England’s strength at right-back is well documented, but the emergence of James Justin for Leicester City adds another name into that discussion.
There’s definitely an air of style and glamour within which footballing position you decide to play in. Historically, it’s been considered fashionable to play in the attacking positions – as either a winger or striker, as most young, aspiring footballers dreamed of grabbing the goals rather than negating them.
But, has this popular trend shifted, with more emphasis on playing in deeper areas of the pitch, maybe as an attacking wing-back – a position that delicately blends the responsibilities of both attacking and defending?
Regardless of whether it’s stylish to play as a wing-back in this current era, the amalgamation of talent in this position is becoming somewhat oversaturated for England. The jokes of fielding an entire starting XI with just players who predominantly feature as right-backs has been plastered over the mainstream media, so who will Gareth Southgate turn to when there’s only a single player available to play right-back for the upcoming international tournaments?
Fortunately, this dilemma isn’t actually problematic for England, it’s much more desirable to have a plethora of options for a single position and having a headache over that decision instead. When looking at what Leicester City can provide for the national team at right-back, there’s James Justin.
The fact that the 22-year-old is even being considered for an England call-up, which would’ve been ridiculed prior to the 2020/21 Premier League season, is a testament to his exceptionally, and most importantly consistent, performances this season – which have now placed him inside the debate. To understand how likely a place in the England squad is, let’s look at the wider competitors for the right-back position to see who’s the “best” choice for Southgate when dissecting the data.
First and foremost, the candidates I’ve analysed as potential starters for the right-back spot are; Trent Alexander-Arnold (Liverpool), Reece James (Chelsea), Kyle Walker (Manchester City), Aaron Wan-Bissaka (Manchester United), James Justin (Leicester City), and Matty Cash (Aston Villa). I’d suggest the latter are more “unconventional shouts” for the starting position, but still deserve honourable mentions and have a chance of making the squad.
I’ve not included Kieran Trippier in this shortlist – this isn’t due to footballing reasons, as his performances at Atletico Madrid have been exemplary, it revolves around his recent ban for gambling-related offences which will most likely rule him out of the competition (or at least remove his chances). It’s a good job there’s plenty, if not too many, choices for the right-back position for Southgate.
Initially, the requirement of a full-back is to be defensively astute – as important as attacking is in the modern era, being good defensively should be considered one of their essential assets. To understand how these players fare in defensive situations, I looked at tackles and interceptions per 90 minutes of football. The “per 90 minutes” variable is used to cluster together players who have played more games with those who have played less, to average out the results for a fairer comparison.
The clear leader for this metric was Aaron Wan-Bissaka (with 5 tackles/interceptions per 90) – quite often proclaimed as being the best “defensive right-back” for both England and Manchester United, whilst struggling to impact proceedings in the opposing third, it was perhaps expected that he’d perform well inside this metric.
Reece James was second with 3.92 tackles and interceptions p/90, closely followed by Matty Cash (3.9), James Justin (3.53), Kyle Walker (2.64), and unsurprisingly, Trent Alexander-Arnold (2) in last place – this is partially due to how much Liverpool control the ball when compared with the other represented teams, meaning less of the game is spent with the opposition in possession thus giving him less opportunities to tackle and intercept. Once you delve past Wan-Bissaka’s leading numbers, the following pack have similar defensive involvements – aside from the outlier of Alexander-Arnold.
Next, I wanted to understand which of the right-back’s creates the most chances for their team and decided to judge this through their shot creation (using the shot-creating actions per 90 metric). This metric accredits the two actions prior to a shot (which can be either a pass or a dribble) as being influential in creating the shot. Players who perform well inside this metric are often considered threatening in the attacking third.
It’s perhaps inevitable that Alexander-Arnold leads the way in this metric with an impressive 3.11 SCA p/90. Liverpool have shown an emphasis of initiating attacks through their full-backs, and this has seen the 22-year-old flourish. In second is Justin (2.47), followed by James (2.41), Cash (1.4), Wan-Bissaka (1.33), and Walker (1.27). With only 0.06 SCA p/90 separating Leicester City’s Justin and James, it’s fair to say they both possess similar attacking prowess from right-back.
So far, both the top performer in the attacking (shot-creation) and defending (tackles and interceptions) metric have found themselves either bottom, or struggling in the opposing one – portraying a reliance on one aspect of their game. Whereas, both James Justin and Reece James have performed admirably in both – offering a more well-rounded approach.
Inside the attacking performances, I wanted to see which players made a lot of passes into the final third and penalty area. There’s more to a full-back than simply attacking and defending, and there’s certainly more to attacking than just creating shots – so I thought a more extensive understanding of passing numbers would clearly outline the best facilitators in attack.
It’s a fairly similar result to the SCA p/90 – in the most part – as Alexander-Arnold shows up well with 6 passes into the final third and 3.26 passes into the penalty area (PPA) p/90 minutes. After the Liverpool full-back is Reece James – with 3.58 final third passes and 1.75 PPA p/90, meaning he is slightly ahead of Leicester City’s Justin – 2.53 final third passes and 1.35 PPA p/90.
Surprisingly, the worst shot-creator – Kyle Walker – makes the most final third passes p/90 with 7.36 whilst struggling to find teammates inside the box, with a weak PPA p/90 score of 0.45. I think this is a by-product of Pep Guardiola’s system, and perhaps the Spanish manager’s inefficiencies from utilising wide spaces to create chances.
Lastly, I looked at which player carries the ball most (referred to as a progressive carry) whilst in possession. A football teams transition from defence into attack is often dependant on the full-back’s capabilities in possession, as teams utilise the wings for their linkup play and one-versus-one battles. Whilst struggling to implement “decisive” passes into his game, Walker is the best progressive carrier in the list with 172.6 yards p/90.
Liverpool’s young-star, Alexander Arnold excels again, with 138.3 yards p/90. As has often been the case through this player comparison, Reece James is closely following with 137.1 yards p/90. I’ve highlighted the flexibility and well-roundedness of the Chelsea academy graduate throughout these metrics and Leicester City
’s young star, James Justin has been equally as impressive. His 109.4 yards p/90 placed him in fourth out of the six, not disrespectful by any means.
Overall, I’d seriously consider Reece James, or even James Justin, as being the most flexible option in England’s 4-3-3 formation. Undeniably, Trent Alexander-Arnold is an exceptional attacking full-back and when partnered with a commanding, defensively-orientated centre-back (such as those featuring for Liverpool) can really shine.
However, Gareth Southgate is probably aware of the modern game drifting towards goal-scoring wingers and “false 9’s“, therefore relying on defensive stability as a full-back and I don’t think Alexander-Arnold performs well in that sense. Justin’s chances of obtaining a starting XI position ahead of the two previously mentioned Premier League right-back‘s is probably unlikely, but he’s definitely deserving of a place in the squad – which if you’d mentioned the mere idea of that several months ago, you would’ve been laughed at.
If the former Luton Town full-back can continue on his upward trajectory at Leicester City perhaps the right-back position for England could one day become his own. Besides, could also do a job as the left-back and that pliability is deserving of a squad place at the very least.