England playing the World Cup under a foreign manager hasn’t gone down well with a few of their former players and coaches in the first place. Thomas Tuchel’s men being denied victory by a team 60 positions behind them has certainly made matters difficult.
If England were entertaining in their tournament opener against Croatia, they were insipid for most part of their goalless tie against Ghana in Boston on Tuesday.
It also brought back disturbing memories of Three Lions squads from the 90s that played mostly dull football to somehow scrape through in the group stage before falling flat in the knockouts.
But in 2026, for a team that looked so fluid in their last game, England failed to have even one shot on target in the first half, which certainly is a worrying sign going forward.
“Shocking, boring and lacking in creativity,” fumed former England manager Harry Redknapp on Talk TV, slamming the team’s predictability and questioning the sharpness in their attacks.
Yes, goalkeeper Benjamin Asare’s excellent work under the horizontal, particularly when he blocked substitute Bukayo Saka’s 86th-minute left-footer, before Harry Kane squandered a sitter seconds later, also played a role to deny England full points.
However, the moves from manager Tuchel, who was lauded for the positive, aggressive football even when under pressure against the Croats, did appear a tad baffling. Given his wards’ inability to break open the Ghanaian defence, it could well have aided England had Marcus Rashford been brought in a little earlier than in the 84th minute.
Noni Madueke, who Rashford replaced, was clearly struggling. Therefore, bringing Rashford in earlier could have provided him a bit more time to analyse the situation and then lend support to the final third.
Did Tuchel also miss a trick in not utilising striker Ivan Toney, whose presence could have helped the stifled Kane breathe a little easier? Former England and Arsensal striker Ian Wright acknowledged so.
“I wanted to see Ivan Toney come off the bench and be that person to win fouls outside the opposition box and be that annoyance to the back four. Throw him on for the final 10 minutes and see what happens,” Wright was quoted as saying by The Irish Sun.
“That’s something we probably needed in a game like this, because Ghana were resolute and very difficult to break down. You need somebody who’s going to stay there, get the ball into him, have people foul him, and then you find another way. I couldn’t believe he (Tuchel) didn’t bring him on.”