England’s Right-Back Dilemma: Waddle Advocates for Henderson Against Mexico
England are into the World Cup knockout rounds, but they arrive in Mexico City with a problem that simply will not go away.
Right-back. Again.
Thomas Tuchel’s side squeezed past DR Congo 2-1 in the round of 32, Harry Kane dragging them through with two late goals that papered over a performance full of anxiety and loose ends. The biggest of those loose ends now hangs over the team sheet for the last-16 clash with Mexico in the early hours of Monday morning.
The injuries have been brutal.
Tino Livramento never kicked a ball in North America. Reece James and Jarell Quansah followed him into the treatment room once the tournament started. Now Djed Spence, the man who started at right-back against Congo, is a doubt as well.
From depth to desperation in a matter of days.
And with every fresh setback, one decision is dragged back into the spotlight: Tuchel’s call to leave Trent Alexander-Arnold at home.
The Liverpool-born playmaker, now at Real Madrid, was supposed to be one of the faces of this generation. Instead, he is watching on, and England are scrambling for a solution in the one position that keeps breaking down.
Chris Waddle, who knows all about the pressure of a World Cup after reaching the semi-finals in 1990, doesn’t see Alexander-Arnold as the answer now, and didn’t think he was the answer when the squad was named.
“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,” Waddle 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 issue for Waddle lies elsewhere. In the gamble England took before a ball was kicked.
“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 crisis. Yet Waddle’s solution is not to reach for a specialist defender at all. He wants Tuchel to lean into the way England play.
“But listen, with the way we play, we dominate football matches,” he argued. “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 is a bold suggestion on paper. In Waddle’s mind, it is simple.
“Tell me who has got a great winger or who plays on the front foot against England? 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 barely featured at this World Cup, just six minutes to his name, a veteran presence more visible in huddles than in open play. Throwing him in from the start in a knockout tie, against a Mexico side with a 100% record and yet to concede a goal, would be a significant call from Tuchel.
But the idea of a midfielder at right-back is not theoretical anymore. Declan Rice has already been pushed into that role during the win over Congo, a move that hinted at Tuchel’s willingness to improvise under pressure.
Waddle would go even further.
“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?” he said. “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.”
That is the crux of his criticism. England’s midfield, in his eyes, is too safe, too short, too sideways.
“Because at the minute, you've got two midfield players who are exactly the same, and it’s all 10-yard passes,” Waddle said. “By the time the ball shuffles out to the wing, it’s too late. You want somebody in the middle of the park who's brave, who wants to get on the ball and distribute it long-range.”
His preferred fix? Go back to that Liverpool lineage.
“Personally, I'd put Jordan Henderson at right-back,” Waddle insisted. “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.”
So Tuchel stands at a crossroads before Mexico. Stick with a makeshift defender, roll the dice on another half-fit full-back, or trust an old head to steady a fragile flank.
England have the talent to dominate the ball in Mexico City. The question is whether they have the courage to solve their biggest headache with a solution that looks, on the teamsheet at least, like a risk.
