Thomas Tuchel has warned his England players that ‘senseless’ defending will cost them dear if repeated at the World Cup.
The Three Lions face Ghana in Boston on Tuesday knowing that a win will put them in the knockout rounds, almost certainly as group winners.
This comes on the back of their 4-2 victory over Croatia last week, a performance that has won praise for the attacking intent of the second half.
But Tuchel is not getting carried away and wants elements of their first-half display to serve as a wake-up call.
‘We need to do things better,’ he said. ‘We played a back-seven formation which is just not us. Maybe it is good that we conceded, because it tells us, “Let’s not do this again”. It makes no sense. It doesn’t play to our strengths. We had too many easy ball losses after ball wins, giving it back straight away.
‘In possession there is also stuff to improve. When we do accelerate the game, how do we give the man on the ball more options in the gaps and show a bit more confidence? There are things to improve and the team knows it.
England conceded twice in the first half against Croatia in their World Cup opener
Thomas Tuchel has warned it should serve as a wake-up call despite the impressive victory
‘But I was also very clear to the team – we had a well-deserved win against a top opponent. We have a lot of positives to take away. We found an answer to adversity. That’s the beauty of it – we don’t need to invent anything new.’
One of Tuchel’s managerial wins is the integration of Jude Bellingham into the team, on the back of Morgan Rogers playing the majority of qualifiers at No.10. The Real Madrid star is set to continue after his goal against Croatia, with an unchanged XI expected depending on some late fitness calls.
‘I saw the full potential of Jude and the full commitment,’ said Tuchel. ‘There is no doubt that a competition like this brings out the best in him.
‘But it needed improvement, the connection between Jude and Harry (Kane), the connection between Jude and Declan (Rice) and Elliot (Anderson). Jude played fully into our idea and was fully committed to the team spirit, to play in full cohesion with everyone else. He was very important, super reliable.’
Meanwhile, Tuchel will encourage assistant Anthony Barry to continue with his candid half-time interviews. Barry did not hold back during his assessment of the first-half performance against Croatia when he spoke to ITV in Dallas.
And Tuchel said: ‘Everyone is speaking about this! I’m so happy if he does that at half-time, and then I don’t have to do it!
‘I’m so happy if he speaks. You see the quality. The guy is a top coach. He is an inspiration and he pushes me, helps me and supports me. It’s just top level.
‘I hear a lot of people speaking (about the interview), so he gets a lot of banter for it. I can imagine it makes sense what he said, and he spoke hopefully from his heart and from his knowledge, because he’s just a top coach.’
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