A social media video from England’s training rounds this week shows head coach Thomas Tuchel sneaking up behind Cole Palmer and hugging him tightly.
It’s extremely rare to find out that Palmer doesn’t look around, but Chelsea fans have jumped on the “evidence” that Tuchel “knows who his golden goose” is in the quest for World Cup glory.
In the long-running ‘England No. 10’ saga, Palmer appears to have fallen down the pecking order, given Chelsea’s season punctuated by injury and below-average form. Palmer was also left out of Tuchel’s first team 12 months ago with a hamstring injury, and other setbacks forced him to miss all six of England’s autumn internationals.
Between Cole Palmer, Phil Foden, Jude Bellingham, Morgan Rodgers, Eberechi Eze and even Morgan Gibbs-White, Tuchel has an embarrassing amount of wealth for just one position in England’s starting XI.
Here, we use data to put an end to this particular debate…
“He knows other people’s lines.”
Palmer’s previous two outstanding contributions in an England shirt came in those ‘clutch’ moments. The assist for Ollie Watkins, the winner against the Netherlands in the Euro 2024 semi-final, and the goal in the final against Spain.
But Palmer’s former England Under-18s manager Ian Foster had a great quote in The Times, describing the Chelsea player’s great talent as “like a Broadway actor who knows everyone’s lines as well as his own”.
The traditional role of the number 10 is to create chances for his teammates, to get other players into the game, and to have the magic to conjure magical moments to create chances out of thin air.
Machine Football uses a more objective creativity score, using AI to measure the amount of high-value passes a player produces, i.e. passes that are most likely to result in a shot or goal.
And in this metric, Chelsea’s Cole Palmer leads the rest, with Jude Bellingham right behind.
Machine Football ranks Cole Palmer as England’s No10 most creative (Image: Machine Football)
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But creating chances is not the only thing that defines the number 10 in Tuchel’s style. The German player prefers what is called an “attack engine” system in machine football. This means they need high possession numbers and control to remain a threat.
In fact, this requires a “balanced 10” – all-round players who can contribute to the build-up, pressing and attack. Or, more ideally, you need a “dynamic 10”, a facilitator with intelligent positioning who can maintain the structure and rhythm of the attack.
Different styles of England No.10
In this figure, the four types of No. 10 are defined as follows.
Box Crushing 10: Threatening the goal late and attacking the box like a second striker. Balance 10: High-energy all-rounder who contributes to build-up, pressing and attack. Dynamic 10: Facilitator focused on possession, keeping play moving and supporting structure. Indispensable to Tuchel’s ‘attack engine’. Creative 10: Key chance creator, driving attack with passing and invention.
Bellingham in particular would probably be considered by most punters’ definitions a dynamic player with a high blend of aggression, technique and ingenuity, but his more spontaneous style of play lacks Palmer’s positional discipline.
The graphic below shows Palmer’s most creative areas.
This graphic shows the areas on the pitch where Cole Palmer’s passing will be the most creative in the 2025-26 season. Bigger green blobs = more creative. (Image: Machine Football)
Heatmap showing areas of Cole Palmer’s progressive passes during the 2025-26 season (Image: Machine Football)
With all this in mind, and based on the data, there is a strong possibility that Palmer will be selected as England’s starter at number 10 from among a very talented squad going into the summer, but Tuchel has plenty of options should the game demand it.
read more: World Cup glossary of buzzwords related to soccer tactics, data, and statistics
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