LONDON — Thomas Tuchel justified Jude Bellingham‘s omission from this England squad in part by claiming a need to identify an alternative should injury strike the Real Madrid star in the future.
Thursday’s authoritative 3-0 victory over Wales at Wembley was further evidence that he might have found not just another option but a genuine competitor for Bellingham’s No. 10 spot.
Morgan Rogers impressed in last month’s 5-0 win over Serbia to the extent that he was entrusted to continue the job. It took him, and England, just three minutes to pick up where they left off in Belgrade, smartly converting Marc Guéhi‘s cutback to open the scoring.
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Rogers was denied an assist eight minutes later by the faintest touch from Guéhi on his cross, which Ollie Watkins converted. Later, Bukayo Saka curled in a sublime effort in the 20th minute.
For a manager who had tasked this group of players with the responsibility of proving themselves capable without the creative talents of Bellingham, Phil Foden and Jack Grealish, Tuchel was understandably delighted with the collective response.
It is the fastest England has scored three goals in a match since November 1987. And all without their all-time record goalscorer Harry Kane, responsible for 74 out of the 128 international goals across all 24 players called up this time.
“I did not feel any interruption in our flow, the workload and the way we pressed,” said Tuchel.
“The team is pushing itself and they are buying into the idea. They love the idea of going after opponents. At the moment it is very intense, very demanding but very effective.
“They do it at a high, high level. I am very delighted with the last two matches. We are absolutely on the right way. At the side, it feels like we show very good behavior like a club team. This is what we want to do, the feeling we want to create. The competition is on. The guys who play want to keep the shirt.”
There was a somewhat inevitable dip as the second half wore on, with the contest long since over, but Rogers was once again continuing to be crucial for England. Willing to drop in and help the press while dynamic enough to aid transitions or probe for openings, Rogers is a compelling choice.
“Morgan does excellent, like the whole team,” said Tuchel. “He is very humble, very physical, he has the ability to score and assist. He had a fantastic season and a well-deserved vote for the best young player of last season in the Premier League.
“That’s what he shows. We trust this team. Why not trust this team, who had such a good last camp? They showed again today that one-and-a-half training sessions are enough to adapt and be ready.”
Rogers celebrated his goal with the “Cold Palmer” celebration, an inadvertent reminder of another rival in that No. 10 position.
Morgan Rogers uses Cole Palmer’s celebration, but will he eventually take his starting role for England? (Photo by Rob Newell – CameraSport via Getty Images)
Cole Palmer is absent due to a groin problem and has conceded that Rogers first came up with the celebration Palmer has trademarked in the public consciousness when the pair played together in Manchester City’s academy.
The Chelsea playmaker will have watched somewhere as Rogers scored his first England goal, on a night where Rogers may have moved ahead of Palmer in the pecking order on the pitch too.
Of course, Bellingham’s talent is such that his return to full fitness and anything like his regular level for Real Madrid will ensure he not only earns a recall next month but probably a starting berth.
But Tuchel has pointedly referred to the excellent team spirit in camp and a benchmark of performance being set, which was emphatically underlined here to the extent that the onus is on Bellingham to respond over the next few weeks.
Tuchel made four changes to the team that beat Serbia and all of them were enforced — Reece James, Tino Livramento, Kane and Noni Madueke are injured — but the intensity and purpose in England’s play remained.
The combination overwhelmed Wales, and it could have been much worse. Watkins almost inconceivably missed from a yard out and Tuchel was right to suggest England could have been 5-0 up by halftime.
Wales improved in the second half to the extent Jordan Pickford was forced into two good saves, the first from David Brooks with his feet and the second flying to his left to repel Chris Mepham‘s header.
But they were thoroughly second best, often penned in as England pushed so far forward that their last line of defense was routinely only 40 yards or so from Wales’ goal.
Like Rogers, Elliot Anderson is excelling under Tuchel. Playing as a No. 6, he ended with 74 out of 79 completed passes and 92 touches in total, a figure only surpassed by England’s center backs Guéhi and John Stones, despite Anderson being substituted on 69 minutes. The 22-year-old anchored England’s European Championship success at Under-21 level this summer, and he continues to advance his case as a solution to England’s longstanding problem in the number six position.
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Of course, it remains to be seen whether he can dictate the tempo as effectively against elite — or even more expansive — opposition than Wales, but he is rapidly adding to the body of evidence that suggests he deserves the right to try.
These Wembley occasions can often be a little subdued and Tuchel was not shy in pointing out what he believed was a disparity between England’s performance and the noise levels inside the stadium.
“The stadium was silent. We didn’t get any energy back from the stands. We did everything to win,” he said.
“What more can you give in 20 minutes? We didn’t let them escape. If you hear just Wales fans for half an hour, it’s sad because the team deserved more support today.
“I’m 100% sure that we have fantastic support at the tournament. We will have top support in Latvia [on Tuesday]. We had excellent support in Serbia. But today we were 3-0, after 23 minutes, we had ball-win after ball-win after ball-win, and I felt like ‘why is the roof still on the stadium? What’s going [on]?’
“That’s just it, it is nothing big. It could also have helped us in the second half to regain energy and to regain rhythm. It was not like this today. No problem. We will do everything again to be infectious. There is no problem. Like I said, I really mean it. I’m sure we will get everyone going. It is on us. But today I was a little underwhelmed.”
Tuchel will hope the England fans respond. Those players currently on the periphery may need to do the same.
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