Thomas Tuchel picking a 34-year-old Jordan Henderson for England underlines two inconvenient truths

New York Times

14-03-2025

There is a biography of Thomas Tuchel entitled Rulebreaker, and it plays to a certain image: an innovator, an outside-the-box thinker, the kind of maverick many England fans were calling for when the national team kept falling just short under the straight-laced Gareth Southgate.
But in naming his first England squad on Friday morning — and in particular by recalling Jordan Henderson at the age of 34 — Tuchel underlined two inconvenient truths: 1) that he is a far more conservative coach than some like to think, and 2) that, for all the excitement surrounding this generation of players, there is also a lack of experience and leadership in key positions.
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That is why, rather than call up Nottingham Forest's Elliot Anderson or his team-mate Morgan Gibbs-White, Crystal Palace's Adam Wharton, Bournemouth's Lewis Cook or Lille's Angel Gomes, England's new head coach chose to recall Henderson, whose international career seemed over when Southgate left him out of even the preliminary squad for last summer's European Championship finals.
It is why he has retained Kyle Walker, also 34 and now on loan at Milan after losing form and favour at Manchester City, and why, of the two uncapped players in his squad, one of them, Newcastle United defender Dan Burn, will be 33 in May. For all the excitement surrounding a first call-up for Arsenal's 18-year-old Myles Lewis-Skelly and the intrigue over Marcus Rashford's recall following an encouraging start to his loan from Manchester United to Aston Villa, the theme of Tuchel's first squad was 'tried and trusted'.
It feels like a change of emphasis for the England team, in keeping with what FA chief executive Mark Bullingham mentioned last October when he said Tuchel would bring a 'single-minded focus' on trying to win the next World Cup, which is now only 15 months away. Southgate always seemed to have a split focus, trying to balance short-term results with long-term progression. Tuchel, whose contract only covers one tournament cycle, has only one objective.
His pursuit of that objective will be enhanced, he feels, by Henderson's presence. At a news conference this morning, he said it was 'pretty easy' to explain the former Liverpool midfielder's recall.
'Jordan is, first of all, a serial winner,' Tuchel said. 'He's captain of Ajax at the moment. He's available. (…) What he brings to every team — his leadership, his character, personality, energy — he makes sure that everyone lives by the standards and, with this characteristic, he embodies everything that we try to build.'
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In an earlier interview with the FA's media channels, Tuchel said he picked Henderson 'for the same reasons as Dan Burn'. 'They carry these values on their shoulders and they carry their teams,' he said. 'It's absolutely reliable, what they bring in terms of energy, and this is where the focus is also for us to build a strong team and a cohesive team. Jordan is a big piece in that puzzle for us.'
The rationale is clear. Southgate used to speak in very similar terms when explaining his loyalty to Henderson and indeed Harry Maguire and Raheem Sterling during times when their performances at club level seemed not to merit call-ups. On one occasion, during England's run to the final of Euro 2020, he memorably referred to those three plus Harry Kane as the team's 'tribal elders'.
But just as Sterling lost his place after the 2022 World Cup, Henderson seemed to have fallen by the wayside.
The former Liverpool captain initially retained his place in the squad after his short-lived move to Saudi Arabian club Al Ettifaq in the summer of 2023 and having joined Dutch giants Ajax the following January, but Southgate then left him out of a 33-man preliminary party for Euro 2024 and at that point, with younger midfielders including Conor Gallagher, Curtis Jones, Kobbie Mainoo and Wharton emerging, it seemed like his international career was over.
Henderson has performed well for Ajax this season, but even so, his recall comes as a surprise — particularly when Gallagher (25) is enjoying a productive campaign at Atletico Madrid and when Cook (28), Gibbs-White (25), Anderson (22) and Wharton (21) are in such impressive form for their Premier League clubs.
It is a short run-up to the 2026 World Cup — England's eight-match qualifying campaign starts at home to Albania next Friday — but it still looks a long way off for Henderson and Walker, both of whom will be 36 by the midway point of the tournament. No player should be consigned to the international wilderness purely on account of their age, but it is a concern when older players reach the stage, as Henderson and Walker did at Liverpool and City respectively, when a drop in performance level seems more indicative of decline than of mere fluctuations in form.
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Tuchel pointed out on Friday morning that this is only his first squad, but also made the point that 'we only have six camps, we only have 60 days' of working together before the World Cup begins next June — qualification permitting, of course — 'and we need to take care of every single day and make sure that we are on point'.
That lack of time is one reason why it felt strange that Tuchel's contract, which was agreed in October, did not start until January 1.
Would there not have been a benefit to taking charge of the Nations League games against Greece and the Republic of Ireland in November? Would there not have been a benefit to lining Tuchel up to take over from Southgate even earlier than that, rather than spend this season's first three international breaks under the temporary leadership of Lee Carsley, manager of England Under-21s? It's water under the bridge now, but Tuchel's belated start seems to have intensified his short-term focus.
Beyond that, the repeated references to Henderson's — and Burn's — 'values' and 'leadership' reflect a nagging concern that some of those more intangible qualities were a little lacking in the squad Southgate took to the Euros in Germany last summer. It was a young group overall and, although they reached the final before losing to Spain, there were some difficult moments on and off the pitch when Southgate felt some of the players' inexperience showed.
This is a talented generation of players, but there is also a lack of depth and proven quality in certain positions. There has been a feeling in development circles for several years that, while English academies are producing a range of technically gifted full-backs, midfielders and wide attacking players, they are not developing enough central defenders or more defence-minded midfielders — or when they do, the players frequently struggle for playing time at first-team level, where more experienced team-mates are preferred in those positions.
The five central defenders called up by Tuchel today (Levi Colwill, Marc Guehi, Ezri Konsa, Jarell Quansah and Burn) have just 35 caps between them. Guehi accounts for 22 of those, 13 of them in the past 12 months. In different ways, that lack of experience defensively seems to have played into the hands of both Walker, particularly if Tuchel opts for a three-man central defence, and Burn.
Tuchel spoke about the importance of team spirit, 'building a team that loves to play with each other'. He wants strong, dependable characters — players who are 'absolutely reliable', as he said of Henderson. He has not come into this job with Southgate's (or indeed Carsley's) knowledge of the England age-group sides. There are different reasons for different call-ups, he said, but clearly he feels this is a group of players in need of guidance, leadership and the type of reliability he sees in Henderson, Walker, Kane and perhaps not too many others.
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The new coach's first squad selection was not designed to win public or media approval; even the most eye-catching call-up, that of Lewis-Skelly, was explained in a way that told you he would have preferred to leave the teenager with the under-21s (not least for his own development) but a lack of alternatives at left-back forced his hand.
Tuchel is not here to win popularity contests. He is here to try to win the 2026 Cup. And, for all the complaints that greeted every squad and every line-up Southgate named ('too loyal', 'too rigid', 'too boring'), it is entirely possible that he has looked at England's performances at last year's Euros and felt his predecessor erred by leaving out Henderson, by fielding such an inexperienced midfield and by sacrificing some of the solidity of old in an attempt to accommodate too many crowd-pleasers.
His first squad was defined not by Lewis-Skelly's call-up but by the recall of Henderson, who, he said, 'embodies everything that we try to build'.
In turning to one of the 'tribal elders' Southgate had reluctantly left behind, Tuchel has shown himself to be a particular type of rule-breaker — willing to wear last season's belt and braces together and confident enough to feel he can still pull that outfit off next year.