Big Sam & Peter Reid Discuss England’s Right-Back Conundrum

In the third episode of the No Tippy Tappy Football podcast, Sam Allardyce and Peter Reid discussed England’s right-back options for the upcoming World Cup in Qatar.

An interesting discussion cropped up about Chelsea full-back Reece James in this week’s episode, following Reid having him at Wigan Athletic, when he was employed by the Latics.

See episode three below, where Big Sam opens up his little black book to his latest guest on the show.

Trent Alexander-Arnold’s defending has been questioned a lot of late, and especially this season after a few poor displays early on in the season from the 24-year-old.

So far this season, Alexander-Arnold is yet to create an assist, whilst he has contested 52 duels, winning 58.3% arially, whilst only managing to win 45% of his ground duels, which in itself is a low number.

On top of this, Trent has only made 14 tackles, which is a fairly low amount, but, Liverpool are a side that tends to retain possession well, meaning that he may not be called into defensive actions as frequently as the likes of Kieran Trippier or Reece James. Alexander-Arnold has made just 11 clearances, interceptions 11 and just one block.

When looking at Alexander Arnold’s Premier League statistics, Trippier has played one more game, whilst creating three assists in 321 extra minutes.

Noticeably, Trippier has been involved in 92 duels, managing to win 53.3% of areal duels that he has been involved in, whilst winning 59.68% of his ground duels, showing that he is perhaps a significantly better player in terms of defensive attributes that Alexander-Arnold.

Trippier has made 24 tackles so far this season, whilst making 29 clearances, 19 interceptions and eight blocks.

Kyle Walker has played just seven times this season due to injury, having gone off against Manchester United earlier on in the campaign due to a groin injury.

During these seven matches, Walker contested 54 duels, winning 77.7% of them aerially, as well as 47% of them on the ground.

The 32-year-old has made just two tackles during the 2022/23 campaign, as well as five clearances, four interceptions and no blocks. Walker has created no assists during the current campaign.

Like Walker, Reece James has also made just seven appearances in the Premier League, meaning that his numbers are fairly low in terms of tackles, having made 15 of them, whilst also making seven clearances, six interceptions and one block.

However, what has been impressive, are James’ attacking stats, having scored once and created one assist. As well as this, the Chelsea man also has a 76.92% aerial duel win rate, as well as a 65.85% success rate on the ground.

When taking a look at these statistics, perhaps James is the best candidate to start for England at the World Cup if he regains his fitness in time for the tournament in Qatar, as he is evidently the most well-rounded right-back in the Premier League, whilst Trippier may be finding himself at left-wing-back having previously played this role under Southgate.

It must be mentioned that Trippier has been nothing short of sensational since signing for Newcastle last January.

You can listen to the No Tippy Tappy Football podcast on Apple, Spotify & YouTube. There will be a new episode each week with new guests alongside Sam Allardyce.

Listen On Apple & Spotify: https://t.co/1v5u1HPOSB

Watch On YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCWASUmc6_EFKuNgZxNg7K1w/videos

Follow No Tippy Tappy Football On Twitter: https://twitter.com/NoTippyTappyPod

Follow Footy Accumulators On Twitter: https://twitter.com/FootyAccums