Lewis Hall in action for Newcastleplaceholder image
Lewis Hall in action for Newcastle | Getty Images
Lewis Hall has rightly been recalled to the England squad - but is he the answer to Thomas Tuchel’s problem at left-back?
With less than three months to go, most pundits could guess the England team that will play in the opening match of the 2026 World Cup. Perhaps there will be some debate over who partners Marc Guéhi at the back or whether Jude Bellingham should really start, but the shape of the squad is clear at this point, with one key exception: Left-back.
Lewis Hall is the latest man to get a chance to prove his worth. Recalled for the first time since 2024, the Newcastle man will be handed the last chance to audition for the opening after Nico O’Reilly was given the stage during the last international break. It’s a deserved opportunity which also begets a question: Can Hall become the kind of left-back that England need in time for the World Cup?
Lewis Hall has work to do to prove that he can be England’s World Cup left-back
The doubts as to whether Hall might be the right choice for England aren’t centred on his ability. Hall has certain vulnerabilities against high-level wingers looking to get in behind him, but he also has the tenacity and fitness to operate as true wing-back, impacting both ends of the pitch and launching dangerous ball into the box. He is a very fine and well-rounded player. But that doesn’t mean that he will be well suited to England.
Under Eddie Howe, Hall has been used almost exclusively as an aggressive, overlapping wing-back who stays close to the byline and looks for opportunities to get into the final third and play crosses into the box. He’s rather good at it. The problem: That doesn’t match the description of what Thomas Tuchel has been looking for in his left-backs since taking charge.
Instead, Tuchel has asked his left-backs to stick to their position out of possession, and then to slot into midfield when the ball is going forward, taking the place of either Declan Rice or Elliot Anderson as they surge into the opposing half. It’s an inverted full-back role which prioritises defensive solidity and the capacity to provide a stable base for possession.
Hall has never really been that kind of player at the highest level. He began his youth career as a midfielder and has certainly displayed a knack for picking a pass from time to time, but he hasn’t necessarily proven that he can be the kind of economical, defensively robust full-back that Tuchel seems to want in his England system.
The way Hall was used in this weekend’s Tyne-Wear Derby – pushing up far enough in possession that Dan Burn usually positioned himself wide to cover the gap in behind – would have worked with some of the tactics that Tuchel has previously used at club level, but he has a rather different vision for England. The question is whether Hall has the right skill set to make that left-back role his own.
The risk of picking Hall, and the rewards that come with it, were both evident in the defeat to Sunderland. In the plus column there was, for example, the lethal corner into the box which would have counted as an assist for Malick Thiaw’s goal had Jacob Murphy not got caught offside. There was another corner which had Melker Ellborg scrambling desperately, and a pinpoint delivery from open play which was headed against the post by Sven Botman. But there was also space in behind – not least when he was too high to prevent Sunderland’s winning goal. Tuchel would not be happy for Hall to be caught so far forward in a similar situation.
Hall’s performance in the 7-2 hiding that Newcastle took at the Camp Nou was another match which suggested that he may not be precisely what Tuchel wants or needs. He wasn’t the only defender to get weary, frustrated and sloppy as the game unfolded, but he certainly didn’t demonstrate the positional acuity that may be required with the Three Lions.
Nor is he likely to give Hall many opportunities to get into positions to unleash some of those threatening crosses, like the delicious ball across the Barcelona box which teed up Anthony Elanga’s first goal. Hall will have to play deeper and more centrally, looking for sideways passes rather than chances to get the ball into the box. Arguably his greatest strength could be neutered.
Will Hall become England’s first choice for the World Cup?
In selecting Hall at all, Tuchel has at least implied the belief that he can adapt. After all, England’s head coach has continued to exclude Trent Alexander-Arnold, presumably on the basis that his defensively-fallible style of play wouldn’t mesh with the relatively conservative wing-back role that he has asked the likes of Reece James and Tino Livramento to play down the right. In picking Hall at all, Tuchel has made it plain that he believes that Hall has the defensive and technical fundamentals required.
That doesn’t guarantee that he will bring it all together in time to earn the left-back spot, the one truly open vacancy in the starting side, for the World Cup. The coming games against Uruguay and Japan offer him a two-match audition period, but other players are likely to get minutes as well. Hall will have to prove that he can play an unfamiliar role over the course of a handful of training sessions and likely rather fewer than 180 minutes on the pitch.
The good news for Hall is that there are caveats about the other candidates for the job, too. O’Reilly probably had a slight edge in the race even before his EFL Cup final heroics, but has similar vulnerabilities to fast ball carriers and has, in any case, been operating as an attacking midfielder for most of 2026. Djed Spence and Livramento are more naturally right-sided players, the former struggling for consistent form in a collapsing team and the latter hobbled by injuries.
The position, as envisioned by Tuchel, might have suited Arsenal’s Myles Lewis-Skelly or Manchester City’s Rico Lewis best of all the young players making their way through the ranks, but both have lost their starting places at club level and seem highly unlikely to make the final 26-man squad for the summer.
That leaves Hall with an opportunity to stake his claim, but Alexander-Arnold’s continued omission strongly suggests that Tuchel will not adapt his ideas to suit his players. It will be Hall that has to make the adaptations, and the 21-year-old must master an unfamiliar system in the space of a week or so if he wants to be wearing the number three shirt when England kick off against Croatia on 17 June.
There’s probably no real need to worry about his passing, which is accurate and intelligent enough when he is forced to play in to feet. The question is whether he can defend effectively enough when he isn’t given license to aggressively attack opposing players. When pressing hard, he forces a high volume of turnovers, but he will need to be more conservative in an England shirt. There isn’t much of a sample size to go on when gauging how well that might go.
Hall has all the natural ability required to be a force at international level, but there’s a debate to be had as to how well suited he is to the current England side – and whether he can realistically provide enough proof, one way or the other, in the space of a single international break to persuade Tuchel that he merits a place in the World Cup squad.
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