Thomas Tuchel drops four England players being ‘outperformed’ – bulls**t or the truth? | OneFootball

Arsenal left-back Myles Lewis-Skelly is one of four England players Thomas Tuchel has dropped from his November squad after being “outperformed” in recent weeks.

England boss Tuchel followed through on earlier comments about Lewis-Skelly by omitting him from this month’s World Cup qualifiers against Serbia and Albania.

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It was a classic ‘Manager X sends warning to Player Y’ moment when Tuchel said this about Lewis-Skelly in October.

“To just be a good citizen in camp will not be enough over the course of a year,” Tuchel said. “You have to perform at club level on a regular basis…

“Performances [for Arsenal] will be a key factor in the next month. He benefits also from the proximity of the camps and that [the last one] was three weeks ago.”

There wasn’t much Lewis-Skelly could do between then and now to earn another call-up. He played 90 minutes and produced a world-class assist against Atletico Madrid in the Champions League, then added another superb, albeit very different, assist in a Carabao Cup win over Brighton.

When given the chance to start, the teenager has given Mikel Arteta a selection headache for Premier League matches. However, the Spaniard has consistently preferred Riccardo Calafiori, which is fair enough. Calafiori has barely put a foot wrong, and Arsenal haven’t conceded in the Premier League since September 28, five games ago.

It’s harsh that Lewis-Skelly has been omitted, but ultimately fair, especially considering Nico O’Reilly’s form for Manchester City.

Nico O’Reilly v Myles Lewis-Skelly: 25/26 Premier League comparison

It just so happens that a young, English, natural midfielder is shining for a top Premier League club at left-back, just as another young, English, natural midfielder, Lewis-Skelly, has broken through in the same position for a top club, in a World Cup year, no less.

You can debate who the better player is, but not who’s playing more or enjoying a better 2025/26 season. O’Reilly deserves his second England senior call-up, and Lewis-Skelly, unfortunately, deserves to miss out, especially after Tuchel’s comments last month.

It’s now clear that the two are in direct competition for a place on the plane to North America next summer.

There is a world where both make it, but that would require outstanding seasons from each. They are too similar stylistically, and while both are sound defensively, Tuchel will likely want a natural left-back in his World Cup squad.

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Lewis-Skelly, Gibbs-White dropped: What Tuchel has said

Tuchel’s reasoning for dropping Lewis-Skelly, Morgan Gibbs-White, James Trafford, and Ruben Loftus-Cheek was simple: they’ve been “outperformed” by those who replaced them.

Tuchel explained on Friday: “Myles was a very good team-mate and played for us in the last camp in the World Cup qualifier in Riga, so was Ruben Loftus-Cheek, so was Morgan Gibbs-White and James Trafford.

“But I said last time there is a component to it that it’s about competition and performance and the door is always open for guys who perform on a regular and high level.

“Myles, Ruben, James and Morgan got outperformed by Nico O’Reilly, Alex Scott, Nick Pope and Jude in their positions.

“Myles simply needs more starts, more minutes. Now came a time when Nico O’Reilly had so many starts in that position, so he is slightly ahead for this camp.”

Is England boss Tuchel full of it, or being fair?

Short answer: he’s being fair.

With Lewis-Skelly, Trafford, and Loftus-Cheek, the issue is a lack of minutes. With Gibbs-White, it’s slightly different, but the debate doesn’t last long when the comparison is with Jude Bellingham.

Bellingham wasn’t fit long enough to earn a call-up last month, and there were doubts about this one, but Tuchel included him anyway, despite previously calling the midfielder’s on-pitch behaviour “repulsive.”

Bellingham has scored two and assisted one in his last two La Liga appearances for Real Madrid, including the winner in El Clasico. He also netted the only goal in the Champions League win over Juventus.

Gibbs-White, meanwhile, only scored his first Premier League goal of the season on matchday 10 – for a Nottingham Forest team with one domestic win all season.

As for Trafford v Nick Pope and Loftus-Cheek v Alex Scott, it simply comes down to playing time. Even so, both Scott and Pope have played well enough to merit inclusion this month.

Another notable omission is Aston Villa striker Ollie Watkins, with Tuchel attributing his absence to a lack of fitness.

“No one needs to be nervous, we have a lot of good strikers. Ollie is one of them,” Tuchel said.

“We just understand and we could observe it when we watched Ollie closely that he is playing through discomfort at the moment.

“It simply didn’t make too much sense to bring him into camp in this condition.

“We then opted for the option to give him this break to get treatment and to be back in full physical capacity and in best shape, and then fight for the place again in March.”

That’s fair enough. The only concern is that Tuchel’s sole striker for the World Cup qualifiers against Serbia and Albania is Harry Kane.