Pickford 'facing fight' to keep his England place under Tuchel

As far as I'm concerned, there is not an England football team and won't be again until they appoint an English manager.

Should any player automatically retain his first-choice berth? Every player will be under scrutiny. That includes Harry Kane.

The Daily Mail is beyond ridicule.

Personally, it makes total sense to rest experienced players like Kane, Pickford, Stones etc for these meaningless games to give experience to stand-ins should they get injured in a tournament. Healthy for everyone to have a bit of competition too.

I don't have a problem with Tuchel particularly and there isn't a single English manager in his league. Presumably Eddie Howe was overlooked because (a) he's nothing special and (b) they'd have to pay Newcastle compensation.

I really don't care who does or doesn't play for England as internationals are only FIFA trying to raise as much money as UEFA get from the Champions League… the love of money, eh.

Will Tuchel sing the national anthem?'

The World Cup has only ever been won by a nation coached by one of their own. Does anybody really believe England will break that pattern & be the first ever to win the World Cup with a foreign coach?

There is an argument that England won't win the World Cup regardless of who the coach is, of course. There's also the argument that any unexpected victory whilst lead by a foreign coach would be devalued as not being a truly English achievement, & that criticism would be entirely valid.

I don't understand why any major footballing nation would appoint a foreign coach to their national team. That's the sort of thing you would expect of nations where football is still a developing sport.

I write this as somebody who'd rather see Everton win anything, even just doing the double over the shite one season, than see England win the World Cup, or anything.

I also disagree with a foreign coach, if the players have to be English then so does the manager! I think international football is on its last legs, the Premier League is of more interest to most.

If he does, it will be through gritted teeth. What he's getting paid might swing it though.

Totally agree. How can anyone have a guaranteed spot? Every player should be competing to be selected.

Personally, I think Pickford is the best choice but, if someone else proves otherwise, then a change should be made for the next game.

Then Tuchel will have to assess his options again for the next game and the one after that. It's called managing. What a non-story!

Not sure whether you'd call us a "major footballing nation" but we're hosting the next World Cup and we have our most talented starting 11 in history. If we're ever gonna challenge for the World Cup, it's now.

No chance of it happening with any of the red-white-and-blue gophers mentioned for the top job after Berhalter was sacked. With Pochettino, we might just have a shot. Almost half the coaches in the Copa America this past summer were Argentines, and now we have one.

So why do you hire a foreign manager? Same reason you hire any manager. To win silverware. I think I read somewhere that half the AFCON champions have been foreign-coached.

And I'd say your lads have a better chance in '26 with Tuchel on the touchline than with Steve Effing Howe. Just my opinion.

Although my interest is in Everton rather than England, I would like to see a successful England team. However, any success would be devalued in my eyes if delivered by a foreign coach – it wouldn't feel like an English achievement to me.

I agree with you about Steve? Effing Howe as well.Who he??

Pickford has always been a controversial character, his antics on the pitch can get people's backs up and it makes him a great target for the media. Like everyone else, he needs to earn the shirt.

If we're paying him enough, maybe he'll sing "10 German Bombers" when we play his countrymen?

Will he sing the national anthem? He's German, so maybe not.

England needs its own anthem. God Save The King is the UK anthem, and shouldn't be used by England in my opinion.

I've known statues show more dynamism.

I hope he sings Deutschland Uber Alles when England play next just to see their headlines.

Whoever wrote the article about Pickford could have written an article about any other player, and to think that some people take these journalists very seriously.

I said the appointment of Tuchel was very interesting because of the way he masterminded a couple of big victories against Man City when he first got the Chelsea job. Although he was eventually sacked (who doesn't get sacked at Chelsea?), I thought he showed his knowledge in the short time he was there.

I’m no fan of the Germans, for historic reasons, but I don’t care if he’s Azeri, Dutch or Samoan. If he wins us a major tournament then he will become a legend.

As for Pickford, every new manager has a right to assess his players and that goes for Pickers as well as for Kane, Saka, Bellingham etc… no one should be untouchable.

If it affects your 'way of life', boo hoo, but don't tell what mine should be.

Everybody's place in any team should always be under threat, especially after a poor game. I don't see Tuchel trying the nonsense Carsley tried last week.

And when was the last re-enactment of the oldest international fixture never mind the Home Internationals.

With various governing bodies vying for football's riches one can have sympathy for players and their representative bodies arguing that there is too much football with little consultation with players who have a comparatively short albeit well recompensed playing career. Mind you none spend several months away on a tour similar to that of the Ashes.

Nothing ridiculous about it at all, Colin #18. How can winning the World Cup be considered a great English achievement if it's masterminded by somebody who isn't English? Furthermore, it's never happened before - all previous winners were coached by somebody of their own nationality. Maybe that's just a coincidence.

The lad suffers from the same problem as Joe Hart did in that he started to believe his own hype and thought he was the dog's bollocks when actually he's just a bit above average…

As for being a great “shot-stopper” as many say, have you not noticed the improvement of goalkeepers throughout the game in the last 5-10 years? They are all excellent shot stoppers.

Tommy T might have been watching our games and decided he wants someone who catches crosses and commands his area. And that's allowed.

I would also like to see somebody of that nature in our team instead of Jordan. But god forbid I say that here, I can hear the torches and pitchforks now! So much for opinions, eh?

Interesting there has been more seasons of the Premier League in England (ie, since 1992), and there is yet to be a single English manager to lift the trophy.

However, I'm not sure of the relevance here. If anything, your point perhaps serves to highlight the fact that there's a big difference between Club and National team management.

I watch other games and think "imagine if Pickford did that, he'd be crucified".

I'm not sure we quite appreciate what we have. Not necessarily aimed at you – broadly across Everton and England.

The stats are alarming and with the FA seemingly doing nothing about the situation, it looks like the possibility of an English manager lifting the league winners trophy will be a distant memory.

The whole point of St Georges Park was to prepare players and future England managers. I don't think there is another European league where they have so many non-nationals managing their clubs. Why hasn't there been some framework put in place where young English coaches are placed to work with the top clubs in this country to learn from the very best?

I worry that over time we may have to look to the Championship to provide England players. Fair play to Guardiola who has produced Foden, Palmer, Lewis, Delap – all promising English players – but the same thing isn't happening at Arsenal or Chelsea.

Maybe the FA could approach Guardiola and pay him more than he is getting at Man City to spend 3 days a week at St George's, teaching the best young English coaches a few days a week, once he finishes at City?

Certainly his two apprentices, Arteta and Maresca, seem to be doing decent jobs. Maybe if Guardiola wasn't interested, look to Ancelotti, so our young coaches could learn from the very best.

The point I was alluding to is, much like some quarters have decried the influx of foreign players to have hampered the progress of English players (not something I would go along with), a similar argument could apply to managers and coaches.

We don't know who was on the FA shortlist but the media would highlight Howe, Lampard and Gerrard as frontrunners. Maybe Tuchel was the best candidate. But then this was the same FA who saw fit to appoint Allardyce.

I think England are a victim of not producing good enough players over the years. That resulted in sub-standard managers filtering through the system in my opinion and we ended up with the likes of Allardyce, Pardew and god knows how many others. There seemed a period where a bunch of them got recycled around.

For England supporters, that may change over time as they currently have a talented bunch of players in comparison to previous years.

But as always, a good player doesn't always translate into a good coach or manager. It's totally different. Lampard and our own Rooney are good recent examples.

Maybe one will come through as this current crop mature. Time will tell.

I read this morning that Southgate, Potter and even Moyes (Scottish) are being considered for the Man Utd job should they part with Ten Hag.

I can't see them revisiting Moyes. He was deeply unpopular, right down to the canteen staff apparently. Potter was out of his depth at Chelsea, so I can't see that.

Ultimately, it's all unfounded speculation and rumours.

I'm more concerned about who will be our head coach next season and hope that Dyche does a good job this season.

Someone called it disgraceful to romanticise about past Everton teams a few days ago. Then I watch the news and still they're going on about 1966.

Meanwhile, Germany have won 4 World Cups and 3 Euros.