England team vs Hungary: Why Kalvin Phillips should be dropped and Fikayo Tomori could replace Harry Maguire
Gareth Southgate has six months to refine his selection and his thinking ahead of England’s World Cup opener against Iran on 21 November. Or put another way, six competitive matches. Four of them are condensed into 10 days in June starting in Hungary on Saturday.
The principal building blocks are in place. Southgate has his favourites, or players he trusts. Into this bracket come Jordan Pickford, Harry Maguire, Kieran Trippier, Raheem Sterling, Mason Mount and, of course, skipper Harry Kane.
His immediate concern in the absence of Ben Chilwell and Luke Shaw is at left-back.
More broadly midfield is arguably the area Southgate must improve if England are to progress from finalists to tournament winners for the first time since 1966.
Absentees, including Manchester United pair Marcus Rashford and Jadon Sancho, Ollie Watkins of Aston Villa and Arsenal’s Emile Smith-Rowe, have work to do when the season resumes in August to push for inclusion in the squad for the final Nations League fixtures in September. After that Southgate will be done with learning.
Below we take a deeper look at England’s squad for the Nations League, their fixtures for the rest of the year and how Southgate’s thinking in each position will be shaped in the coming weeks:
England’s Nations League squad
Goalkeepers:
Jordan Pickford
Nick Pope
Aaron Ramsdale
Defenders:
Trent Alexander-Arnold
Conor Coady
Marc Guehi
Reece James
James Justin
Harry Maguire
John Stones
Fikayo Tomori
Kieran Trippier
Kyle Walker
Midfielders:
Jude Bellingham
Conor Gallagher
Mason Mount
Kalvin Phillips
Declan Rice
James Ward-Prowse
Forwards:
Tammy Abraham
Jarrod Bowen
Phil Foden
Jack Grealish
Harry Kane
Bukayo Saka
Raheem Sterling
England fixtures
June 2022
Hungary vs England (Nations League)
Germany vs England (Nations League)
England vs Italy (Nations League)
England vs Hungary (Nations League)
September 2022
Italy vs England (Nations League)
England vs Germany (Nations League)
November 2022
England vs Iran (World Cup
England vs USA (World Cup)
England vs Playoff winner (World Cup)
Goalkeeper
Pickford continues to enjoy Southgate’s favour, given which it will take either injury or clear and obvious decline to see Nick Pope or Aaron Ramsdale elevated to the starting line-up in Qatar.
Dean Henderson will need first team-football at Manchester United or elsewhere to have a chance of shifting Pope or Ramsdale.
Defence
Southgate is generally risk-averse. He will want to give Maguire every chance of proving his readiness to start alongside John Stones, with whom he formed a solid pairing at the Euros last summer.
Don’t be surprised to see Trippier start at left-back. Southgate values experience. At least on this occasion he has an excuse though there might be greater value in starting with Leicester’s versatile defender James Justin, who is adept at left-back as well as right. Kyle Walker’s pace gives him the edge at right-back, though in possession Reece James and Trent Alexander-Arnold offer more. And in that order.
As ever with Alexander-Arnold the question is one of weighing the attacking gains of his exquisite delivery against defensive weakness.
James is the ideal compromise.
Analysis: Alexander Arnold’s flaws exposed by Vinicius
By Daniel Storey, i chief football writer
The longer Liverpool played Battleships, guessing at squares without ever quite sinking their teeth into something to give them real heart, Ancelotti knew that his time would come. His team created exactly the type of chance that Liverpool never did: teasing ball across the face, an attacker running onto the ball rather than stood still, sloppy marking that turns half-chance into simple one.
— Football on BT Sport (@btsportfootball) May 28, 2022
Charge up the great Trent Alexander-Arnold defensive debate one more time this season. Either Liverpool’s right-back doesn’t even look to see Vinicius Junior’s run or he looks once and then fails to cover it. Either way, it cost Liverpool. For all his surging attacking majesty and his set-piece delivery, it is an identified flaw that the best opponents will look to exploit. It had been previewed extensively as the key individual battle. The wisdom of the crowd principle strikes again.
Read Daniel’s full analysis from the Stade de France here
Midfield
Southgate must wean himself off the double defensive pivot of Declan Rice and Kevin Phillips if England are to hit the sweet spot in midfield. The two essentially do the same job and when in tandem end up both too deep.
The hope would be to see Jude Bellingham mature into a No 8 persuasive enough to force Southgate’s hand. After a decent start in the Euro final at Wembley England gradually fell under the spell of Jorginho and Marco Verratti, who recycled the ball so brilliantly against an England midfield falling ever deeper. It was only in extra time when Southgate committed to a more attacking shape that England looked comfortable and convincing.
Bellingham offers that crucial gear change in the middle of the park and drives forward in a way Rice and Phillips do not. Rice, Bellingham and Mount for his work-rate would be a decent experiment.
A better one would be to include Phil Foden in the Mount role instead of left of the attacking-three, where he is more likely to start.
Attack
Raheem Sterling, under-used by Pep Guardiola in Manchester City’s run-in, deserves to start with Kane for his experience and knack of finding space. He still has the pace and trickery to worry defenders and devastate in open play.
The last spot is a toss-up between Foden, if not in the No 10 role, the rapidly maturing Bukayo Saka and Jack Grealish, also a peripheral figure in City’s title run-in.
How England should line up against Hungary on Saturday
Grealish is harder to assimilate into City. He slows the Pep rhythm. For England, who do not have a Bernardo Silva or Riyad Mahrez, he is that sliver of mercury offering a point of difference.
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