England World Cup squad: Danny Murphy's "only change" to Thomas Tuchel selection - it's not Cole Palmer

Former England midfielder Danny Murphy has exclusively told Sports Mole the "only change" he would have made to Thomas Tuchel's World Cup 2026 squad as the tournament nears.

The Three Lions will finalise their preparations for the upcoming global gathering in Wednesday's friendly with Costa Rica, one week before Tuchel's men kick off their pursuit of stardom against Croatia in Group L.

England laboured to a 1-0 win over New Zealand during their most recent showdown, only edging out the All Whites thanks to Harry Kane's deft header on the stroke of the half-time whistle.

Tottenham Hotspur's Djed Spence delivered a fine assist for his captain in Tampa, making a case to start at left-back for England at the World Cup, but Nico O'Reilly is expected to get the nod on that side of the field.

However, Murphy is concerned at the lack of natural cover for the Manchester City man and has expressed his disappointment that Newcastle United's Lewis Hall was not called up for the tournament.

Danny Murphy: 'Lewis Hall should be in England World Cup squad'

"I actually really like Thomas Tuchel’s single-mindedness and the confidence he has in what he’s doing," Murphy said. I like the fact he doesn’t care if he upsets people, because we’ve been speaking for decades about England managers picking players who aren’t in form, which is what he’s done with the likes of Cole Palmer, Phil Foden and Trent Alexander-Arnold.

"I don’t think Tuchel can win in this situation – there’s always going to be criticism because he’ll always have to leave some players out. The likes of Morgan Gibbs-White is one of the few selections where he’d been playing really well but didn’t get picked, but that’s because he’s competing with Morgan Rogers and Jude Bellingham, who are two of the best attacking midfielders in Europe.

"I really like the England squad. The only change I would have made would be having an orthodox left-back like Lewis Hall to cover Nico O’Reilly.

"I don’t like the fact that if he gets injured, we’d need to have a right-footer at left-back. I think that really hampers a team, and Lewis Hall has had a fantastic season."

Hall was selected by Tuchel for March's friendlies against Uruguay and Japan, but the 21-year-old - who made his England debut under Lee Carsley in 2024 - was only a second-half substitute in both matches.

Comparing Lewis Hall to England's World Cup left-backs

Even without Hall in the ranks, England have four players who could realistically do a job for Tuchel at left-back; O'Reilly, Spence, and the former's Newcastle teammates Dan Burn and Tino Livramento.

Across the 2025-26 Premier League season, O'Reilly unsurprisingly ranks the highest out of the five for both goals and assists, finding the back of the net an unrivalled five times and setting up a teammate on three occasions.

However, Hall trumps all for chances created, having played 25 key passes to O'Reilly's 23, while none of Burn, Spence or Livramento managed more than 10.

The ex-Chelsea youngster also played the most forward passes of the quintet last term with 459, in addition to completing the most take-ons (36) and winning the most fouls (41).

The statistics suggest that Hall could have added a different attacking dimension to England's World Cup squad, but at his young age, he has plenty of major tournaments left in him.

Danny Murphy was speaking to Sports Mole on behalf of NetBet online betting.