Tuchel takes first England training session | Can England win World Cup? | Mateta's ear 'destroyed' in horror tackle
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Welcome to Back Pages, bringing you everything you need to know about the biggest sports stories making the headlines in the morning's newspapers. I'm David Garrido and joining me are the Athletics football correspondent David Ornstein and the Daily Mail's chief sports feature writer Riyadh Al-Samurai. Welcome along to your vote.

Welcome along to David and to Riyadh. Good to see you both. Let's start off with the Sun. I'd love another cup. Burn ended to tune weight now for Lions. So yes, I mean, this guy has got previous in ending long trophy weights. So does that mean, David, suddenly he's in the England squad? They go and win the World Cup next year in the USA, Mexico and Canada. I mean, this is a feel-good story in the international break, isn't it?

Absolutely. Taking nothing away from the Newcastle trophy drought, I think the England one might be even more profound. I had the privilege of listening to Dan Byrne today in the news conference at St George's Park. He was absolutely fantastic. He's got an infectious sort of personality and hunger and thirst for

for the game, for being in the England squad, for playing football. Just look at his journey all the way from sort of Blythe, Blythe Spartans and everywhere else in between. I mean, he's, it's just a fairy tale to be honest.

Um, and yet the way he spoke was like that of a real leader who can add something, um, very important to this England squad in terms of character. Um, and you'll see on the back pages and on the inside reads as well, how he spoke about, um,

Thomas Tuchel's opening address to the squad last night and even referring to US sport in the way they're trying to build a brotherhood and camaraderie, high fives and picking teammates up off the ground and being vocal in meetings. And Dan Byrne is somebody who I think will tick all of those boxes. It'll be great for the dressing room, but also can play a real role on the pitch. And I think we'll see him in action over this international break.

And it really is something that also shows that England, by picking somebody at 32 years old, also Jordan Henderson coming back into the squad, are absolutely dead set on winning this tournament in the USA, Canada and Mexico next summer. If they qualify, of course, Thomas Tuchel saying he wants to add another star to

to that jersey and I sat there today thinking with all total respect to what Gareth Southgate did with England and he really performed fantastically well

Perhaps he sort of overachieved, given if you think back to when he got the job. He didn't have a great record in managerial capacities, whereas Thomas Tuchel really does. He's been brought in to finish this job, to do what he's done elsewhere and win. He's a Champions League winner and England will hope that he becomes a World Cup winner too. And now with the likes of Dan Byrne, there was a real good feeling around the camp today. It's early days, but I think it bodes quite well.

Yeah, I mean, and that Champions League win was taking over mid-season from Frank Lampard, wasn't it? So, in a way, it's a similar sort of scenario in that, you know, this is perhaps not what you'd normally like an England manager to take over ahead of a World Cup, but here we are, and that's, you know, the next 18 months that lie ahead of us. But in terms of the close to home, the World Cup qualifiers, Riyadh and Dan Byrne, it's...

Do you expect him to potentially even start against Albania on Friday? Yeah, I can see it. I think he's in there on merit. I thought he was a fine player at Brighton. I think he's improved a lot at Newcastle. I think that kind of feeds into conversations we've been having the last few days about Eddie Howe's quality.

as a coach. And kind of touching on the point David was making a moment ago, it's just really nice to see someone who's absolutely thrilled to be there. He's not come in and sort of dressed it up under some kind of casual cool. It has been this amazing journey for him to get to this point via sort of these Spartans,

by Darlington. I think I was reading somewhere that he worked in Asda once upon a time, and here he is at 32 years old in his first England squad in the same week that he's played a big role in winning a cup final. Now, look, the question for whether or not he gets a star, I think one of the major factors is

in his favor. It's not a great era of England center halves. You know, I'd expect looking at the players available, I'd see sort of gay is probably the, the, the guarantee he's been, he's been, he's been, he's been starting most games lately. And then I'd see it as a,

shootout between Burn and Colwell really for the slot on the left-hand side of centre-half. So I think he's got an excellent chance of starting, but again, we can talk about this lovely road.

to get to this point, but he's truly in there on merit. He's been a fantastic player for Newcastle. I don't think at the risk of sounding like a dinosaur, I don't think it ever hurts to have a 6'7 centre-half. The man is an absolute colossus and he's also very good with the ball and

at his feet I think he's one of those elements of this squad that I'm most intrigued to see how he gets on at the level and I don't

also want to make the mistake of saying Albania and Latvia are the world's most challenging games. So maybe, you know, we take the forthcoming fixtures, not with a pinch of salt. They are World Cup qualifiers, but, you know, we're not going to be handing out the sort of ballon d'or on the basis of what happens in this international break. Let me stick with you, Riathan, and your paper, the Daily Mail. Don't hold back.

I suppose brackets tell us what you really think is what's inferred there. Tuchel tells us England stars' brutal honesty is way forward. So a little insight here into how Thomas Tuchel wants to handle things inside the dressing room, Riyadh. He wants England stars to start digging each other out as he implements a fresh culture to end six decades without a trophy. But also I think one of the key words was brotherhood, but honest brotherhood. So what do you make of that as an approach, Riyadh?

It's interesting. I wouldn't for one second say that under Southgate, despite the kind of impression of the sort of very nice holistic manager, you know, the players could get stuck into each other. They are all big competitive beasts. There's a lot of alpha personalities in that squad anyway. I never saw Jude Bellingham during the Euros for one sort of going around and sort of

you know, patting people on the back when they'd made a mistake. So, you know, I don't see that as a vast sea change. Brotherhood things, interesting, he wants a cohesive unit, but of course he does. And, you know, I was watching sort of some footage from sort of warm-ups earlier, and they were doing a warm-up holding hands. Maybe these are the kind of scenarios we look into a little bit too much and start saying, yes, this is why it's all going to be different.

I'm more interested in the direct play, the attacking play. They're both words that he's used in this international break. I want to see how he utilises it. He is a hired gun. He's been brought in for one sole purpose, which is to win the World Cup. It's to get that second star. So those are the factors, how they play, how aggressive they are.

They are. Can he fix that midfield? Because I still don't think it's a midfield that's capable of winning a World Cup. But can he do that? Those are the measures that we're going to kind of end up judging him on. And this in The Times is exactly that kind of warm up that you were talking about, that image of holding hands and this brotherhood idea. Also, I just wondered, David, talking about US sports,

So he spoke about, you know, particularly basketball, the best teams in the NBA, normally the teams high-fiving, picking each other up and having a lot of those interactions. It seems that, you know, he's taking his inspiration from lots of different places of this sort of high performance, but ultimately this camaraderie too.

Yeah, definitely. And Dan Byrne actually explained to us that he's a massive fan of US sports and this sort of tied into his own thinking as well. And he really understood what Thomas Tuchel was getting at there. I don't think we should suggest that there was bad camera footage.

Rodri under Gareth Southgate. In fact, that was one of the things they were noted for for a long period. I remember being at the 2018 World Cup covering England and that was a key feature, their togetherness. Maybe naturally it waned a little bit over time and towards the end

And in terms of interactions, there'll be some more quotes coming out in the papers tomorrow from Jordan Pickford talking about how interactions between the players dropped in the second half of the Euros final against Spain compared to the first half, which I think is fascinating quite dramatically. So that sort of interactions in terms of ball play between the England players, but also I think sort of physically and again, that word sort of brotherhood and togetherness and

It's interesting that that's something clearly that Thomas Tuchel was focused on immediately in the first meeting. Dan Byrne was saying, you know, he presented statistics to them in

in a presentation and then they're going to go on and start speaking about formation and tactics in the coming days and training sessions. So maybe these are the really small percentages that Thomas Tuchel and his staff, a new backroom staff, of course, have identified when you need to go and make that one step further from what England have done so well, which is become competitive,

got to the final of the Euros, the semifinals of the World Cup and so on, to actually going and trying to get that piece of silverware now after so long.

And the US sports and those small techniques appear to be at the heart of that. And yeah, you'll see lots of training images that differ from the past. I again, don't think we should take anything away from what Gareth Southgate did. But there will be fresh hope in the nation. I'm sure that Thomas Tuchel can go where nobody has been since Ralph Ramsey.

Let's talk a little bit about Jean-Philippe Mateta, the Crystal Palace forward, speaking for the first time since that horror challenge in Palace's FA Cup tie against Millwall from the Millwall goalkeeper, Liam Roberts. This in the Telegraph, Mateta's ear destroyed...

IN THE QUOTE HERE, I WAS AFRAID I HAD BROKEN BONES OR BLOOD IN MY BRAIN BUT IN FACT MY EAR WAS JUST DESTROYED. THESE ARE QUITE HARROWING DETAILS REALLY AND THE OPENNESS FROM JEAN-PHILEP MATETA, AS HE COMES TO TERMS WITH THE SHEER GRAVITY OF WHAT HE WAS FACING AND HOW THE SURGEON ULTIMATELY SAVED HIS EAR.

It was an absolutely horrific challenge for Liam Roberts. I mean, the other part of the interview, of course, is, you know, Mateta's not holding a grudge and kind of good on him. I'd also say he's very generous in his spirit with that. I know Liam Roberts has had a lot of abuse, and unfortunately that's sort of a...

just an association of the game currently or has been for a long time. But, you know, it was an awful tackle. Matessa's sort of done his piece to sort of, you know...

absolve him yeah it was a crazy challenge but it wasn't it wasn't on purpose that's that and that's correct but we shouldn't sort of forget the outcome of it which you know I've read I've read sort of different estimates on the number of stitches anywhere between 25 and 35 stitches um it it truly was an appalling challenge and uh you know I'd say Robert's certainly earned the band that he's got for it

Yes, and Mateta will require a mask, it says here in Jeremy Olsen's piece, to protect his ear if he does return in time for Palace's FA Cup quarter-final against Fulham on Saturday week.

Let's go to the sun. United ticket shame is there in the top right hand corner. So the story here is the increase in ticket prices, whereas other Premier League clubs are actually freezing their ticket prices. Is this just yet another indictment of the Ineos and Sir Jim Ratcliffe era at Old Trafford? What do you make of it, Riyadh?

Yeah, I think in time it's probably a decent word. It's an interesting timing as well. He's obviously just, Jim Ratcliffe's just come out and given a

raft of interviews, you know, I'd probably be inclined to call it a hearts and minds mission, how successful it was. We can probably, you know, that's in the eye of the beholder, but, you know, he's hiking the prices. I think the reference in that story is to tickets for sort of people of pensioner age. It's not at all gone down well. It's

is going to look more like, like, like, like more penny pinching at Manchester United. And I, that really, it's not, it's not, it's not popular. It's not going to be nice. It's not going to be well received. And then there's the question of how necessary is it? Ratcliffe himself has spoken about going bust by Christmas. I'm not sure how much credibility I would give to that, to that claim in its most literal sense, but you,

You know, clearly they do need to be, they do want to make cuts. They want to be reducing their overheads. They want to be bringing in more money as well. The 1958 fan group raised the interesting point. The fans who are going to be hit by this one, the ones who have been going to the club for decades, they're speculating in their statement that this is being done to marginalise certain fan groups so that they can,

reduce the number of season ticket holders. It plays to the idea that they want more of that kind of casual football tourist perhaps coming into the ground. There's certainly been a bit of a vogue for that elsewhere as well. But on the whole, to your point, no. I just mean it looks like another misstep at a time when they probably need to be getting a few more people on side.

OK, let's talk about something that may raise some more funds for Manchester United, and that is the potential sale of Rasmus Hoyland, potentially to Napoli, with maybe Victor Osserman going to Old Trafford in the other direction. You can see it there on the right-hand side here, back page of The Express, Napoli and Hunt for Hoyland. What do you make of this potential switch, David?

Well, it's certainly an interesting proposition. I'm not sure how realistic it is. Manchester United spent, what, 70 plus million pounds on Rasmus Hojland. He's young. He's just actually found the back of the net after a long drought against Leicester. And I'm pretty sure

my presumption is they'll be wanting to build with him rather than bringing in a much older striker in what would be a complicated deal. I'm sure I do expect Victor Osman to be on the move, given that Napoli let him go to Galatasaray and the future is really uncertain for him there. And Manchester United have been linked, but I'm not sure how realistic Napoli

It is that Manchester United would let go of Rasmus Hoyland. I mean, he is one who would raise some funds, but he would not produce profit on the book value that he represents. So I think it's more likely that United raise funds from elsewhere as attractive a deal as that might sound for transfer lovers.

What about David the notion that Manchester United could get Jadon Sancho back and also a bit of cash as part of it as Chelsea try and buy their way out of their obligation to buy Sancho here in the eye 25 million pound obligation to make the deal permanent at the end of the season because he's currently on loan should Chelsea finish above 14th in the Premier League?

Yeah, it's quite well documented. It was reported first, I think, by Chris Wheeler in the Daily Mail a week or so ago. And I've reported on it as well, that there is a clause that would allow Chelsea to pay a penalty, essentially, that would see that obligation to buy not taken up and Jadon Sancho returned to Manchester United.

But we don't know of Chelsea intending to use that. The intention of the obligation was to buy him. And so perhaps they still want to go through with that. Let's remember that Jadon Sancho would also have to agree personal terms to join Chelsea permanently, which we don't know to have happened yet. So there's uncertainty around this.

As things stand, you expect Chelsea to experience him coming into form at the end of the season and go through with that deal. But it is open a little bit. He could return. He could move elsewhere entirely. And that could be one of the many fascinating plot lines in the next couple of months.

OK, let's try and pick up the pace as we rattle through a few more stories before we finish. In The Telegraph, we've had our exclusive interview, TV exclusive, with Mauricio Pochettino, and they're covering it in the papers as well. Could potentially return to Tottenham, says he has unfinished business. What do you make of that prospect of Pochettino back at his sold grounds? What do you think, Riyadh?

Yeah, I mean, I was having a conversation with someone earlier today about Warren Gatland and the perils of going back. Obviously, what happened with Welsh rugby. But, you know, look, in his favour there is he has retained this very good relationship with Daniel Levy. He's incredibly popular at the club. You know, everyone remembers the Champions League final. He had five great years there. He oversaw the move into the new stadium. So, you know, I...

I instinctively go against the idea that he should go back, but with him and Tottenham, that unfinished business that he alludes to, you know, it's a very nice, romantic idea that he can go back and he can pick up this trophy that the club needs, that he wants. I think in the short term, he's got to be more concerned about

about working under Donald Trump and whatever else he's going to come out with in the year before the World Cup. He's got pressing business to deal with. Yeah. Let's talk a little bit about Arsenal and their...

Women's team playing in the Champions League against Real Madrid, David, on a terrible pitch. It's great to see Ian Wright on Instagram during this game. I mean, is this one of these things that you just think, you know, Champions League quarterfinal, this has got to be right. You've got to play on the right kind of surface. And it wasn't at the Alfredo Di Stefano Stadium. It was appalling. And if you look at the kit of many of the players, it's covered in mud. They had to change their strips and everything.

It's not fit for purpose. They should be playing on the Bernabeu, really, and that doesn't even seem to be a consideration for Real Madrid, the richest club in world football. It's pretty depressing, actually, and disrespectful. Comes off the back of the Conte Cup final at Pride Park that was also an appalling pitch.

and it goes to underline the sort of inequality still and the strides that need to be made up between women's and men's football and it caused Arsenal problems clearly that they'll have a second leg to try and turn it around. And that will be at the Emirates Stadium. So Arsenal allowing their pitch to be used, but clearly that's not the case across the board and it's not really acceptable.

uphill battle for us on that second leg. OK, we'll leave it there. Thank you very much indeed, David. Thank you very much indeed, Riyadh.