Jude Bellingham was the best player on the pitch against Panama. Not close to the best. The best, by a distance — a goal, an assist, and the kind of midfield authority that settled England on the right side of the World Cup draw. So naturally, some in the British press are framing it as a problem.
Craig Hope of the Daily Mail, who wrote as recently as November that England could do without Bellingham's "ridiculous, needless and harmful" behaviour — and that he would personally remove him from the World Cup squad — is now enthusing about "main character energy" and suggesting Tuchel build the team around him. No acknowledgment of the U-turn. No apology. Just a seamless pivot, as if the previous takes never existed.
What actually changed?
That's the question Hope can't answer without embarrassing himself. Between writing that he wouldn't pick Bellingham for this tournament and the squad being named, Bellingham played exactly zero England games. Nothing changed in terms of behaviour or "attitude." The player just kept being very good at football, which was always the point.
The list of things written about Bellingham in the past 12 months — "divisive soloist", "poster boy for moodiness", "brand ambassador for petulance", "intimidatory ego", someone with "leading-man syndrome having a belittling impact on those he sees as extras" — reads like a masterclass in projection. He's 21 years old and plays for Real Madrid. The scrutiny has been spectacularly disproportionate to anything he's actually done.
Henry Winter adds his own angle, claiming Tuchel "rarely praises" Bellingham and needs to offer "more mature treatment." The problem: Tuchel called him "special", "very reliable", and "always able to make the difference" across multiple press conferences this summer alone. Winter also drags up Tuchel's use of the word "repulsive" — said over a year ago, apologised for privately and then publicly, in his second language — as evidence of managerial immaturity. It's the only ammunition available, which tells you everything.
What Bellingham at No.8 actually means for England
Tactically, the Panama game settled something. Bellingham in a genuine midfield role — not floating off Kane's shoulder — gives England a ball-carrier with the intelligence to find pockets, the physicality to win second balls, and the finishing threat to make defenders genuinely uncomfortable from deep. The goal he scored wasn't a striker's goal. It was a midfielder arriving late, reading the play, and executing under pressure.
The question for Tuchel now is how Declan Rice fits back in when fully fit. Morgan Rogers wasn't convincing against Panama, so the midfield options aren't set. Rice's return could shift the shape again, but the baseline is clear: Bellingham at eight makes England harder to play against and harder to predict. That matters in the knockout rounds, where margins are thin and set patterns get exposed.
For anyone tracking England's tournament odds, a midfield that finally looks structured around Bellingham's strengths rather than apologising for them is a meaningful upgrade on what we've seen from this team in recent cycles.
The critics who spent a year trying to talk him out of this squad are now trying to talk themselves into having always believed in him. Bellingham, for his part, is just playing football. Remarkably well.
