Gary Neville wants England manager Thomas Tuchel to start Morgan Rogers on the left against Panama instead of Anthony Gordon. He made the call after England were held to a 0-0 draw with Ghana in Group L, despite already opening with a 4-2 win over Croatia.
Rogers Over Gordon
Neville told Sky Sports News he would drop Gordon and bring Rogers into the side for Panama. He also said he did not think Marcus Rashford should have come on against Ghana, and preferred Rogers or Eberechi Eze on the left-hand side.
That is a direct selection push, not a vague preference. Neville said, “I do not want to pile in on Anthony Gordon because he is a really good player and, to be fair, he has had two difficult games. But I did not think that Marcus Rashford should have come on. I actually thought it should be Morgan Rogers.”
Neville's Left-Side Logic
He went further on why Rogers fits the matchup. “We are talking about this Rogers or Jude Bellingham debate about who plays there. Well, Bellingham's going to play number 10. I actually like the idea of Rogers coming off that left-hand side. I think he's just got a little bit more.”
Neville added that Rogers offers more running and connection on that side. “I don't mind [Eberechi] Eze there either, but I prefer Rogers just because he has got a little bit more legs in him. But I think someone who maybe can just sort of connect on that left-hand side a little bit better for us, someone with a little more game intelligence.”
He also drew a clear split between the Panama game and a different type of opponent. “Rashford and Gordon are explosive. They're the players that, really, if you're counter-attacking, you'd want them on the pitch. If we were playing France or playing Spain, I would say Gordon or Rashford. But just because we are playing Panama, I would like to see Rogers off the left-hand side a little bit.”
Queiroz and the 0-0
Neville tied the 0-0 draw with Ghana to the quality of the opposition structure rather than a wholesale England problem. He said he was comfortable leaving the rest of the team as it is, and added that he would not “throw the baby out with the bathwater” after the Ghana match.
He pointed to Carlos Queiroz as the model for that kind of defensive organisation. Neville said Queiroz was one of the best at organising a team defensively, and recalled Manchester United keeping a clean sheet against Lionel Messi, Thierry Henry and Ronaldinho for 180 minutes in 2008 because Queiroz orchestrated the performance.
For Tuchel, the immediate decision is narrow: keep the rest of the side stable or adopt Neville's one change on the left. England are already through to the knockout stages, but Panama now sits in the path of a manager choosing between Gordon's pace and Rogers' control on the wing.
