit. They are regular starters for their clubs, used to deciding games, used to being the story. Tuchel admitted that some, Rashford included, have already asked why they are not seeing more minutes.
“Just yesterday, we had a conversation where I told him [Rashford] that I’m very, very impressed with his last 16 days, with how he was in camp, how he pushes on the pitch,” Tuchel revealed. “He’s totally involved in every meeting. He’s very, very fast in translating a meeting onto the pitch.”
Out of Tuchel’s 26-man squad, only three – John Stones, Madueke and reserve goalkeeper James Trafford – were not regular starters for their clubs last season. That is an extraordinary concentration of status and expectation. Managing that for four more weeks is as much a psychological challenge as a tactical one.
“It is now four more weeks and in four weeks you can swallow it and digest it and buy into it. We selected the group because we were sure that they could do it and they all can,” Tuchel said.
Specialists, leaders and break-glass options
Not everyone is fighting for the same kind of role. Some understand exactly why they are here.
Jordan Henderson, at 36, is as much a sounding board and dressing-room anchor as a midfield option. Ivan Toney’s presence is a nod to the brutal reality of knockout football: at some point, this World Cup may come down to a penalty shootout, and there are few more reliable from 12 yards.
Then there are the emergency names. If Dan Burn and Jarrell Quansah are suddenly central figures, something has gone badly wrong elsewhere. But even those “break glass in case of emergency” choices speak to the range of profiles available.
When Tuchel was asked before Croatia who might start, he said he had “14 or 15 starters”. That line, more than any other, captured the essence of this squad. In his mind, there is no rigid XI. There is a core, and around it, a rotating cast of players trusted to step in without a drop in level.
They will have to. The conditions are draining, the club seasons that preceded this World Cup were punishing, and no team can realistically expect to roll out the same line-up eight times in four weeks. Persistence will break bodies. Rotation will decide campaigns.
The difference now is that England can rotate from a position of strength. If Bellingham needs a breather, Rogers can slot in. If Harry Kane is spared in a dead-rubber third group game, Watkins is ready. Change does not mean compromise.
At some point, this tournament will tighten. Games will slow, nerves will fray, and one substitution, one fresh pair of legs, could tilt the whole thing. England, for once, are not hoping someone steps up.
They are trying to work out which of their many match-winners they can afford to leave out.
