Gareth Southgate has warned Thomas Tuchel that playing Mason Mount and Conor Gallagher together could leave Chelsea "vulnerable."
The Three Lions boss played the two midfielders together during Saturday's 2-1 victory over Switzerland and admitted that his decision in the friendly match contained an element of risk.
Southgate suggested that the Blues could well find themselves in that predicament next season when Gallagher, who put in a shining display at Wembley, returns from his loan at Crystal Palace due to both being attack-minded players.
"We feel that Mount and Gallagher are very good at pressing and are two attacking 8s," the England manager told Sky Sports post-match. "But we know that that system can leave you a bit vulnerable to the switches to the opposite full-back and the Swiss worked that out very well – which is why we made the change of shape in the second half.
"But we had an idea of what we wanted to do, and although we would have liked to have Bukayo Saka and a couple of the other wing-backs to look at that, I still think it was worth seeing." While Mount struggled to get in the game, his 22-year-old teammate - impressing at Palace this campaign - stole the show and staked his claim for a place in Southgate's World Cup squad.
Gearing up for the tournament in Qatar later this year, the 51-year-old added: "He's infectious, isn't he? I think he can set the tone for the rest of the team, we see that with his club every week. He presses with ambitious. Some players get close to people and don't actually win the ball.
"He goes and he makes contact and he turns a lot of ball over. In the first half that was important. We actually didn’t use that ball well enough. We had three or four moments in attacking transitions where, with a better pass or a better decision, we should have capitalised before we did on the first goal."
Jamie Redknapp joined Southgate in praising Gallagher, who assisted Luke Shaw to score the equaliser before Harry Kane 's penalty completed a comeback following Breel Embolo 's surprise opener. "He looked at home tonight," the former Liverpool midfielder stated.
"He looked really good with his energy and that assist. His star has gone up today. He showed he could play at this level. He will be a proud boy in the dressing room. I thought he did himself no harm. He's given Gareth Southgate a lovely problem and I was very impressed with him."
Ex-Chelsea and England midfielder Karen Carney was next to laud the Chelsea loanee, who earned his second senior cap in a match which extended the Three Lions' unbeaten run to eight games, going on to say: "Gallagher reads situations so well, he was brilliant tonight and I thought he was England's best player."
Tuchel has already discussed Gallagher's return to Stamford Bridge next term, although refused to open up on his plans for the youngster. "It is too early to talk about that in public before we talk with Conor himself and what his goals are," the German tactician said in November.
"This will happen in the summer as we all agreed to the decision that we wanted to send him to Palace. He saw a possibility for him. I am not surprised the national coach loves him because I loved him from day one. Humble, nice, smile on his face and all the time ready to give everything, want to learn and improve.
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"As a teammate I would have loved to play with him. It is a pleasure to know him; I am super happy that it has worked out so well. He needs to keep his feet on the ground." Patrick Vieira, Gallagher's boss at Selhurst Park, is keen to keep him around if that were a possibility.
Speaking amid his parent club's uncertain future after sanctions on Blues owner Roman Abramovich, the Frenchman said: "We always say we will sit down at the end of the season with Chelsea and Conor and what will be next. We know we have him for a year then he goes back. We don't know. Nothing is going on - we know we have him for a year. We'll work with him for the year then he'll go back."
