The good news for Thomas Tuchel is that there is a fit England international right-back in New York. The less good news is that Gary Neville is 51 and a pundit on a Brooklyn roof terrace.
As England found the least convincing of ways to win Group L, their curse of the right-backs continued. It is, admittedly, partly a self-inflicted curse, created by strange decision-making and needless stubbornness. As Jude Bellingham ended Panama’s resistance, a hooked breakthrough showing an enduring capacity to rescue wretched performances, England were temporarily down to 10 men.
Jarell Quansah was off the pitch, injury compounded by the insult of receiving a yellow card. A third right-back was down in two weeks: first Tino Livramento, then Reece James, then Quansah. Who, of course, is not really a right-back at all.
So enter Djed Spence, fourth-choice right-back. Or fifth, considering Ben White would have been ahead of him but for his own injury. All of which could have been deemed a case of extreme misfortune, but for a blinkered refusal to call up the obvious candidate.
For Tuchel, a manager who was supposed to have brought clarity of thought, the sense of confusion is ****** ing. Quansah spent much of his hour on the pitch tucked in as a third centre-back, largely because he is a third centre-back. Or a fourth, fifth or sixth, given the number Tuchel has in his group. So much for the notion of building a squad around two players for each position.
As England found the least convincing of ways to win Group L, their curse of the right-backs continued. It is, admittedly, partly a self-inflicted curse, created by strange decision-making and needless stubbornness. As Jude Bellingham ended Panama’s resistance, a hooked breakthrough showing an enduring capacity to rescue wretched performances, England were temporarily down to 10 men.
Jarell Quansah was off the pitch, injury compounded by the insult of receiving a yellow card. A third right-back was down in two weeks: first Tino Livramento, then Reece James, then Quansah. Who, of course, is not really a right-back at all.
So enter Djed Spence, fourth-choice right-back. Or fifth, considering Ben White would have been ahead of him but for his own injury. All of which could have been deemed a case of extreme misfortune, but for a blinkered refusal to call up the obvious candidate.
For Tuchel, a manager who was supposed to have brought clarity of thought, the sense of confusion is ****** ing. Quansah spent much of his hour on the pitch tucked in as a third centre-back, largely because he is a third centre-back. Or a fourth, fifth or sixth, given the number Tuchel has in his group. So much for the notion of building a squad around two players for each position.
3 months ago
