England boss Tuchel defends decision to start Quansah ahead of Alexander-Arnold in Spain loss

England suffered a crushing 3-2 defeat to Spain at Wembley in the UEFA Nations League.

The Three Lions engineered their own downfall, making several defensive turnovers that La Roja capitalised on.

An early Marc Guehi error allowed Lamine Yamal to score the opener. However, England responded with goals from Anthony Gordon and Harry Kane.

The Three Lions had a fantastic chance to add to their tally, but Kane missed the penalty Jude Bellingham won off Rodri’s outstretched legs.

Spain made them pay as Alex Baena curled an effort in from the front of the box in the 60th minute after capitalising on a Nico O’Reilly error, and substitute Mikel Oyarzabal finished England off.

La Roja held onto their lead with brilliant possession play.

England manager Thomas Tuchel was unsurprisingly angry at the defensive errors and the overall performance.

However, he also had questions to answer for some puzzling decisions. He was asked why he played centre-back Jarell Quansah at right-back when Trent Alexander-Arnold was available.

Tuchel responded (via journalist Henry Winter), “We needed Jarell Quansah’s speed and ability to think as a central defender (in a three as Marc Guehi moved into midfield).

“Quansah was top class at the World Cup. He was top class in training this week. He was excellent in this game.”

Leverkusen defender was poor

The Bayer Leverkusen defender had a game to forget.

The 23-year-old won only three out of seven duels, missed a great chance and had practically no effect in the final third.

For all the talk of Alexander-Arnold’s defensive deficiency, at least he is capable of making a difference-making impact further forward.

The Real Madrid man will hope he can impress Tuchel in the coming days and earn some game time before the end of the extended international break.

The German tactician is clearly not a fan of Alexander-Arnold, but he could do a better job at right-back than Quansah, who is a square peg in a round hole.