David James says Thomas Tuchel has ‘bigger plans’ for one England star who must start tonight

Tuchel must now be considering changes to his attack (Picture: Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)

_In his exclusive column forMetro , former England World Cup star David James reveals the changes he expects to see against Panama after a tough night up against Ghana midweek. _

It was always going to be a difficult game for England against a very organised defensive unit in Ghana. But I wasn’t worried by the result and I am not concerned with suggestions we don’t have the players required to break teams down.

Defending against the low block was something Thomas Tuchel spoke about after the game and we could face this again in the competition – Cape Verde could be one of the possible opponents in the round of 32 if we win the group and we know how effective they were, it is the classic park the bus, difficult to break down approach.

I think the result and performance against Ghana will be an opportunity for Tuchel to look at how we are trying to break teams down.Noni Madueke was getting a lot of crosses in early which was interesting because no one was getting on the end of them. It makes you ask was he doing the right thing and it was his teammates not getting on the end of them or was he doing the wrong thing because that wasn’t part of the plan. So there were a lot of logical questions.

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But first and foremost, it is four points for England, in control at the top of the group so I’m not worried about the result. I’m not overly worried about the performance because England didn’t have to commit silly bodies forward either to win a game they didn’t’ need to win.

Panama will be a similar game and it will be another opportunity for Tuchel to test his theories to break down a solid block because it is something they are going to come up against again.

Had we won, there would have been a bit more euphoria but then Thomas might not have got the answers he needed. The fact it was sticky against Ghana means there is a need to resolve whatever the issues are.

England were frustrated against Ghana (Picture: MAURO PIMENTEL / AFP via Getty Images)

The reality is that low block is adopted by most teams in the game when they are under pressure. There were moments in the game that could have won it for England. Nico O’Reilly’s header against the cross bar, on another day that goes in and we aren’t worrying about low blocks and not breaking teams down. The argument becomes very binary. If it doesn’t work we need another solution. But on another day, it would have worked with a bit more fortune.

Rashford could have a big role to play now

There have been some injury issues managed within the camp. There is stuff we hear but there is also things we don’t know. I was somewhat surprised Rashford didn’t start but if there is an injury concern logically you are going to wait. I hope he gets to full fitness very quickly and I’m sure he will have opportunities.

I thought when he came on he offered something a bit different, he offered more energy. If there is an issue with injury, why would you put him on at all? There is a part of you that thinks Thomas needs to see what this team looks like with him on the field. I would think we see him in the next couple of games.

Rashford hoping for a starting role (Picture: Marc Atkins/Getty Images)

If there was a concern over the injury flaring up, and we can only guess how bad it might be, then he wouldn’t be on the field at all. That would be foolish from the staff and the player to put an injured or potentially injured player out there who could worsen that injury, so it is encouraging he’s getting on the pitch, that suggests Thomas has bigger plans for him.

Why England didn’t step up a gear like they did against Croatia

There is a perception that because you have great players you must be playing great football all the time. But opposition can disrupt you so much and Ghana did a very good job of that. There was little flow to the game. In some ways, there were similarities to the first half of the Croatia game but we didn’t have that explosiveness in the second.

Rice was not at his best against Ghana (Picture: Richard Pelham/Getty Images)

I think the whole team were caught in a position where no one had to over-excel and they weren’t in danger of losing the game which would have been bad. I think Declan Rice falls into that category, as pretty much all of them did.

A chance for Kobbie Mainoo?

Looking forward, England need to better what Ghana do against Croatia in their final game to ensure we finish top of the group. Therefore, there is a part of it where not beating Ghana means Tuchel is in a position where he might not make wholesale changes as we sometimes see in the final group game.

Mainoo is hoping for his chance (Picture: The FA/The FA via Getty Images)

But he also has to think about whether Rice is going to be better off not playing. We might end up with more changes against Panama based on player fitness rather than player rotation. Decisions based on legitimate injury risks and concerned rather than just giving some players time off. I wouldn’t’ be surprised if Kobbie gets his chance and I wouldn’t be surprised if there is more changes on the defensive side of things.

David James wrote for Metro ahead of England’s final World Cup group game against Panama, brought to you by Spilaviti.com.

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