Gary Neville believes there has been ‘turbulence’ in Thomas Tuchel’s England starting lineup against Panama. The former Manchester United defender outlined some particular concerns over Jarell Quansah’s introduction at right back following the injury that has ruled Reece James out of the clash.
James is unlikely to be available unless England progress to the latter stages of the tournament after fellow right-back Tino Livramento departed the squad due to injury. Tuchel chose to replace the Newcastle star with a central defender rather than a like-for-like replacement, bringing Trevoh Chalobah into the squad.
Djed Spence is the only remaining specialist in the position, but has been more frequently used on the left flank by the German coach. The Tottenham defender starts on the bench against Panama, however.
Tuchel has placed his trust in Quansah as one of five changes with England already through to the last 32. The Three Lions still must claim top spot in Group L with Tuchel relying on more depth than he perhaps anticipated for the World Cup.
Neville does not believe Quansah can be used in the position later in the tournament and has outlined his concerns about Tuchel’s selections to fill the position.
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“He’s making a lot of changes to it,” Neville said of the starting XI. “He [Tuchel] said before the tournament that he wanted 14 or 15 starters and he’s on starter number 17 already.
“The one position I think I am pretty qualified to speak on is right back and if you had said to me a couple of months ago that Quansah would be playing right-back for England in a tournament, I would say something has gone badly wrong.
“He’s picked Reece James and Livramento, players who are injury prone. He’s not brought Trent Alexander-Arnold, who obvously is someone with world class quality, for what reasons we can only imagine.
View 2 ImagesReece James has been dealt another injury setback(Image: Nicolò Campo/LightRocket)
“That is where we are right now, England will win this group and win this game but there is some turbulence in there.”
“Djed Spence is the only real option at right-back,” he continued. “Quansah is not an option going into the games further into the tournament, so I think the reasons he has probably done it today are he is thinking ‘look, we can handle Panama, Quansah can play there, and Spence can come in for the 32’.”
Fellow ITV pundit Roy Keane added: “When you start getting into knockout games, you don’t want a jack of all trades. You need masters at these positions. That would be the worry going forward.”
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