Ben White arrived to a chorus of jeers from the England support at Wembley when Thomas Tuchel introduced him as a 68th minute substitute. Of course he did. There ought to be no second chances for the Arsenal defender in the eyes of plenty of those present. He let the country down when he walked out on the England squad during the 2022 World Cup and made himself unavailable for the next two years.
The real surprise was what happened next. It was one of those paper aeroplane Wembley friendlies, the fans making their own entertainment in the absence of very much on the pitch. It was listless stuff from Thomas Tuchel’s scratch lineup, the manager’s idea that fringe players could push their World Cup claims amounting to little. What did he actually learn? The only boost was his resting of his over-worked key players.
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