It will be an achievement if England are able to recover in time for their World Cup opener against Croatia after more \u2018alarming\u2019 incidents.<\/p>\n
The Three Lions are scheduled to kick off their campaign soon, with Thomas Tuchel knowing that they must \u2018make the semi-finals at least or he has failed\u2019.<\/p>\n
But their preparations have been sub-optimal, even leading to some Arsenal \u2018concerns\u2019.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
Dirty Harry<\/p>\n
\u2018THOMAS TUCHEL told Harry Maguire he wouldn\u2019t be going to the World Cup over FACETIME\u2019 \u2013 Tom Coley, The Sun.<\/p>\n
Over WHAT?! That\u2019s absolutely preposterous. It should have been either a phone call, a Teams call, a house visit or a quick DM. But a f**king FACETIME? Sack Tuchel now.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
Maguire practice<\/p>\n
Also a big fan of Maguire saying<\/a> \u201cI think he said that he\u2019s gone with the four lads that he got through the qualifying in the autumn camps where he felt like they did well during those six games,\u201d before immediately adding: \u201cBut he did say that he can\u2019t really give me an excuse.\u201d<\/p>\n That\u2026that was\u00a0the excusereason, fella.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Lip service<\/p>\n By the way, what is the biggest giveaway that England play their first game at a major tournament tomorrow?<\/p>\n This Sun website headline to Martin Lipton\u2019s column, of course:<\/p>\n \u2018Thomas Tuchel can have no excuses as England get World Cup underway \u2013 make the semi-finals at least or he has failed\u2019<\/p>\n Masterful work, especially the morning after actual European champions and one of the pre-World Cup favourites Spain showed that this sh*t isn\u2019t actually all that easy<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Sak it off<\/p>\n Bukayo Saka spoke candidly about his physical condition on Monday, with Thomas Tuchel having recently admitted \u201cit is very unlikely he starts and finishes all the matches\u201d at the World Cup.<\/p>\n The bloke has started and finished one match for club or country since mid-March, so it wasn\u2019t a particularly stunning revelation to anyone paying attention.<\/p>\n Saka nevertheless declared himself \u201cready to go\u201d and \u201chappy to take the gamble\u201d on his fitness for England.<\/p>\n What he also apparently did, according to the Daily Express website, was this:<\/p>\n \u2018Bukayo Saka sparks Arsenal concerns with alarming England comments at World Cup\u2019<\/p>\n It\u2019s a massive stitch-up job on John Cross, whose original article for the Daily Mirror was given an entirely normal headline (\u2018Bukayo Saka ready to take World Cup \u2018gamble\u2019 in huge boost to England\u2019s chances\u2019) before his work was butchered by their sister site.<\/p>\n That really is some particularly egregious nonsense, mind. Arsenal probably know that a player who started two of their last seven Premier League games in the title run-in, who was restricted to less than an hour of their Champions League semi-final second leg and who played less than half an hour of England\u2019s World Cup warm-up games after missing the March squad through injury, is a bit injured.<\/p>\n Saka literally credited Mikel Arteta and \u201cthe Arsenal medical team\u201d for working alongside England and having \u201cmanaged me amazingly since March\u201d.<\/p>\n As Tuchel said last week of Saka\u2019s ongoing Achilles injury<\/a>: \u201cThey took very good care of him and were very aware of it at Arsenal.\u201d<\/p>\n Everyone knows he\u2019s not 100% and hasn\u2019t been for months. But of course \u2018alarming England comments\u2019 like Saka saying he wants to play and feels ready to do so will \u2018spark Arsenal concerns\u2019.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n SWAT ever\u2019s next?<\/p>\n