Laura Woods believes Gareth Southgate is showing Harry Maguire "blind loyalty" after the defender's latest poor performance.
The Manchester United captain, 29, gave away a clumsy penalty in England's 3-3 draw against Germany at Wembley on Monday night. His inclusion in the squad for this month's internationals was contentious, as Maguire is not currently playing regularly for his club.
Southgate has defended Maguire in the press and the centre-back is expected to be part of England's squad for the World Cup in Qatar, which starts in less than two months' time. The Three Lions' opening group game is against Iran on November 21.
"I just find that situation really odd to get my head around, because I find the blind loyalty in players like Harry Maguire," Woods told talkSPORT. "We have to judge them on their performances - and last night he made some costly errors and in the Premier League he's not being played.
"For England he comes in and pulls a shirt on. It's not the place to regain your confidence - international football - when you're about to go into a World Cup. You've got to be there already, you don't have another chance now."
Southgate insisted Maguire would continue to be picked for England unless his situation became "untenable". He said after Monday night's game: "I think in these moments we've got to back our best and our most experienced players - unless we're in a situation where it's almost untenable and impossible to pick them."
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Woods also questioned Southgate's decision to drop Trent Alexander-Arnold and not give Ivan Toney his first cap. Alexander-Arnold did not make the 23-man squad for Monday night's game, while Toney did not appear against Italy or Germany after his call-up.
"Trent Alexander-Arnold, I understand he's had a couple of difficulties as well," added Woods. "But to not even have them in the squad last night and to completely shun him out - and Ivan Toney [too].
"I sound like I'm being really negative this morning - and I am - but there loads of positives to take from last night's performance and I get that, coming back from 2-0 down etc.
"But... bringing Ivan Toney into the situation, putting him in front of the media so he has loads of interviews and tells everyone how excited he is about playing and he has this opportunity and everyone gets stuck into him and he's on the back of all the papers and that's great. And then he doesn't even get a look in.
"What's the point? What's the point of even having him near that squad? Then he goes back to Brentford and what's his head going to be like there? You're picking up a player who's in great form and full of confidence. I just think there's been a weird bit of tinkering and I don't understand it, really."
Explaining Toney's snub, Southgate said: "We always knew that we weren't going to hand loads of caps out, we felt these were important matches to hone down on how we want to play and to have a very good idea of where we're heading with the team."
