Jamie Carragher picks Thomas Tuchel's England XI – with three bold calls made

Thomas Tuchel needs to evolve the England team by building around the talented young attackers, rather than Gareth Southgate’s stalwarts according to Jamie Carragher.

Tuchel will take over as England manager on January 1 after winning the race to succeed Southgate. The former Chelsea and Bayern Munich manager is tasked with trying to break the Three Lions’ trophyless years by winning the 2026 World Cup.

The 51-year-old will have a watching brief for England’s upcoming two Nations League games in November against Greece and the Republic of Ireland, with interim boss Lee Carsley continuing to lead the side. But he will no doubt by thinking hard about how he wants to approach things with the players bracing themselves for the new management.

Former Liverpool and England defender Carragher is expecting Tuchel to shake things up, with Harry Maguire and Harry Kane the most impacted. "Gareth Southgate's mainstays were [Harry] Maguire, [John] Stones, [Declan] Rice, and [Harry] Kane,” he said on Sky Sports’ Monday Night Football programme.

“For me, in the summer it was Harry Kane’s team. He’d been there and scored the goals and we were getting an abundance of young attacking players between the lines. This is not his team anymore, even though he has a great relationship with him. The most important thing for Thomas Tuchel is to get the most out of the young attacking players between the lines. The team has to be for them.

“I would look at Trent Alexander-Arnold at right-back, John Stones, and I think [Jarrad] Branthwaite – excellent on the left foot, gives you that balance, but also that size and presence that England had with Harry Maguire, you think how important set pieces were in tournaments for England.

'[Levi] Colwill again we’ve seen him at left-back at times or left centre-back under Lee Carsley as well. Rice, Jude Bellingham here a little bit deeper, [Bukayo] Saka has to play on the right wing, he has to.

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“Cole Palmer has to play there – not necessarily because he’s been amazing for England, hasn’t had too many chances, but when someone’s playing that well in club football, they have to play. Right now, I'd play [Anthony] Gordon there because if Kane is still the best centre-forward, you still need pace around him.”

“You know how much I love Phil Foden, but he still has not done enough in an England shirt. He’s played 40 or 50 games for England and Palmer hasn’t had that chance, neither has Gordon.”

Carragher lined the team up in a 4-2-3-1 formation and went on to explain the decision to drop Bellingham deeper alongside Rice, in order to fit in Palmer, Saka and Gordon. “What I would say with Bellingham is – is he good enough to play as a centre midfielder in a two and defend with Declan Rice?” he said.

“You morph that into a different formation with the ball. Rice comes in, Bellingham in, the front three. That would be the sort of setup I would like England to go with. Harry Kane has to either stay up front or pick someone who has pace. He cannot come in. Will someone have taken his place by America? It will be right on the edge.”

Jamie Carragher's England XI under Thomas Tuchel: Pickford; Alexander-Arnold, Stones, Branthwaite, Colwill; Rice, Bellingham; Saka, Palmer, Gordon; Kane.

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