Thomas Tuchel explains camp split and new call-ups

What are your thoughts heading into this camp?

My general thoughts are March is like a bit of an odd one, like the June one. It is in a period where players are heavily involved in cup semi-finals, Champions League semi-finals and at the end of the season, they fight for not being relegated or making international or European places, fighting for championships and for titles, so it is a very stressful and very demanding period of time. We have obviously done our homework, we have qualified, so it leaves us with two friendlies which is a good thing. The opponents are very strong opponents, given the style of play and given the ranking. It has its demands, this window. We decided then to divide it in basically two camps almost, so we bring players in that we haven’t seen that haven’t played so much to open up the picture and to open up the competition for plane tickets to the US. Then from Friday/Saturday, a group of players will come into camp – ten or eleven players will come who get a rest before and we will then go with a new group of players and a new mix of players into the match against Japan.

It's quite a big squad too, isn’t it? With 35 players selected.

That sounds a lot. Actually, it is 19 outfield player and four goalkeeper squad from Tuesday to Saturday and then I think it’s 22 outfield players and three or four goalkeepers in the second match, so nobody needs to sit on the tribune in none of the matches. Everyone finds a place in the squad and everyone gets also the focus that everyone deserves to have – that’s why we split it up. Players who are now heavily involved in European football and regular players for their clubs having more than 3,500, sometimes over 4,000 minutes and were with us in September, October and November, they got some days off. We think we will all benefit from that rest, that they get a little break mentally and physically and they come energised and with hunger for the second match against Japan. It will give us the opportunity to look at some new players and look at players who didn’t play so much in the last three camps. It’s a good opportunity for them to impress and they deserve also the full attention from us, so it will be only 19 players in the first camp, so we have after that a better and clearer opinion.

Two new call-ups in the squad. Let’s start with Jason Steele. What do you like about him?

Jason is a bit of a particular one because we’re planning to take four goalkeepers to the World Cup and the fourth goalkeeper then has a special role. The three goalkeepers will compete and support each other for the matches but they will also compete for a place in goal. The fourth goalkeeper in a World Cup is then a specialist. He will support the goalkeeper group, he will support the goalkeeper coach, he will support a penalty-taking group and take a lot of workload off the other shoulders and that’s why we need an experienced guy. We need a guy with quality, with experience and with the right energy and attitude and we believe that Jason is this guy, so this is kind of a trial to find out how this group works together for the World Cup.

And James Garner, what are your thoughts on him?

James Garner just has a fantastic season. He’s always available for Everton. He plays in multiple positions – right defender, left defender, six, eight. He’s fast, he has a clean foot and takes all the set pieces. I think he deserves it. He’s a bit of an underrated player. I saw him many times now live and convinced about his quality and his character and want to see how he does in camp.

You’ll also work with five new players for the first time, including Harry Maguire. What’s the thought process behind his call-up?

Harry simply deserves it. He has, especially since Michael Carrick took over, had very, very good performances and fantastic results and is a key figure in the Man United squad who is now in third place and on a very good run of form. He’s a big reason for that, so he deserves to be with us. It’s interesting also for me to get to know him in person and to see him in training and see him within the group. He has outstanding qualities on set-pieces, so I’m happy that he found his way back to us.

And next up, we’ve got Fikayo Tomori. What have you seen from him?

Fikayo Tomori benefits from the injury of Trevoh Chalobah. Trevoh unfortunately got injured in the last minutes of the Champions League match and we hope that he comes back soon but it looks like a little bit of a nasty and painful one. It gives Fikayo the chance to come and impress. I was in contact with him through the whole year basically and was impressed very early when I watched him play with his physicality and approach to defending, so happy to have him in camp.

Lewis Hall is a new England call-up for you too.

Lewis Hall, I know still from Chelsea. He came into our training as a young boy from academy. Lewis has a very good season since he is regularly starting for Newcastle. He had a very good season individually also in the Champions League campaign, except maybe for the second half in Barcelona but the first leg against Barcelona was excellent. He plays on a very high level. It will be interesting to see him. He grew a lot since I last saw him on the pitch and I’m happy to welcome him back.

Kobbie Mainoo has also received his first recall under your leadership.

Kobbie is like Harry [Maguire]. A major part of the success story with Man United lately in the last weeks. He plays all the time and I hear so many good things in the FA and from other players and I see his quality, so I want to meet him in person and see what he can do to get to know him better. Competition is on for him.

And finally, what are your thoughts on Dominic Calvert-Lewin?

With Dominic Calvert-Lewin and Dom Solanke, we have two similar profiles this time in camp. Why? The reason is pretty simple. I want to get to know the two better. I see what they can do but I want to see them in training want, want to feel them and want to see how they can impress in the first part of the camp. Ollie Watkins is not with us but this is more down to the fact that I know what Ollie Watkins can bring to the group – I know him very well. We will provide the level of training and the level of care that they can be the best version of themselves.

A Wembley double-header coming up with games against Uruguay and Japan. How are you approaching those?

I’m convinced we will have two hungry teams to play Uruguay and Japan. I am convinced we need two hungry teams because the opponents are very different from each other but very, very good football teams. We need top quality, we need hunger and excitement to create excitement. That’s our goal. I’m happy for the first group to come in – many young players, many new faces, players I haven’t worked before with, players who haven’t had maybe so many minutes recently with us. Then I’m happy when also the guys come back who contributed a lot through September, October, November to keep the standards where they were and straight away, go and push the level further. Hopefully two good matches.

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