Despite only being in his post for a matter of months, Thomas Tuchel has already been on the end of large criticism from the media and general public during his time as England manager so far.
Back in March, the former PSG and Chelsea manager caused plenty of controversy when he announced his first squad as manager, ahead of World Cup qualifiers against Albania and Latvia at Wembley.
In particular, the selections of Jordan Henderson and Kyle Walker caused anger, with the consensus being that the likes of Adam Wharton and Tino Livramento should have been picked in those positions instead.
There has been a lot of clamour for Wharton to be in the senior set up – with the 21-year old seen as more continental in his style of play. A slick, forward thinking passer who is capable of breaking the lines and fizzing the ball into the attacking players. Many suggest that England do not typically produce this sort of player.
All of that is merited. There is no doubt about it – Wharton should be a regular in the senior squad. You cannot say that Henderson’s experience is more important – given he was captain of an Ajax side whom bottled a nine point lead with five games to play.
However, there is another player whom should be in these discussions as players that should be called up over the likes of Henderson – a player currently thriving at the U21 Euros. That player is Elliot Anderson.
During England’s win over Spain in the quarter finals – a rematch of the 2023 final – Anderson came on as a substitute after 50 minutes. During his time on the pitch, he recorded; 43 touches, two chances created, one big chance created, three fouls drawn, three tackles, two clearances, one interception – and a penalty in stoppage time to secure a 3-1 win.
When the 22-year old was coming through as a youngster, he was an attack minded player that could play in the number ten role or off the left hand side. Despite this, he has moved into a deeper role since his move to Nottingham Forest in the summer of 2024.
Although he is still very good on the ball – he provided six assists and created seven big chances from a deep midfield role last season, for a team who did not average much of the ball – he has become an incredibly tenacious player, who is very good in duels and at winning the ball back.
Last season in the Premier League, Anderson won 2.5 tackles per game. Only 15 players in the entire league averaged more per game than him, and some of those had a smaller sample size, with Anderson playing nearly 3,000 minutes in the competition.
It is clear for everyone (other than Tuchel, seemingly) that Anderson is a player good enough to be, at the very least, involved in squads for the senior team. He has played in a double pivot for Forest all season, and could easily play alongside Declan Rice in one for England.
People will point to the fact that Tuchel is a short term appointment, with a clear remit of winning the World Cup in North America next summer. But Anderson isn’t just going to be better than Henderson and co in the future; he’s better than those options now – and by quite a margin.
As far as we know, Tuchel has not been spotted at any of the U21 games so far. But it would be neglecting the situation if he, or at least one or more of his staff were not keeping a close eye on the tournament. If they are indeed doing so, then surely the performances and praise of Anderson will not have gone unnoticed.
Maybe Tuchel and his coaching team thought the U21 Euros would have been better for Anderson’s development than games against Andorra and Senegal in June – but there will be no excuse whatsoever for the qualifiers against the aforementioned Andorra and Serbia in September. He has to be involved in some way or another. Let’s see.