‘Headless’ Gordon, ‘clueless’ Madueke and Rice need to be dropped by England

England get a kicking after that Ghana draw but drop Declan Rice? Really? It’s certain the wingers must change anyway.

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Bench England three please

Ok might be a bit knee jerk this but after tonight’s borefest Madueke, Gordon and Rice need to be benched, Mr Set Piece didn’t put one quality ball in all game, Madueke didn’t have a clue what either foot was doing and Gordon was pocketed the entire game by the Ghanaian right back.

Rashford, Saka and Mainoo need to start against Panama.

Anyway Ghana set out to defend and did it admirably giving England nothing up top, Kane snatching at the only chance coming his way summed up his game. At the back Pickford was bloody lucky to get away with a couple of fouls somehow getting the decision from the ref. Onwards and upwards to the next game hopefully Panama don’t park the bus and frustrate.
Paul Murphy, Manchester

READ: England player ratings: Negativity flows from teamsheet to pitch in goalless Ghana draw

Did we miss a certain right-back?

Anybody else think we could have done with someone with great set piece delivery, the ability to switch play quickly or step into midfield and make telling passes?
Howard (just me?) Jones

…One word: Trent
Jon Snow

Do we miss a Foden or Palmer?

As echoed by many, yesterday’s game was a “reality check” indeed. However, it wasn’t a bad a result and probably was important for the team to see what it’ll be like playing against a team disciplined with the low block, especially for the round of 32.

Ghana were defensively very disciplined; credit to Queiroz for drilling that into the team. 1st half we were unable to thread the ball through the centre and both Madueke and Gordon found it hard to penetrate from the wings. The last 15 minutes were us at our best however by then Ghana were buoyed by the prospect of closing us down. It was a game of fine margins and unfortunately the O’Reilly header and subsequent Kane miss was the difference between England finding a way through and Ghana’s plan being effective.

The only food for thought for Tuchel will be his team selection. He rightly chose Guehi ahead of Stones, but I would question the wisdom in having Spence, who by no means had a terrible game, ahead of O’Reilly. We were much more effective in the attack when he came on, and even Madueke performed better on the left.

Saka was fantastic when he came on; there is a clear difference in the football intelligence displayed by Saka and Madueke. Whilst Madueke is a great battering ram of a winger, Saka has that ability to conjure up magic and hopefully he is 100% fit for the rest of the tournament.

Whilst neither have been particularly outstanding for England, these are the games where a Palmer or Foden have the ability to unlock defences. Unfortunately both Eze and Rogers didn’t make the impact Tuchel hoped.

All said, it’s important to remain positive. A strong performance against Panama is what’s needed to restore confidence and top the group. Oddly enough, I think the team will play much better against a Top 10 ranked side further down the tournament due to the openness of the play. It’s the Round of 32 that I’m worried about as a banana skin.

Thanks,
Ronson, AFC

READ: Tuchel echoes Southgate with England second-game trend repeated against Ghana

…We’ve just entered injury time. It’s a disappointing result, but we do need to remember that not all teams will play like Ghana are playing, and most of them won’t do it as well as they’ve done.

But we have lacked creativity. That’s more concerning than the result.
Phil, Manchester

…Back to not knowing what this England is then. We controlled the game but jeez it was slow. If we were expecting a low block why did we just ease into the game and let them settle? Lethargic. We could all see it, Tuchel could see it and again, at least it felt like he was moving pieces to get around it.

Jude was pretty disappointing but, again, pushing him so far forward just starves him of space. it was good to see that Rogers brings something new and it felt like the subs could make an impact if needed. Nothing quite came off though.

Boy did we get lucky. How that Konsa tackle wasn’t a pen I do not know. Even Pickford’s non-challenge looked dodgy to me.

I imagine we, as a nation, have slipped into its all gone to shit again. You would think we would learn that this is a rinse repeat story that happens every tournament. I quite like Kane’s two tournaments in one approach. He is right, all we need to do is get out of the group stage, I guess it doesn’t matter how you do it but surely you need to build on momentum. That sort of result just builds pressure. One thing we do know, we haven’t worked out a low block. Whoever we get in the round of 32 will know if they stay compact they will have a chance unless we change shape. Although they didn’t quite pay off, at least our subs felt like positive changes.

As frustrating as that was It’s so sad to see the shambles that BBC tv coverage has become. Maybe Lineker was worth the money after all, the Wazza and Micah combo is so hard to follow, it’s just an assault to the senses. And that ref guy? Possibly the least TV ready person you could find!
Tom, Andover

…Oh dear that was terrible, wasn’t it? The second game curse strikes again. 0-0 against Scotland at Euro 2020, 0-0 against USA at 2022 World Cup, 1-1 against Denmark at Euro 2024, and now 0-0 against Ghana at World Cup 2026. Win our first game relatively comfortable and then labour to a draw in our second. Have things really progressed post Southgate? Of course we’ll likely win our group but it goes without saying that if we play like this against the first good team we come up against in the knockout rounds we’ll be packing our bags and going home.
Dan, London

Wasn’t that a penalty?

Settling into to the obvious main event of the evening Croatia Panama the game we all want to watch and after five minutes went for a scan of your reactions to the England match.

Am I missing something here or was the Ezri Konsa tackle on Prince a completely fair challenge? Surely this deserved some mention within your breakdown.

Now I am open to correction and may have missed it being mentioned or in another article (yes, it was mentioned here – Ed) but come on — England really did get away with one on this — it was a stonewall penalty.

Penalty aside as an Irishman I am actually rooting somewhat for England at this World Cup but just shocked to see the penalty shout completely ignored and relatively under scrutinised on tv punditry also.

Regards
Dave – Enfield

Worst ‘Big’ Team ever?

Are England the worst big team ever?? Always hyped up, football is constantly “coming home”. But they are absolutely poison to watch. Zero creativity. Bellingham auditioning for the sequel to The Invisible Man. Gordon is headless. Madueke couldn’t cross the road.

Admit it lads, all of the foreigners in the PL make these average players look better than they actually are. Long hopeful balls down the channels are all you have, and Ghana has it figured out. Woeful.
Weldoninhio, BAC