England: Thomas Tuchel issues Man City star warning amid World Cup squad uncertainty | OneFootball

Forward struggled in a new role in latest England defeat

Thomas Tuchel has fired a warning to Phil Foden that he is “not guaranteed” a place in the World Cup squad because he “struggles to show” his quality for his country.

Both performances were devoid of attacking flair and have raised alarm bells about the state England will arrive in when they land in the United States in June for the World Cup.

Asked about Foden’s performances against Uruguay and Japan, Tuchel said: “He tried everything. I would say he was excellent in camp but, yeah, he struggles to show it on the pitch.

“He didn’t have a lot of minutes for City recently. Then he came to camp with the brightest smile and was so good in training and I thought he will just surprise us and will play with the same verve and excitement but he struggles to have the full impact.”

Tuchel was asked whether he can realistically select a player who struggles to perform, and he replied: “I can. But the question would be if we will. It is not a guarantee that he will come.”

The England head coach added that his players showed “clear fatigue” in both matches but that England will “not start doubting now.”

He added: “I knew before how complicated this camp can be because I know the level of fatigue that the players are in and the level of minutes that they’ve played.

“We tried then to build a football team in three days against Uruguay. And it did not look so bad even if it was for you guys and for the fans not the nicest watch but I’m not so sure that you can play spectacular football against Uruguay or spectacular football against Japan, non-stop. Because it’s difficult. They are just good football teams.”

Pushed on whether he saw fatigue against Japan, where England fell to a goal from Brighton’s Kaoru Mitoma, Tuchel replied: “I see in general, I see… yeah. I see fatigue clearly.”