James has been preferred as Rice’s replacement to Kobbie Mainoo in the centre of midfield and the Chelsea captain knows all about the threat carried by his club team-mate Enzo Fernández, who is expected to start for Argentina.
Tuchel reserved special praise for his central defenders – Stones and Guéhi – after the extra-time win over Norway while Konsa was one of England’s better performers filling in at right-back.
“It (right-back) is a position that I’m very familiar with,” said Konsa. “I’ve always said wherever the manager wants me to be, I’ll always do my best and I feel comfortable there whether it’s centre back or right back. So we’ll have to wait if I’m doing the same role (against Argentina).”
Konsa also claimed he and his England team-mates had not watched any of Argentina’s games ahead of their final preparation in Atlanta. He added: “We haven’t managed to watch any of their games. I’m sure, when we have the meeting tonight or tomorrow, we’ll see some clips of them and see what we can do to overcome them.”
The other big decision facing Tuchel is who to start on the right side of his attack. Bukayo Saka impressed after replacing Noni Madueke against Norway, but there have been doubts over the Arsenal forward’s fitness for the entire tournament.
Other than starting Saka in place of Madueke, Tuchel also has the option of bringing in Marcus Rashford and playing him on the right, or switching Anthony Gordon from the left. Morgan Rogers is another player who has played on the right for Aston Villa and won praise from Tuchel for his performance as a substitute against Norway.