England World Cup comment: Jude Bellingham risks ending up in the wrong kind of bomb squad
The lesson of England's November games was pretty clear: substitutes are going to be a big weapon for the Three Lions at the 2026 World Cup. That makes it even more important that Jude Bellingham has grown up a bit by then.
No team will travel to North America with more depth than England, and it is just as well. The stifling heat will not suit them, not least because it will work against the intense football that is such a feature of the Premier League, and in favour of possession play – so often their downfall at major tournaments.
Even in kinder climates, England have a habit of turning up for the major jamborees looking cream crackered so sharing the load is not just a good option, it is the only sensible one.
The Three Lions, with their 100 per cent record and not a goal conceded in eight matches are the undisputed kings of qualifying for tournaments. They have talent to burn – at least in some positions, plenty of Champions League experience and have been to the finals of the last two European Championships.
But something is missing, and will have been for 60 years by the time next summer's tournament kicks off. Thomas Tuchel is being paid very big bucks to find it.
So it was important a a manager blessed with as much talent as the German is – even with the likes of Trent Alexander-Arnold, Cole Palmer, Jack Grealish, James Maddison and Anthony Gordon at home – demonstrated he can change a game with substitutions. Against Serbia, the introduction of Bellingham, Phil Foden and Eberechi Eze transformed England from a team pootling along to one that packed a potent punch.
Harry Kane scored England's goals in Albania, passing Pele's international haul (77), not the record for his longest dry spell under Tuchel. It remains at one game.
Both Kane’s goals were both made by substitutes – a Bukayo Saka corner and a delicious Marcus Rashford cross.
With so many quality game-changers in danger of missing out on the starting XI and in some cases the squad, the bench should therefore be England's trump card, even more so if moves to increase the number of substitutes allowed to six succeed.
Tuchel now has four months to coin a good name for what Mikel Arteta and Sarina Weigman call "finishers", and what he learnt in the Wembley press room on Thursday night his rugby union counterparts refer to as "the bomb squad".
But the success of Arteta, Weigman and the rest is not just down to a strong bench. Without the right attitude from those who could be bombed, it will explode in your face.
In other words, do not gesticulate like a stroppy teenager when substituted to protect you from a second yellow card and World Cup suspension, as Bellingham did in a dead rubber in Tirana which England had already effectively won at 2-0.
The 22-year-old who wears Zinedine ZIdane's old Real Madrid shirt is undoubtedly the big cheese of the England squad, or at least one of them alongside captain Kane.
But "bomb squad" means something rather different in football – the players cast aside by a manager – and for all the talent Bellingham oozed against the Serbs in particular last week, Tuchel has already shown he will not hesitate to light a fuse under Bellingham if he feels the need.
"I stick to my words – 'behaviour is key' and respect towards the team-mates who come in," Tuchel told the BBC when asked about the hissy fit.
Others would have poured cold water on the question. Not T 'n' T.
Portugal seem to feel they have to live with Cristiano Ronaldo's tantrums because they have no one like him but when Tuchel sits down to pick his squad, Bellingham's talent is almost not the point. Morgan Rogers has talent, Foden has talent, Palmer has talent, Grealish has talent. All can play in his position.
Bellingham is better than all of them, but not by anywhere like enough that he is worth jeopardising team spirit for.
Knowing Bellingham hated coming off is refreshing in an era when everyone seems to want to do international football down. Seeing it was not.
As Tuchel says, it is about respect – in this case for the job his lifelong friend Rogers could do.
Kane hates not being on the field for England too – he probably thinks he still has another 22 international goals he needs to score – but he is mature enough to deal with it in the right way when it happens.
"The edge needs to be channelled towards the opponent, towards our goal and not to intimidate team-mates or to be overaggressive towards team-mates or referees,” Tuchel warned Bellingham in June.
Tuchel has an edge too, and his star will feel the sharp end of it if he does not buck up his ideas.
This 48-team World Cup is going to be a slog, and England can only succeed if they share the workload.
Bellingham needs to get with the programme or decide which holiday resort to watch the games from.