Thomas Tuchel has warned his England side they must improve their defensive structure against Ghana on Tuesday night after what he described as a “wake-up call” in their opening World Cup win over Croatia.
Victory in Boston would secure England’s place in the knockout stages of Group L with a game to spare, and top the group if Panama fail to beat Croatia in the later fixture. But Tuchel, who has made aggressive football his hallmark, was blunt about the failings in the first half of their 4-2 win.
“Tuchel urges defensive improvement after Croatia scare; Bellingham nears 50th cap.”
“We dropped too deep,” the head coach said, reflecting on a chaotic opening period that saw Croatia equalise just before half-time. “Defensively we dropped a little too deep from a middle block into a low block … we went a bit too early. We were a bit too man-man focused.”
At one point, he noted, England “played a back seven formation, which is just not us”. That disorganisation led to the equaliser, but Tuchel saw a silver lining: “Maybe it is good that we conceded, because it just tells us: ‘Let’s not do this again.’ It makes no sense, it’s not us, it doesn’t play to our strengths.”
Tuchel credited his half-time team talk at Dallas Stadium with restoring momentum, and England responded with a dominant second-half display. “We need to manage these ball wins better,” he said. “In ball possession there is also stuff to improve. … We don’t need to invent anything new. I was also very clear to the team: we deserved this win.”
One player who embodied the second-half resurgence was Jude Bellingham, who is set to win his 50th cap against Ghana – a remarkable milestone given he only turns 23 on June 29. Tuchel said the Real Madrid midfielder is now showing his “full potential”.
“I saw the full potential of Jude and the full commitment,” Tuchel said. “There is no doubt that a game and competition like this brings out the best in him but it needed improvement, the connection between Jude and Harry [Kane].”
FIFA’s technical study group, through analyst Paolo Wanchope, singled out the pair’s understanding, with Bellingham described as “very intelligent” and Kane’s ability to drop deep as “not ever seen before”. Tuchel also praised Declan Rice and Elliot Anderson for their roles, but emphasised Bellingham’s team ethic.
“Jude played fully into our idea and was fully committed to the team idea and team spirit,” Tuchel said. “He was very important, super reliable.”
The challenge now, Tuchel admitted, is replicating that second-half intensity from the first whistle against a completely different Ghanaian side. “That is a tricky part, to keep the level up,” he said. “The beautiful thing is that the things that were not so good we do not need to amend anything new, we just need to do our stuff better.”