Paul Scholes believes Thomas Tuchel is playing Jude Bellingham in the wrong position and may still not know what his best starting XI at the World Cup is.
England laboured to a goalless draw with Ghana on Tuesday on a night where they struggled to create anything of real note.
With Ghana dogged in defence, the invention and guile the Three Lions showed against Croatia was absent in Boston.
Elliot Anderson and Declan Rice continued in midfield in what looks set to be Tuchel’s first choice pairing this summer with Kobbie Mainoo waiting in the wings.
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Bellingham has so far got the nod in the no10 role ahead of Morgan Rogers and Eberechi Eze with the Real Madrid star arguably England’s best player across two games.
But Manchester United legend Scholes believes the former Borussia Dortmund star must be deployed in a deeper midfield role.
Scholes also suggested a pairing of Rice and Anderson is too conservative against teams playing with a low block, believing Tuchel picked the wrong team against the Black Stars.
‘The midfield just isn’t right,’ Scholes told The Good, The Bad and The Football, brought to you by Midnite.
‘In a game like that when you are going to have a lot of the ball, you do not need Rice and Anderson together. I wouldn’t be surprised if he did change it [against Panama on Saturday].
‘Bellingham is not a no10. He is a no8 who can run. A no10 gets your team playing really good football. That’s not Bellingham.
‘They do bits of magic around the box and that’s not Bellingham. He’s got to be arriving in the box late. and he’s good enough on the ball to be able to do that.’
Scholes added: ‘I think he’ll wake up this morning thinking ‘I picked the wrong team last night.
‘He picked the wrong team.’