Thomas Tuchel has explained why he selected Dan Burn ahead of Jarrad Branthwaite for England's 2-1 win over Croatia at Wembley. Harry Kane scored on his men's record 126th appearance for the Three Lions, with Morgan Rogers also on target.
Burn was a late call-up to Tuchel's squad after Marc Guehi withdrew, yet he still started alongside Jarell Quansah at the heart of the defence, leaving Branthwaite as an unused substitute.
Tuchel's selection reasoning
Asked about the decision, Tuchel said: "Dan came late into the camp and Dan is just Dan. He is a fantastic guy to have, he is always a standard-setter in training."
"And he always lives up to the highest standards in terms of how to socialise on and off the pitch and how to get things going and push everyone. We opted for him, and it was maybe a 51% decision between him and Jarrad."
Tuchel added: "We had some changes in the back four. We knew that Dan played in a similar kind of style to go into opponents' half, and a man-man, he played with Lewis Hall and Anthony Gordon and he did it for Eddie Howe in the Champions League."
Everton players' involvement
While Branthwaite watched from the bench, Everton team-mate James Garner came on with 13 minutes of normal time remaining, and Jordan Pickford played the full 90 minutes.
Branthwaite will hope for game time when England travel to Madrid to face World and European champions Spain in their final Group C match, although the Three Lions have already qualified for the UEFA Nations League quarter-finals.
Coleman's Ireland situation
In Ireland, Seamus Coleman will not feature against Austria in the Republic of Ireland's penultimate Nations League tie, but he could play against Kosovo next week. Coleman ended a 17-year playing career with Everton at the end of last season and is currently without a club.
As expected, he was not included in the 24-man squad for the fixtures against Austria and Kosovo. However, Ireland manager Heimir Hallgrimsson revealed last week that Coleman would join the group in a hybrid role, working alongside the management team while also taking part in some training sessions.
Hallgrimsson said: "No, we didn't expect to include Saamus in the squad today. On Tuesday (against Kosovo) we don't know the situation. We can maybe answer that after this game."
"We have five players on a yellow so we don't know how many we will have in the squad. We might need to call in players."
O'Shea praises Coleman's impact
Ireland assistant manager John O'Shea praised Coleman's contribution in his new role. He said: "It's like what the boss said about it in the sense of it's us helping Seamus and Seamus helping us, really."
O'Shea added: "I'm sure Dara will tell you himself, but to see the impact he is having and also the quality that remains in his ability and the driving and pushing he's doing for everyone in the group. It's been good to see him and not much has changed really."
He continued: "Seamus has obviously spoken about that already, he's had a few little approaches and conversations with clubs and different things, but it just probably hasn't felt right for him. Like Seamus said himself, he knows that decision time is coming, but Seamus has earned a right to make that decision when and where he feels that it's best for him."
