England's Right-Back Dilemma: Waddle Suggests Henderson Solution
England are into the World Cup knockout stages, but they arrive in Mexico City with a problem that refuses to go away. Thomas Tuchel has a right-back crisis on the eve of a last-16 tie against a Mexico side yet to concede a goal and boasting a perfect record.
This is not the stage of a tournament where you want to be improvising in your back four. Yet that is exactly where England find themselves.
Injuries, Risks and a Selection Gamble
The warning signs were there before a ball was kicked in North America.
Tino Livramento never made it to the start line. Reece James and Jarell Quansah followed him into the treatment room once the tournament began. Now, even Djed Spence – the man who started at right-back in the tense 2-1 win over DR Congo – is a doubt for the Mexico clash.
One by one, Tuchel’s options have fallen away.
That sequence of setbacks has dragged the spotlight back onto a decision made weeks ago: leaving Trent Alexander-Arnold at home. The Real Madrid full-back, a former Liverpool team-mate of Quansah, would have been the obvious plug for this gap. Instead, he is watching from afar while England juggle midfielders and centre-backs in a role that should have been nailed down.
Chris Waddle, who knows all about tournament pressure from England’s run to the 1990 World Cup semi-finals, believes the issue started at squad selection.
“Alexander-Arnold played 30 games last season and didn’t complete enough games – so no, I wouldn't say that it was a mistake to leave him behind,” he said, speaking to 10bet. “If you are going to pick him, you pick him for his quality and what he gives you, then that's fine – I understand that.”
The real gamble, in Waddle’s eyes, lay elsewhere.
“We knew Reece James is – unfortunately, he's a top player – but he's always injured, as is Tino Livramento,” he said. “So looking at the squad straight away, you had to put a question mark over their injuries. They are injured a lot, unfortunately, and the one thing you want when you go to a tournament is a healthy squad. You've got to have players who are fit.”
He didn’t stop there.
“When you look at the injury records of Livramento and James, they do miss a lot of football matches. So maybe taking two right-backs who are constantly injured was a risk, and the manager should have probably looked at that. As players, their quality is undeniable – they're very good players and I like them, but their track record of being injured was a red alert for me.”
The red alert has turned into a full-blown siren.
A Tactical Twist: Henderson at Right-Back?
So where does Tuchel turn now?
Declan Rice briefly offered a glimpse of one solution, shifting to right-back against DR Congo and showing that a midfielder can be redeployed there when needed. It worked well enough in a frantic finish, Harry Kane’s late double dragging England through, but it did not feel like a long-term fix.
Waddle thinks the answer lies not in a youngster or a specialist defender, but in a veteran leader who has barely kicked a ball this tournament.
Jordan Henderson.
“Listen, with the way we play, we dominate football matches,” Waddle said. “It’s not until we play France, Spain, or Argentina – someone of that quality – where you're going to be under real pressure. Against the teams we are playing now, he could play Jordan Henderson at right-back.”
It’s a bold suggestion, but not a reckless one. Waddle’s logic is rooted in how opponents approach England.
“Tell me who has got a great winger or who plays on the front foot against England?” he asked. “It’s all counter-attacking, so you may as well have a passer of the ball back there. There's no reason Jordan Henderson can't play at right-back.”
Henderson has just six minutes to his name at this World Cup. Throwing him in from the start against a sharp, confident Mexico would be a major call. Yet his game intelligence, positional discipline and simple, reliable passing could give Tuchel exactly what he craves: control on that flank, not chaos.
“Personally, I'd put Jordan Henderson at right-back,” Waddle added. “He's good on the ball and he's economical. He doesn't have to fly on the overlap or bomb forward. We just want somebody who can play as a right-back, get the ball, control it, and pass it, because I've not seen any team go full throttle at England yet.”
Freeing the Midfield, Unlocking the Attack
Waddle’s idea stretches beyond just plugging a gap. He sees an opportunity to reshape England’s midfield and sharpen their attacking edge.
Right now, he believes, England are too safe in the middle of the pitch.
“Because at the minute, you've got two midfield players who are exactly the same, and it’s all 10-yard passes,” he said. “By the time the ball shuffles out to the wing, it’s too late.”
His solution? Push a destroyer like Rice into the back line when needed, and unleash more creativity in central areas.
“If you look at the rest of the squad, I know he has played Jarrel Quansah there, but why not play a midfield player there?” Waddle argued. “Play Declan Rice there and put a creative midfield player in the centre instead. Put Eberechi Eze alongside Elliot Anderson, and say to them, 'look, I want you to pass. If you see a 30-, 40-, or 50-yard pass, I want you to hit it'. That is how we're going to score more goals and get the wingers into the game.”
It’s a call for bravery. Not just from the players, but from the manager.
“You want somebody in the middle of the park who's brave, who wants to get on the ball and distribute it long-range,” Waddle said.
That kind of ambition has been missing in spells. Against DR Congo, England laboured until Kane bailed them out late. The win was vital. The performance left Tuchel with as many headaches as relief.
Into the Lion’s Den
Now comes Mexico. One of the tournament’s co-hosts. A 1am kick-off UK time in the Mexico City Stadium. A partisan crowd and an opponent with a perfect defensive record so far.
England “enter the lion’s den,” as the cliché goes, with a patched-up back line and a tactical puzzle that needs solving fast.
Tuchel has choices, none of them straightforward: trust a half-fit Spence, reshuffle with Rice again, throw Quansah back into an unfamiliar role, or take Waddle’s advice and hand the right flank to Henderson.
Whatever he decides will say plenty about how he sees this England side. Pragmatic and risk-averse, clinging to what’s left of his defensive specialists? Or adaptable and assertive, using a veteran midfielder to steady one side while freeing artists like Eze and Anderson to paint in the middle?
The round of 16 is no place for theoretical debates. By the time the sun rises in the UK on Monday, we will know whether Tuchel’s answer to the right-back riddle helped England survive Mexico – or left them exposed at exactly the wrong moment.
