Gary Neville wants Thomas Tuchel to treat England's next step against Congo DR as a selection problem first and a knockout tie second. Neville's point is blunt: Declan Rice and Bukayo Saka look like players who need managing, while England's right-back cover is already stretched. England vs Congo DR comes on Wednesday in Atlanta, and the squad balance looks thin before a ball is kicked.

Neville's warning on the right side

"It's not the first time I've seen England disrespect the full-back position in the last 15 to 20 years," Neville told skysports.com. "They've thought they can take one full-back and then someone else can fill in. That just isn't going to work."

He went harder on the planning around the squad. "Tuchel should have seen that. Everyone in the country could have seen that with James and Livramento."

The injuries and withdrawals explain why he sounds so pointed. Reece James will be unavailable until well into the knockout stages because of a hamstring injury, and Tino Livramento withdrew from the squad before the first game because of a hamstring problem. Against Congo DR, Neville also warned that England must be clean in transition. "Congo's going to be tough," he said. "You have to make sure you don't concede counter-attacks."

Rice and Saka need managing

The workload argument around Rice is not abstract. He has played 162 World Cup minutes in total, and his latest outing was a 7.13-rated 90-minute performance against Ghana. That is a solid level, not a collapsed one, but it still points to a player England are already leaning on heavily.

Saka's numbers are more awkward. He has logged 110 World Cup minutes and carries a 6.7 tournament rating. Neville said on caughtoffside.com that "Bukayo Saka doesn't look right at all" and added that "he's not right and that's a concern to us I think." He also said on skysports.com, "If we have to rest Rice in another game, he's got a real problem."

England have not been poor in every sense, but the performances have looked stretched. Their last five results read WWDWL, and the question is less about raw output than how much Tuchel is asking of a few core players before the round of 32.

The debate is not only Neville's. Paul Scholes has pushed the opposite midfield idea, saying England do not need "two sitting midfielders" against Congo DR. He wants more attacking movement in the middle. Neville's concern is more basic than that, though. If England keep patching the right side and keep overloading Rice and Saka, the problem could arrive before the tie does.

Written by Jack Mercer with AI-assisted research, cross-checked against 4 outlets. How we work →