England Squad Verdict

Thomas Tuchel announced his first England squad of the season earlier today ahead of their upcoming Nations League games against Spain, Croatia and two against the Czech Republic.

There are no new faces to the squad, but there are recalls for Trent Alexander-Arnold, Tino Livramento, Lewis Hall, Jarrad Branthwaite, Myles Lewis-Skelley, Cole Palmer, Alex Scott, Dominic Calvert-Lewin and Rio Ngumoha.

This is what I think of the squad:

Out of the players that have been recalled, Lewis Hall, Cole Palmer, Alex Scott and Dominic Calvert-Lewin are the players who deserved their recalls.

Hall deserves his recall because he's made a promising start to the season with Newcastle and is arguably England's best recognised left back. Nico O'reilly did a decent job there at the World Cup and will probably keep hold of the shirt for now, but Hall is more recognised in that position as O'Reilly according to some people is mainly a midfielder.

Palmer definitely deserves his recall because he's looked back to his best this season after an injury disrupted campaign last season. The same goes to Alex Scott because he's made a promising start to this season with Bournemouth by carrying his form from last season into this one.

Calvert-Lewin deserves his recall because he's made a decent start to the season with Leeds and was arguably expected to be recalled given that Ollie Watkins is now playing in the Saudi Pro League with Ivan Toney.

I was very surprised to see Alexander-Arnold get recalled because I wasn't expecting him to get recalled. He has featured in every game for Real Madrid this season, but I still didn't see him getting recalled as I thought other players would be picked ahead of him.

I didn't see Livramento get recalled either because I thought Reece James and Djed Spence would be in ahead of him only for both players to be injured to allow space for him to be recalled.

Jarrad Branthwaite's recall was surprising because I also wasn't expecting him to be recalled. He has played every game for Everton this season, but I still didn't see him being recalled as I thought John Stones would be in ahead of him only for him to be injured.

Lewis-Skelly and Ngumoha were both surprising reclls because I didn't see either player making the squad. Lewis-Skelley has played well in midfield for Arsenal this season after filling in there at the back end of last season, but I thought other players would be picked ahead of him. Ngumoha was part of the squad during the World Cup warm up games and I like Lewis-Skelley, I didn't see him being included because he's still very young despite him being so talented.

In terms of the rest of the squad, I was surprised to see Morgan Gibbs-White left out again because he's been in good form for Forest and was very unlucky to be overlooked once again because of this.

I was also surprised to see both Trevoh Chalobah and Jarrel Quansah included because I didn't think either of them would be in the squad. Both may have been part of the World CUp squad, but I still didn;t think either of them would be inlucded in this one because I thought one or two players would be picked ahead of them.

FULL ENGLAND SQUAD:

GOALKEEPERS: Jordan Pickford (Everton), James Trafford (Leeds), Jason Steele (Brighton)

DEFENDERS: Trent Alexander-Arnold (Real Madrid), Tino Livramento (Newcastle), Marc Guehi (Man City), Ezri Konsa (Arsenal), Jarrel Quansah (Bayer Leverkusen), Jarrad Branthwaite (Everton), Trevoh Chalobah (Como), Nico O'Reilly (Man City), Lewis Hall (Newcastle)

MIDFIELDERS: Declan Rice (Arsenal), Elliot Anderson (Man City), Kobbie Mainoo (Man United), Alex Scott (Bournemouth), Myles Lewis-Skelley (Arsenal), Jude Bellingham (Real Madrid), Morgan Rogers (Chelsea), Cole Palmer (Chelsea), Eberechi Eze (Arsenal)

FORWARDS: Bukayo Saka (Arsenal), Anthony Gordon (Barcelona), Marcus Rashford (Man United), Rio Ngumoha (Liverpool), Harry Kane (Bayern Munich), Dominic Calvert-Lewin (Leeds)