Tuchel aims seven-word ‘attitude’ dig at Palmer as England mask slips

Thomas Tuchel trotted out the same “camp” camaraderie lines to explain Cole Palmer’s exclusion from the England squad before the mask slipped and he delivered seven damning words to corroborate claims that the Chelsea star is being punished for a lack of commitment to the cause.

Tuchel said it was “hard to argue” with suggestions that Palmer wasn’t dedicated to England when he pulled out of the last squad due to what Chelsea described as ‘load management’ and he reiterated that he “misses too many opportunities” to impress this time around.

He’s not missed this opportunity though had he, Thomas? You’ve not handed him it.

“I guess everyone is desperate to play for England and Cole is no exception,” Tuchel said in his press conference.

“We are speaking now about a player that is not in camp. It counts when you are in camp and I just said last time that he misses too many opportunities to impress. It was a long camp, it was two and a half weeks and the players and the boys who were in camp built something extraordinary.

“That’s why the credit goes to them, the trust is for them. If you are in camp, this is your chance to impress.

“So it’s not personal and of course we will never assume that Cole is not in the mindset to come and desperate to play for his country, but the competition is on and the players who were in camp did an amazing job and kept their place.

“We have enough number 10s and we stick to the guys who were in the previous camp because we were happy with the two and a half weeks we had together.”

That’s all well and good, and camp camaraderie is a perfectly reasonable explanation, but one that rather falls down following the selection of Fulham’s Josh King.

Predicting questions over a contradiction in terms, Tuchel suggested that a player who’s only ever played in attacking or central midfield for Fulham could be used “on both wings”, whereas Palmer only ever comes from the right.

“We have Josh King as a new player in there, but I want to see him on both wings,” he added. “He is kind of an extra player and he can play all four positions.”

“He is just a fantastic character. He gives us a bit of flexibility.

“We decided to nominate 22 outfield players for flexibility in training and he is the extra player in training, if you will.

“He is an exciting player, a versatile player. In pre-season he helped us in training as a full back but we will not do that again.”

But put simply, King is not as good a footballer as Palmer.

That’s what selection should come down to given they operate broadly in the same position, if indeed there are no personal problems between player and manager.

And Tuchel may just have given the game away as he delivered his final reason for selecting King over Palmer for England’s upcoming games against Croatia and Spain in the Nations League.

“It is the attitude and the personality,” Tuchel concluded. Ah yes, thought that might be it.