On only his fourth start for England, Jarell Quansah was dismissed with over half an hour of a World Cup knockout game remaining. He might have thought Thomas Tuchel would hold the misdemeanour against him. Instead, Quansah is becoming one of the manager's most trusted operators.
The Bayer Leverkusen defender is relishing life in an England squad that seems reinvigorated - rather than scarred - by the eventual World Cup disappointment.
Quansah on England's aggressive approach
Quansah would certainly agree with that assessment, explaining: "I feel like we've put together a few performances where we've fully gone for games and not tried to sit back - that's what we wanted to do in this camp. I think we've shown that, we've shown how aggressive and dominant we can be against top nations in a tough group.
"There's a lot more to come, we want to keep learning, keep improving and go from there. I think it's going all-out, I feel like we can really dominate teams. We've shown that. Just being relentless and ruthless."
"As soon as we score a goal, it's not easing off, it's going again, going again, and trying to get the next goal, and trying to put the next player under pressure, everyone's working for each other. If someone gets outplayed, the next person's into a tackle, that's the way we want to be, and the way we want to go forward."
Competition with Trent Alexander-Arnold
Quansah started three of England's opening four Nations League games, being picked ahead of Trent Alexander-Arnold in the right-back slot for the home defeat by Spain and the win in Croatia.
"I feel like I can bring a lot of power down the side and Trent is so good at picking teams off from right-back with his passing," says Quansah. "We're very different. Different games and different teams require different players. I've played with him so long, it was nice to be back out there with him - he's an outstanding player."
Quansah lined up with his former Liverpool team-mate for the Wembley win over the Czech Republic, having been moved into central defence by Tuchel. And it is clear that is where Quansah prefers to operate.
Centre-back preference and Nations League focus
He admits: "I feel like it's probably my favourite position to play, to be honest. I love playing there, I've played there since I was probably 10 or 11 years old. So it was nice to be back there. It was something different as well with England. It was nice to be able to do it at Wembley."
England host Croatia at Wembley before travelling to Madrid for their final Group A3 match next month but they are all but guaranteed a place in the quarterfinals. And it is evident Tuchel and his side are treating the competition extremely seriously.
Quansah says: "It's the next big thing, the next competition we're in. And it will be massively, massively important to play the same teams we're going to play in the Euros, the coach has said it already. It's a massive stage and a chance to bring a trophy to the country and the next step to a major competition."
