BlattNews

By Wyatt Blatt

Nottingham, England, 5/22/2026:

In his first World Cup in charge of the English National Team, head manager Thomas Tuchel has puzzled many fans with his chosen squad.

In preparation for the upcoming 2026 World Cup starting in mid-June, Tuchel has released the official lineup of players for the English National Team that will travel to America. Unfortunately for Tuchel, he’s started off on the wrong foot with the English fans, with many shocked and angered with certain surprise selections and notable omissions

Amongst those surprisingly chosen, there’s Ivan Toney, an attacker for Saudi side Al-Ahli, Myles Lewis-Skelly, Djed Spence, Kobbie Mainoo, and Noni Madueke. The inclusions of Mainoo and Madueke are especially confusing considering that Mainoo has only been a rotational player at Manchester United and Madueke has struggled to find much form at Arsenal, but also because of the players that were left out to make room on the plane for them

Headlining those exclusions are Harry Maguire, Jarrod Bowen, and Morgan Gibbs-White amongst others. Maguire and Bowen have each had standout seasons at Manchester United and West Ham respectively, with Maguire being highly touted for his strong defensive play as well as xG of 1.11 as a defender in the Premier League this season as well as Bowen being one of the few bright spots on a relegated West Ham team with 20 total G/A and the maximum possible 3405 minutes this season. 

But more so than those two, attacking midfielder Morgan Gibbs-White is an incredibly surprising omission from the squad as he led Nottingham Forest to a thrilling semi-final finish in the Europa League alongside midfielder Elliot Anderson, who was selected for the English squad after a strong season himself. In addition to what he accomplished for the Club, Gibbs-White led all English scorers in the Prem and was second only to Harry Kane of Bayern Munich in total goals scored in Europe’s top five leagues with 19 goals in addition to his classy playmaking abilities as well as his consistent form and lack of injury concerns. Especially with the inclusion of fellow attacking midfielders Mainoo and Madueke, who had a whopping combined total of four whole goals and three assists across all competitions in 2025-26, there is a justified sense of outrage and shock at Gibbs-White’s exclusion.

Below is a chart I made to visualize the discrepancy between Gibbs-White and the two other attacking mids. If I showed this at the start, who would you guess had made the National team?