England's performance against Ghana was met with mixed reviews, with former England internationals Gary Neville and Ian Wright weighing in on the team's display.
Neville, speaking on Stick to Football with Sky Bet, praised England's control and order in the match, but felt they missed opportunities to break down Ghana's deep defense.
‘I liked large parts of the game – the control, the order, the chaos had gone,‘ Neville said. ‘I thought [Marc] Guéhi and [Ezri] Konsa pushing on and stopping counterattacks, I thought they were in control of the match and passed it well.'
Neville also felt that England's set pieces were a missed opportunity, particularly a corner kick that was headed wide by Elliot Anderson.
‘Set pieces were a real opportunity in that game – there were loads of corners and free kicks, and the one Declan [Rice] put round to [Elliot] Anderson for the header, that’s a routine they’ve really worked at, they built that space round the back, and it’s a really poor header,‘ Neville said.
Neville also questioned Thomas Tuchel's decision to start Anthony Gordon on the wing, given Ghana's deep block, and suggested that a more creative player might have been more effective.
‘If we were really analysing that game properly [before], we would have been probably saying, well, Ghana are going to sit so deep that we’re going to have 75% of the ball and it’s probably not suited to Gordon because of the fact he likes that space to run into,‘ Neville said.
Neville suggested that Morgan Rodgers or Eze might have been a better option on the wing, someone who could play in tight spaces and create chances.
Wright, meanwhile, was critical of Tuchel's decision to bring Jude Bellingham off the pitch, and felt that Ivan Toney should have been brought on to give Ghana a different problem.
‘I’m not sure I would have taken Jude off,‘ Wright said. ‘They defended really well. But I think that because they were playing like that, you need to play somebody and play in a way where I’m probably not going to take Jude off.'
Tuchel, speaking after the game, downplayed the importance of the draw, saying that England did not need a wake-up call and that the team was fully committed.
‘We don’t need a wake-up call. Everyone is alert and everyone is fully committed. There can be no doubt,‘ Tuchel said.
England face Panama in their final group game this Saturday in New Jersey, with a win securing their place in the knockout stages.
