Thomas Tuchel risks the anger of the club manager by starting players twice in the four-day space during an international break.
The new England head coach has focused on raising the standard before the World Cup qualifiers against Latvia on Monday night, believing that even if the domestic season reaches a critical stage, he will send the wrong signal if he spins for it.
Maintaining a good relationship was not always easy for his German predecessor, Gareth Southgate. Pep Guardiola wasn't impressed with the loss of John Stones to an injury when the Manchester City defender began his England friendly against Brazil and Belgium last year.
However, Tuchel had a similar view to Guardiola when he was working at the club level, but he emphasized that priorities had changed and that there was no benefit when it came to managing the physical demands on his part.
The 51-year-old coach, limited by Anthony Gordon's withdrawal from the team after suffering a hip injury in a 2-0 victory over England's Albania on Friday, noted that Arsenal missed the chance to rest Declan Rice in the second leg of the final 16 tie in the Champions League against PSV Eindhoven.
“I didn't feel they were thinking about us that much given the fact that Declan Rice played after the first 7-1 leg in his next match against Arsenal,” Tuchel said.
“So I think we have to break our minds about this. I'm paying attention to the players. We're paying attention to the schedule. But it would be a wrong signal to tell the players: “Hey, you'll let you rest now.” We have qualifiers to play. We do good things for us, we monitor them, get in touch with the club and don't take any unprofessional risks.
“I feel responsible for the players. I don't want to hurt players. I want them to play Champions League quarterfal because I want to see it.
The more pressing issue with Tuchel is finding the right balance for the attack. He has a lot of creative players, but he can't fit all of them into his team. He warned that if they were eligible there would be some high profile omissions from his World Cup team.
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“We have to balance,” he said. “I will tell this to the players. In all respects, this is not just about winning Latvia. This is about our standards. How do we win, how do we play, how do we impose ourselves, what do we deserve to win against Latvia? That is to raise the standards.
“There are a lot of 10 positions. It's impossible to play all 10 positions. You need to get the process right to find the best group. If that means removing very good talented players from your team, this can happen.
Tuchel said that Phil Foden, who fought Albania, lacked the club and the country's “confidence and flow,” but he insisted that he could match the city's playmaker and Jude Bellingham with the same team despite both wanting to play as teens.
“They can play together,” Tuchel insisted. “There's no one reason they shouldn't. The Phil numbers are incredibly good for Man City. They aren't that good for the national team, so we have to try and make something to see Man City's Philfoden.”
