A very good night for English football ended with a united squad standing in front of a bank of travelling supporters as Wonderwall by Oasis oozed from the speakers at the Dallas Cowboys’ AT&T Stadium.
This was only game one but we haven’t had many like this down the years and certainly not against opposition of pedigree. The last World Cup began with a 6-2 defeat of Iran but that didn’t feel like this did. This felt like a statement, given the way Thomas Tuchel’s England rolled over a Croatia team ranked 11 in the world after a half-time wake-up call from their manager.
But nothing is ever perfect in football and no doubt Tuchel and his assistant Anthony Barry will go through the tapes of this game wondering what happened to a defensive resolution that took England through qualifying without conceding a single goal.
When the step-up in the standard of opposition arrived here (Croatia are the first team in the top 20 of FIFA’s world rankings that Tuchel has faced in a competitive match), it must be said that England didn’t cope wonderfully well.
From the moment Josip Stanisic was left unmarked to head over from a corner in the second minute, Croatia made life uncomfortable for Tuchel’s team in a way nobody really expected.
The 2022 semi-finalists scored twice and could have added to that. Moments before Marcus Rashford’s clinching fourth goal, England goalkeeper Jordan Pickford was making two good saves. At that stage the game was firmly in the balance.
John Stones was favoured to start by Thomas Tuchel in the win over Croatia
Against better teams and in games played in the stupefying open air rather than in the fake cool of this huge indoor arena, England will have to be better than that and it may be that Tuchel has to look at the defensive partnership he chose for this game.
Pairing Aston Villa’s Ezri Konsa and Manchester City’s John Stones was a big call from Tuchel. Stones played on the left side of the pair but rarely did that in his decade with Pep Guardiola. He is a fabulous ball-player but against Croatia he was not defensively secure. He was left on the seat of his pants by Luka Sucic in the build-up to Croatia’s first goal.
Both Croatia goals were brilliantly designed and finished off, but England gave their opponents too much room in which to play. Stones and Konsa were drowning on occasion and must have wondered where the protection was from the double midfield pivot of Declan Rice and Elliot Anderson.
This probably sounds far too critical given that England have just started their World Cup campaign with conviction and a sense of joie de vivre. But this is a team that wants to win the tournament so fixes must be found along the way. At some point the opposition will get better.
There is only one feasible solution open to Tuchel and that is to swap out Stones and slide Marc Guehi in. As Guehi walked through the interview area without speaking last night, he wore the half-smile of a man who is perhaps as bemused as anybody about why he has suddenly found himself out of the team.
He didn’t finish with the season brilliantly with City – he had a horror night at Everton last month as City drew 3-3 to hand the Premier League title initiative to Arsenal – but it seems a stretch to think that is the reason he is no longer first pick with England.
And defensive responsibilities don’t begin and end with the back four anyway. It’s a collective thing and at times on Wednesday night, England just looked far too easy to play through.
Tuchel now has five days to solve the problem on the training field. After that it will be less easy. If England win the group as they should, subsequent games will arrive quickly.
England’s defence was the only blemish on an otherwise impressive night’s work
Marc Guehi may feel hard done by in losing his place in the starting line-up
One would imagine he would not change things dramatically. His use of substitutions was perfect against Croatia and the fact four of them were involved in the final goal that sealed the game and calmed the nerves was a mini-triumph in itself. Maybe England has its own version of rugby union’s ‘bomb squad’.
Tuchel will have been pleased with the contribution made by Noni Madueke down the right side – especially in the first half when England played much of their football on the counter attack – and maybe less so with Anthony Gordon on the other side. The new Barcelona signing never seemed to find any space ahead of him into which he could run.
But it’s the depth of Tuchel’s squad that will determine how far his team go into a tournament that has come to life on the back of engaging football from France, Argentina, Norway and now England.
This was a rewarding first outing for Tuchel and his team, one that lend credence to his claim that he has brought them to the line in good shape. He does have something to think about, though.
Whenever does an England manager not?
