England coach Gareth Southgate's style of play has been dictated by a below par central defence, it has been claimed.

Former Crystal Palace and Ireland defender Damien Delaney believes Southgate made the decision some time ago that he would not release his attacking stars in a side lacking top quality central defenders.

"Southgate gets a lot of stick for the way he sets his team up, but I don't think he has any choice than to be cautious," Delaney told the Sunday World.

"England have lots of fantastic attacking talent, but getting them all in the team means going with a flat back four and one holding midfielder.

"The trouble is, they don't have a centre-back who can be relied upon to deal with teams hitting them on the break if they have that set-up.

"As we have seen at Manchester United, Harry Maguire cannot defend when he has open space in front of him and an attacking player coming his way in a one-on-one.

"He needs to be insulated and have players around him to offer protection and that is very much in Southgate's mind when he puts players like Declan Rice and Jordan Henderson in front of him.

"If you look at how England got to the finals of the Euros last year, they basically played with a back five, two holding midfielder and three attacking players.

"When you have guys like Harry Kane in the team, you will always have a chance to get goals, so Southgate feels he needs to be cautious and he is happy to take the flack he gets if it produces results.

"In a World Cup, one or two mistakes from a centre-back ends your tournament, so he is doing everything possible to avoid that scenario."