As England laboured to a 0-0 draw with Ghana in Foxborough, Thomas Tuchel would have been forgiven for asking himself why he left the Premier League’s most creative Englishman – West Ham United captain Jarrod Bowen – at home.
No one in Tuchel’s Three Lions roster produced more Premier League assists in 2025/26 than Jarrod Bowen’s eleven.
Despite West Ham United’s relegation, and despite what some critics called a bit of a fallow year from their skipper, Bowen still racked up 20 goal contributions from the right-hand side. If this is Bowen in a poor campaign, well, that speaks volumes about his remarkable consistency.
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His returns were comfortably greater than the two right-wingers selected ahead of him for England’s World Cup squad; Bukayo Saka [14 goal contributions] and Arsenal teammate Noni Madueke [just 12].
As the Hammers supporting Irons Watch argued on X – eyes bleeding at the most nil-nilly of 0-0 draws at the Boston Stadium – a forward with the third-most assists and the sixth-most goal contributions in last season’s Premier League could have come in pretty handy in hindsight.
West Ham United skipper Jarrod Bowen missed as England grind out Ghana stalemate
“Everyone at West Ham will agree it’s an absolute disgrace that Madueke has gotten this opportunity ahead of Jarrod Bowen,” Irons Watch wrote.
Biased, undoubtedly. But wrong? Maybe not.
Madueke was one of England’s brightest performers in the 4-2 blitzing of Croatia; a whirling dervish down the right.
But against low-blocks like the one deployed by a diligent, very Carlos Queiroz-y Ghana, something a little more subtle is required. The expert lock-picking of Jarrod Bowen, perhaps, rather than the blunt instrument that is Madueke.
Bowen was one of Tuchel’s most high-profile omissions when he selected his 26-man squad in May. The fact that Bukayo Saka is still not fully-fit following an Achilles injury which dogged him through the spring – leaving England reliant upon a forward with three goals and one assist in 26 league appearances for Arsenal – means it is not only the West Ham fans asking questions of Tuchel’s selection.
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“Bowen is ten times the player Madueke is,” one Wolves fan writes of a man who recorded an ‘Expected Goals’ tally of 0.1 vs Ghana and an ‘Expected Assists’ tally of 0.2
“The poor squad selection will come back to haunt Tuchel.”
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“Today is the day England needed someone that could manufacture a goal when it was not working out. If only there was someone used to doing that every week…” another adds, and no he was not referring to fellow absentees Cole Palmer, Phil Foden or Morgan Gibbs-White.
Although that, in itself, may be a conversation for another, even darker day.
“Even when Bowen plays badly he comes up with something. However, it should have been [Marcus] Rashford and [Anthony] Gordon starting today, for me.”
“Madueke’s not even that bad with build-up but Bowen is leagues ahead with end product. Bowen could’ve won England this game but I guess we’ll never know.”
“Madueke was awful, Bowen would’ve made more of an impact!”
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