Troy Deeney ‘can’t stand’ England defender in line for bigger World Cup role | OneFootball

Troy Deeney has stated he “can’t stand” an England defender who could be in line for an increased role at the World Cup under Thomas Tuchel.

The Three Lions have a mini defensive crisis at the 2026 World Cup. Tino Livramento had to pull out a day before the tournament, and fellow right-back Reece James has a hamstring injury, the severity of which is not known.

But that saw Jarell Quansah, naturally a centre-back, play on the right side of the defence in the final group stage game, against Panama, and he was forced off with an ankle injury.

His unavailability would leave Djed Spence and Ezri Konsa – naturally a centre-back and has been playing there during the tournament – as the only right-back options, and Deeney is not a fan of one.

He said on talkSPORT: “When we’re saying Spence, who is our left-back option, is now going to be our right-back option, I really struggle to put in my mind’s eye and say why have we not got Lewis Hall there.

“I do worry, if we go to Spence, sorry, I can’t stand him defensively, I think he switches off.”

It now looks a poor decision on Tuchel’s part not to take, in particular, Real Madrid right-back Trent Alexander-Arnold, who has not played for England in over a year, and prior to that there was a gap of almost a year.

Deeney urges to forget Trent

Deeney said: “Well this was my biggest gripe with the squad selection from the start. Going with two full-backs who unfortunately, while they are very, very good, their history shows you they break down a lot, in Livramento and in James.

“I think you need to put Trent Alexander-Arnold to one side. He’s never bringing him, he’s just not his player.”

But even so, replacing Livramento with Trevoh Chalobah – a centre-back – now seems a poor decision, when there are other right-backs sat at home who could have done the job.

The hope will be that James and/or Quansah can play some further part in the tournament, and if not, Spence is likely to play a lot more football than the 103 minutes he’s played in the three games so far – some of those on the right of the defence and some on the left.