Lewis Hall on his evolution as a left-back

Lewis Hall has been speaking about his development as a player at left-back, following his impressive season for club and country so far.

The Newcastle United player caught the eye with his performances in the Premier League and for the England MU21s, culminating in his first senior international call-up for the games in November 2024.

And after making his senior debut in an impressive win over Greece in Athens that month, he then made his first start for the Three Lions in their final UEFA Nations League match with Ireland at Wembley the following week.

Hall’s journey began with Chelsea, where he came through the academy ranks playing in both midfield and defence as well as with the England development teams, before he was given a taste of first-team action with the Blues under the charge of incoming England head coach Thomas Tuchel.

A move the north-east followed in 2023, with the Slough-born youngster linking up with then manager Eddie Howe's team, where he has quickly became a regular.

“A lot of my game has been developed at left-back but I think I could play in midfield if I needed to,” he explained.

“But as a career, I feel I have more ability at left-back just with the way we play [at Newcastle] as it really suits my game with full-backs being involved.

“I feel I get loads of the ball in good areas and last season I worked on the defensive side of my game which is really important to me now.

“I like to get forward as well so when I’m getting the ball regularly, building from the back and getting the ball into the final third – I like to do that as well and create chances.

“I’m still really young and every single time I play for England, no matter what age group it is, I’m really grateful.

“I like to learn from other people who have been in the squad for a while and someone like Luke Shaw who I’ve watched play for England a lot and I like a lot of the things he does in his game and hopefully I can take parts of his game into mine and one day play regularly for England.”

The 22 year old was also in good hands from a coaching perspective in his first England camp too, having the chance to work under former Arsenal, Chelsea and England ace Ashley Cole, who was one of the best left-backs in the world during his career.

Cole was involved in Hall’s early development when he was a coach at Chelsea’s academy, before the pair worked together again with both the MU21s and senior team when Cole was assistant manager to Lee Carsley.

“I’ve worked with him a couple of times with the MU21s before and then when Frank Lampard had his spell at Chelsea for a little while, he was there then,” revealed Hall.

“He helped me a lot when I played towards the end of my spell at Chelsea. He gave me a lot of advice and he tries to help me out now.

“Especially with how good of a player he was, and in my position, he’s someone who I know that any advice he gives me is something I can take and look to use.

“There’s a lot of things he did with me with regards details to positioning, but everyone’s different. He said to me that he could give me tips on how he would defend certain situations but there might be other situations where I would defend differently because of the profile of player that I am compared to him.

“But something he’s always told me is to be myself and trust my ability, and any advice I get along the way to just take it and use it.”

Hall also recalled his first experience of working under Tuchel as a teenager, when the current England boss was manager at Chelsea.

Having been brought into Tuchel’s training sessions, he was handed a first-team debut in Chelsea’s Emirates FA Cup tie with Chesterfield in January 2022, becoming the club’s youngest player in the competition.

But he also knows that working with Tuchel previously will mean nothing when it comes around to selection for the Three Lions.

“I was 17 at Chelsea when I first trained with the first team and I just remember him and his staff being really welcoming to me,” he added.

“I think they realised what a big thing it was for a young player, because there was a couple of us who came up at the time.

“I remember his sessions were really good, a lot was possession-based which I really enjoyed and he was a good person to me and gave me my debut. Without that, it probably wouldn’t have given me the confidence to kick-on from there, so I’m grateful for that but right now I want to focus on here.

“I’m a completely different player now, so I’m not sure if that means anything now.”