Thomas Tuchel must make case for England defence on road to World Cup

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Evening Standard

·5 September 2025

Thomas Tuchel must make case for England defence on road to World Cup

Three Lions feel no closer to establishing first-choice centre-back pairing for next summer’s tournament with time of the essence

The first eight months of Thomas Tuchel’s tenure as England head coach have often left more questions than answers about how well he is doing the job and what shape the team will take when, assuming they qualify, they take to the stage at next summer’s World Cup.

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In no area are things more up in the air 279 days before the tournament begins than on the topic of who the German will pick as his centre-back partnership.

Not since heading into the 2018 World Cup has it been less clear who will start in central defence for England less than a year out from a major tournament.

Back then, Gareth Southgate, as Tuchel currently is, was heading into his first tournament as England head coach.

The eventual three-man backline which helped the Three Lions to a first World Cup semi-final since 1990 featured John Stones, Kyle Walker and Harry Maguire. Maguire was only handed his debut in November 2017, in the very last qualifier, by which time the team had already booked their place at the tournament in Russia.

Maguire and Stones struck up a strong and lasting relationship and partnered each other once again at Euro 2020 and at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, only failing to make it four consecutive tournaments when injury to Maguire gave Marc Guehi his chance on the eve of Euro 2024.

Opportunities for Tuchel to whittle down the pack are rare between now and June

And even then, once the die was cast for Maguire, it was clear it would be Guehi rather than anyone else who came into the team.

Opportunities for Tuchel to whittle down the pack are rare between now and June. This month’s qualifiers against Andorra and Serbia are followed by only three more international breaks — in October, November and March — before Tuchel names his World Cup squad next summer.

It is the age-old sticking point for major European sides such as England that qualifying campaigns feature so much of the same challenge: trying to break down packed defences as the overwhelming favourite to win each and every game.

The visit of the world’s 174th-ranked nation, Andorra, to Villa Park on Saturday provides the perfect example. Even if Tuchel does select the centre-back pairing that would happen to perform best for England next summer, how would he know? The task on Saturday will be in breaking the minnows down, not in keeping their attack at bay.

Sooner or later, however, Tuchel must make his choice. He thought he had John Stones fit and available for the first time in his reign, but then the Manchester City man withdrew from the squad with muscular issues on Friday morning. He has proven very trusting of Aston Villa’s Ezri Konsa — even more so, thus far, than of Crystal Palace’s Guehi, who was one of England’s best players as they reached the final of Euro 2024.

One of Tuchel’s very first acts as head coach was to hand a maiden call-up and swift debut to Dan Burn (now 33). Then after giving Trevoh Chalobah, with whom he worked at Chelsea, the same treatment in June, Tuchel said at last week’s squad announcement that Chalobah “deserved” to be included in the squad but that there simply wasn’t space this month.

Stones and Konsa (as right-sided centre-backs) and Burn and Guehi (left-sided) were the picks this time.

Late call-up: The uncapped Jarell Quansah was added to England’s most recent squad ahead of Trevoh Chalobah

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The decision to make the uncapped Jarell Quansah a late addition to the squad after those comments about Chalobah was a peculiar move that further throws up in the air which pair Tuchel might eventually come to trust as England’s World Cup starters at centre-back. Levi Colwill is out for most of the season with an ACL injury but is also in the reckoning.

Burn is set to start against Andorra, while Guehi and Konsa could line up in Belgrade.

One reason why a clear partnership has yet to emerge may be that there are no two centre-backs comfortably better than the rest of the pack. Elsewhere, England have star names who, if fit, will start in their position come what may, such as Declan Rice in midfield, Jude Bellingham in the No10 position, and Harry Kane leading the line.

Also inevitable is that Tuchel wishes to see as many of England’s pool of international-level players as possible.

At some point, though, he will need to move closer to a decision, for the benefit of the staples playing in front and behind them, as much as anything else. The bedrocks of the defence are still yet to be bedded in, together. As international managers tend to find, time is not on Tuchel's side.