Our tactics writer Aidan Smith, from Tactically Speaking, argues that Kieran Trippier is England’s best option to replace the injured Luke Shaw at left-back throughout Euro 2024.
England have injury troubles. Where? Left-back. If you were to rank every England player based on their importance to the team’s Euro 2024 prospects, Luke Shaw would be up there. Not because he’s England’s best player, but because there’s a desperate absence of English back-up left-backs.
How do England play without Shaw? England have options with Kieran Trippier, Joe Gomez, and Jarrad Branthwaite, and while none of them are perfect, one of them is satisfactory. Southgate’s best option is the one he’ll likely pick: Try to make Kieran Trippier do exactly what Shaw does.
Gareth Southgate has opted not to take Ben Chilwell to the Euros — a decision which reflects both Chilwell’s injury troubles and perhaps tactical limitations. It’s no secret that Southgate sees the 27-year-old solely as a wing-back these days, and has done so since Thomas Tuchel modified Chilwell’s role back in 2021.
That leaves England with Kieran Trippier and Joe Gomez — two players whose services have more commonly been employed elsewhere along the defensive line. The only other hope is that Shaw will recover in time to play some part in the tournament.
Kieran Trippier enjoyed a couple of starring performances as England’s left-back in 2023 when England beat both Italy and Scotland 3-1 in the autumn. In both of these games, England lined up in their now-preferred 4-2-3-1 formation.
Trippier is as similar a replacement to Shaw as England have, and so the benefit to using Trippier is England could continue to play in their favoured shape. The only downside is that Trippier is, of course, a right-footed player. The significance of a player’s preferred foot is never as apparent as at full-back. A right-footed left-back will often slow down attacks by cutting backwards onto their strong foot, as opposed to taking the ball on the front foot.
Especially as England move into the attacking third, Trippier will have to cut back to put crosses into the box. Luke Shaw’s early crossing was behind vital England goals at the last two tournaments, and this is an area where England may struggle.
Another option would be to play Joe Gomez as a traditional left-back, in the way Germany played centre-backs at left-back during the 2014 World Cup. Perhaps more appropriate in a 4-3-3 (rather than a 4-2-3-1), this would allow Gomez to play narrower.
While this would be a very pragmatic and sensible decision with regards to England’s defence, this would leave Phil Foden as England’s widest player on the left side — with no overlapping from Gomez. England’s best chance may well be to start Foden on the left this summer, but giving him the licence to drift infield to move central pockets. If Gomez isn’t the right profile to overlap and provide width on the left, Foden will have to stay high and wide more like a traditional winger. Not many England fans would enjoy this, and there’s a very good reason for that: Foden is at his best when he can roam around freely.
If Southgate is not confident that centre-backs can sufficiently replicate Luke Shaw’s important work, he may decide to play without full-backs and instead deploy a 3-box-3 shape with John Stones pushing up into midfield. This would give England the opportunity to use a left-footed player at the back such as Jarrad Branthwaite.
Alternatively, Stones could stay put with Trent Alexander-Arnold inverting into midfield from left-back to join Declan Rice. With both of these different iterations of the 3-box-3, England could play a slightly more attacking midfielder like a Kobbie Mainoo or Conor Gallagher, but Phil Foden would still be the widest man on the left — something England need to avoid if they can.
Those who think the solution may be to start Phil Foden or Cole Palmer in this advanced midfield role, handing the left-wing spot to Anthony Gordon, may be frustrated to hear that Jude Bellingham is the reason this wouldn’t work for England. At Real Madrid, his defensive responsibilities have involved either pressing as a centre-forward or pressing as a left-midfielder. His game has evolved an awful lot since the 2022 World Cup. Screening the defence alongside Rice is not where Bellingham will be the biggest help to England at the Euros. Someone has to do it, however, so it seems Bellingham and Foden cannot play in midfield together this year. What does this mean? It means England do, then, have to play with a nominal left-back in either Trippier or Gomez.
Using a 3-box-3 is not how England will win the European Championships in Germany. It transpires that England’s best bet is to play Trippier in almost exactly the same way as they would have done Shaw. The system is stronger than the players, so stick to it.
Related Content
