Thomas Tuchel drops three players from England squad ahead of Albania match

Three names won't be taking part

Tuchel announced his 26-man squad earlier this week, featuring some surprise names, however, as per Uefa rules, only 23 can attend the match.

The initial selection raised some eyebrows with the return of Marcus Rashford and Jordan Henderson to the squad and the omission of players such as James Maddison and Jack Grealish.

This has meant Tuchel has had to leave three players behind for England's first World Cup qualifier match against Albania.

The three chosen not to take part are Morgan Gibbs-White, Jarell Quansah and Aaron Ramsdale, perhaps unsurprisingly seeing the depth already in those areas.

Out of the three Morgan Gibbs-White might be the most controversial with the player enjoying a fantastic season with Nottingham Forest.

Speaking ahead of his first game, the German manager touched on expectations in the run up to next year's World Cup.

He said: "The tradition for the national team is not to win and we have to maybe accept that once we arrive in America maybe we are not the favourites.

"Maybe we are kind of the underdogs and we embrace this role and make the best of it, because there are more stars on the shirts of Brazil, the likes of Germany, Spain recently."

The former Chelsea manager also criticised how the Three Lions played at the Euros saying they were "scared to lose".

He said yesterday: "I've heard a lot that it's a heavy shirt. It is in fact not. But I know what the players mean.

"Watching the Euros I felt tension and pressure on the shoulders of the players and they were playing not to lose.

"I want us to play with excitement and the hunger and desire to win...and the acceptance of failure is part of it, especially in football."

England captain Harry Kane stated that it's about time England won a major tournament.

He told BBC Radio 5 live: "We have been extremely close to being two-time European champions.

"We have been as successful as any other team for England for the last 15 years, but ultimately you are going to be judged on whether you win finals or not.

"Early on in Gareth's reign we spoke about getting to semi-finals, getting to finals, and keep repeating that.

"We are kind of at that stage now and now it's about winning something."